Meta is preparing to showcase its most ambitious wearable hardware yet at its Connect developer conference in September. The company will unveil two new smart glasses, including its first consumer-ready model with a digital display, along with a wristband designed to control the glasses using hand gestures.
Codenamed Hypernova, the glasses will feature a small color display in the right lens with about a 20-degree field of view, mainly for notifications such as messages. The $800 device will be sold through Meta’s long-standing partnership with EssilorLuxottica, the parent company of Ray-Ban and Prada.
Sources say Meta is tempering expectations for sales, since Hypernova will be heavier and thicker than its voice-only predecessors. Still, it represents a major step toward Meta’s eventual goal of full AR glasses. “Monocular displays have a lot going for them. They’re affordable, they’re lighter,” Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said in a recent Instagram video.
According to a July letter from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the glasses will allow users to take and share photos and videos, make calls, send and receive messages, listen to audio, and interact with an AI assistant via voice, display, or manual inputs.
Hypernova will launch with a wristband powered by technology from Meta’s 2019 acquisition of CTRL Labs. The device uses sEMG sensors to read electrical signals from hand movements, allowing users to control the glasses with subtle gestures. Meta said data collected from Hypernova will help refine the wristband for future AR devices.
Challenges remain in how the wristband is worn and how it adapts across different users, but Meta researchers recently published a paper in Nature outlining progress in making the technology more universal. “Our teams have developed advanced machine learning models that transform neural signals into commands,” Meta wrote in a July blog post.
Partnerships and Expansion
Meta and Luxottica began their collaboration in 2021 with the first Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, later adding AI features that boosted sales of the second generation to 2 million units. Luxottica CEO Francesco Milleri said sales revenue tripled year over year. As part of their extended deal, Meta now holds a 3% stake in Luxottica and has exclusive rights to use its brands for smart glasses.
The company is also experimenting with Prada-branded smart glasses, which could leverage Prada’s thicker frames to house Hypernova’s components.
Alongside Hypernova, Meta plans to debut a third-generation of its voice-only smart glasses with Luxottica. The updated model will include capacitive touch controls, according to government filings.
Last year at Connect, CEO Mark Zuckerberg previewed Orion, a prototype AR headset with displays in both lenses. While Orion remains experimental, it helped lay the groundwork for Meta’s consumer push. Reality Labs, Meta’s hardware division, has racked up nearly $70 billion in losses since 2020, but the company is betting Hypernova and its wristband can create momentum.
Meta has already begun reaching out to developers, encouraging them to test Hypernova and build apps—especially in generative AI—that will showcase the glasses’ potential when Connect kicks off next month.
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