Meta Leaks New Smart Glasses with Display Ahead of Connect 2025 Launch

Meta is set to unveil its next generation of smart glasses at the upcoming Meta Connect 2025 conference, with a leaked and now-removed video from the company revealing key details about two major new products. The footage, spotted by UploadVR, shows a pair of Ray-Ban branded smart glasses with a built-in display in the right lens—likely the long-rumored “Hypernova” model—alongside a new wraparound design called “Sphaera” from Oakley. The display is expected to offer a limited field of view, showing small bits of information such as navigation maps, translated text, or AI responses. Users will control the glasses via a wristband that uses surface electromyography (sEMG) technology to detect electrical signals from hand movements, a feature Meta acquired through its 2019 purchase of CTRL-Labs. The sEMG wristband, previously demoed with Meta’s Orion AR glasses, is seen in the clip allowing users to “write” messages in the air by moving their fingers, suggesting a natural and intuitive way to interact with the device. This gesture-based control system could be a major step forward in wearable computing, enabling hands-free interaction without relying on voice commands or physical buttons. The Hypernova glasses are expected to retail for around $800, though their design may be bulkier than current models due to the integrated display and battery. The same leaked video also features the Sphaera Oakley smart glasses, which have a camera mounted on the nose bridge, indicating a focus on advanced visual capture for AR and AI applications. This aligns with Meta’s broader push into AI-powered wearable tech. In addition, the video hints at a translucent version of the Oakley HSTN smart glasses—similar to the translucent Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses released last year—suggesting Meta will continue expanding its aesthetic and functional options. Meta’s smart glasses have been a commercial success, with EssilorLuxottica reporting 2 million pairs sold. The company is expected to launch third-generation Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses at Connect, bringing improvements like better battery life and higher video resolution—features already seen in the current Oakley HSTN models. These upgrades would help keep Meta’s wearable lineup competitive amid growing interest from rivals like Google, Amazon, and Xiaomi. While a new Quest headset is unlikely at Connect 2025, Meta is reportedly working on an ultra-light AR headset for 2026 that offloads processing to a small “puck” running Horizon OS. This device, along with Horizon OS licensing deals with Lenovo and Asus—potentially leading to a new Asus headset codenamed Tarius—signals Meta’s ambition to expand beyond its own hardware. CEO Mark Zuckerberg will deliver the keynote on Wednesday, September 17, at 8 p.m. ET, where Meta is expected to highlight AI integration across its ecosystem. The company has already relaunched its smart glasses app as a standalone Meta AI platform, enabling users to browse AI-generated content. Future updates may include more AI tools for real-time translation, image recognition, and voice assistance. Although Meta has downplayed the metaverse in recent years, Zuckerberg is expected to touch on it, likely reframed around AI and wearable computing. The Connect event will be a pivotal moment for Meta to assert leadership in the next wave of computing—where AI, AR, and wearable devices converge. With these new glasses, Meta aims to transform how people interact with information, blending digital content seamlessly into the real world.