Meta smart glasses leaked in advance: equipped with HUD display and gesture wristband

An accidental video leak has unveiled the mystery behind Meta's annual hardware heavyweight product. On September 16, UploadVR reported that a non-public video, which briefly appeared on Meta's official YouTube channel before being quickly deleted, revealed that Meta's upcoming new smart glasses will be named "Meta Ray-Ban Display" and will be equipped with a monocular heads-up display (HUD) and a surface electromyography (sEMG) wristband. The video clip shows that the fixed HUD display of the glasses only appears in the user's right eye's field of vision, primarily for Meta AI functions and walking navigation. More groundbreaking is that users can input letters by sliding their fingers on any physical surface, such as a table, after wearing the electromyography wristband, achieving text input without a physical keyboard. However, the report clearly states that this is not true AR technology, and its technical complexity is far lower than that of Meta's internally codenamed "Orion" AR glasses prototype. According to reports, the product's starting price is set at $800, with the glasses weighing 70 grams, an increase of 40% compared to the current Ray-Ban Meta glasses (50 grams). Image source from video screenshot According to Wall Street CN article, on September 18, Meta will hold the Connect conference, where the market expects the launch of Meta's first consumer-grade smart glasses. At the same time, CEO Mark Zuckerberg will deliver a keynote speech on "AI Smart Glasses." This leak confirms long-standing media reports. Haitong Securities previously estimated that the price of these glasses would start at $800. The design of the glasses' front frame is extremely similar to Ray-Ban Meta, with the core display function being a monocular heads-up display focused on presenting "glanceable" information, including time, weather, notifications, photo previews, translations, and more. Meta will also showcase the combination of the electromyography wristband and AR glasses to fill the gap in voice interaction scenarios. Ray-Ban Brand Naming Comes as a Surprise Although the leaked product is almost consistent with previous media and institutional predictions, the fact that this display-type smart glasses will ultimately bear the Ray-Ban brand is relatively surprising to the market Last year, The Information reported that Meta had planned to release the glasses separately due to "hesitation" from EssilorLuxottica, the parent company of Ray-Ban and Oakley, regarding the thickness required for the glasses' legs to accommodate the display. The current change in brand ownership may be related to Meta's investment in EssilorLuxottica. Previously, Meta invested €3 billion in the parent company of Ray-Ban, EssilorLuxottica, to acquire a 3% stake. This collaboration is expected to significantly enhance the product's consumer appeal and enable it to enter the thousands of retail stores worldwide owned by EssilorLuxottica, providing a key channel to address the challenge of how high-end technology products can reach mass consumers