Meta’s recent surge in momentum—driven by its new Muse AI assistant and smart-glasses lineup—has lifted its share price by roughly 30% this month, putting the company back in the spotlight with investors. At Meta Connect 2026, the company officially upgraded the Ray-Ban Meta smart-glasses series. The new Gen 3 model starts at US$449, nearly 20% higher than the previous generation, with Meta citing inflation and rising component costs as the main reasons for the increase.
The new hardware is comprehensively upgraded: the frames are slimmer and lighter, battery life extends from eight hours to nine, and the 12MP camera now supports 3K high-definition video recording. Dolby Atmos spatial-audio capture for video will be unlocked via a future update. A dedicated customisable action button has been added to wake the Muse AI assistant with a single press, enabling translation, information look-ups and daily-life planning directly from the glasses without needing a phone.
Responding to ongoing privacy controversies around covert recording with smart glasses, Meta has introduced a major new product: the Ray-Ban Meta Audio, a camera-free model starting at US$349. Weighing just 43 grams, the glasses focus purely on audio—music, podcasts, calls and hands-free AI interaction—eliminating concerns about surreptitious photography. Battery life reaches up to 12 hours on a single charge, with the included charging case providing an additional 48 hours, closely matching everyday needs for music listening and AI voice use.
To cover multiple consumer segments, Meta is adopting a differentiated marketing strategy. It has teamed up with BLACKPINK’s Lisa to launch a Lisa Edition collection starting at US$399, bundled with limited-edition accessories to attract younger buyers. At the same time, an entry-level version priced at US$249 will be offered, with more than a hundred customisation options for frames, lenses and colours.
The new glasses also add an FDA-cleared hearing-assist function that can be unlocked via a paid subscription, allowing the devices to serve as medical-grade hearing aids and directly challenging Apple’s wearables health ecosystem. After years of losses in its metaverse division, Meta has successfully broken through with lightweight AI wearables. The move also increases pressure on Google and Apple’s smart-hardware roadmaps, signalling that global competition in AI wearables has entered a white-hot phase.
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