Meta (META.US), the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is expected to unveil a new AI smart glasses model featuring a built-in display at its annual Connect conference on Wednesday Eastern Time, with an anticipated retail price of $800. This represents Meta's first consumer-grade high-end AR+AI smart glasses with an integrated display. Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is doubling down on the future of "edge-side AI" beyond smartphones as AI carriers, planning to seamlessly integrate advanced AI large models with intelligent wearable devices, aiming to challenge Apple's (AAPL.US) absolute dominance in the broader consumer electronics field, including iPhones and wearable devices, in the "post-smartphone era."

According to sources familiar with the matter, this more expensive new smart glasses model carries the internal codename "Hypernova" and is expected to launch under the name "Celeste." The new smart glasses will feature a small digital high-definition display in the right lens to perform basic artificial intelligence functions such as emergency message notifications and high-quality translation.

Compared to the "Orion" prototype glasses showcased at Meta's Connect conference last year, this new product may be significantly less advanced. Previous reports suggested that the "Hypernova" smart glasses might be developed in collaboration with Italian brand Prada, known for its thick frames and wide temples that can accommodate the many components required for smart glasses.

Analysts suggest that the new smart glasses' $800 price tag—significantly higher than the previous Ray-Ban series' $299 starting price and the more athletic Oakley glasses' $399 price point—could mean the product's market share may be "negligible" in the short term.

"These glasses will be somewhat bulky... not the most user-friendly mass consumer design. At the same time, they will be quite expensive. Therefore, initial sales will be quite low," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.

At this week's Connect conference, Meta is also expected to launch its first smart wristband, allowing users to control the new smart glasses through gestures. Analysts expect the company will also showcase an updated iteration of the Ray-Ban series, which may feature higher-end cameras, more powerful battery life, and support for new, more diverse AI functions.

As an important part of attracting global software developers to participate in Meta's development ecosystem, Meta is also expected to open its new AI smart glasses development platform to third-party developers through new software toolkits.

**Zuckerberg Ignites AI Smart Glasses Revolution, Seeks to Dominate "Post-Smartphone Era"**

While some analysts view the $800 new AI smart glasses as expensive and somewhat bulky, there's no doubt that smart glasses with displays will represent another milestone for Meta's journey toward true "Augmented Reality (AR) + AI" smart glasses.

The "post-smartphone era" description primarily highlights trend-setting characteristics, describing a "battle era" where smartphone demand growth continues to slow while penetration rates of new wearable consumer electronics carriers equipped with AI large models surge, as the world enters a phase where smartphone demand gradually reaches its peak while various smart consumer electronics equipped with AI large models rise.

In a market manifesto released in August, Zuckerberg outlined his concept of "personal super intelligence." This vision includes AI smart glasses that can "see, hear, and deeply interact with users around the clock," potentially completely replacing smartphones as the primary gateway to an AI-based digital world.

"If personal super intelligence can deeply understand our daily lives, comprehend our goals, and help us achieve them, it will be the most useful tool," Zuckerberg wrote in the manifesto.

This American tech giant has long attempted to replace the iPhone ecosystem with Meta's intelligent consumer electronics products but has repeatedly failed to succeed. Now, he believes Apple is significantly "behind" in edge-side AI, thus increasing investment and offering substantial compensation to attract the world's top AI talent.

Meta's AI smart glasses currently need to work in conjunction with mainstream smartphones on the market, including Apple's iPhone. However, Meta's future AI smart glasses product lines are expected to feature built-in displays and comprehensive AI super assistants along with various breakthrough AI functions based on Meta's exclusive AI large models.

**Smart Glasses May Be the Best Edge-Side Carrier for Artificial Intelligence Technology**

With the rapid development of edge computing, 5G networks, and artificial intelligence technology, edge-side consumer electronic devices increasingly possess the ability to process data in real-time and seamlessly interact with cloud-based AI large models. This enables smart glasses not only to collect real-time environmental data (such as visual, audio, and location information) but also to achieve real-time generative AI function applications through local preliminary processing combined with cloud-based AI large models. This means some complex AI workloads are completed in cloud-based AI computing systems, while tasks requiring ultra-fast real-time or sensitive processing are handled locally, such as voice interaction, real-time translation, augmented reality navigation, and contextual information overlay.

Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are the first AI smart glasses on the market, equipped with NPU-integrated SoCs, advanced cameras, and audio components. These technologies enable core intelligent functions such as photo/video capture and audio playback, while supporting a wide range of application scenarios through device-side AI algorithms, edge-side AI based on smartphones and other consumer electronics, and Llama cloud-based AI large models.

Counterpoint indicates that following the global popularity of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, an unprecedented wave of AI smart glasses has emerged, from reference design products provided by supply chain companies to commercial products launched by eyewear brand manufacturers, all appearing after the end of 2024. The organization expects that as leading smartphone companies successively launch their first AI smart glasses in 2025, and more smart consumer electronics companies likely enter the market in 2025 and 2026, the global smart glasses market will achieve 60% year-over-year growth in 2025 and maintain a compound annual growth rate exceeding 60% from 2025 to 2029.

According to Counterpoint's recently released "Global Smart Glasses Model Shipment Tracking" report, international smart glasses market shipments in the first half of 2025 increased 110% year-over-year. Strong demand for Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and the entry of Xiaomi, RayNeo, and some smaller new manufacturers drove this growth. AI smart glasses accounted for 78% of total shipments in the first half of 2025, up from 46% in the first half of 2024 and 66% in the second half of 2024, primarily due to the dominance of Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses. Additionally, the AI smart glasses sub-market segment experienced year-over-year growth exceeding 250%, significantly outpacing the overall market.