Meta announced a lineup of new and upgraded products Wednesday. The VR glasses will be priced at $1,299. The VR glasses will be cheaper than Apple’s Vision Pro. CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a more powerful version of the Muse AI assistant at the Meta Connect event. Meta introduced an audio-only model of its smart glasses. Meta introduced new styles of camera-equipped models.

The headline product is a pair of VR glasses that Meta says will ship in spring 2027. They weigh about 100 grams, roughly the weight of a deck of playing cards. Meta achieves this by moving the battery and processor into a separate puck connected by a cord. The company says the glasses support hand tracking, eye tracking, and voice commands. No external controllers are required for basic interaction.

Why announce hardware that will not arrive for more than a year? The timing places Meta in the conversation now, while competitors are still defining what these devices should do. Apple’s Vision Pro set a high price ceiling at $3,700 and a weight of 600 grams. Meta’s $1,299 price point undercuts that by a wide margin. But a lower price does not answer what a person would actually do with the device for hours at a time.

Meta says the glasses work for movies, gaming, and spatial computing. The company showed a demo of a remote meeting using realistic Codec Avatars. The glasses run Meta’s Muse AI agent inside the operating system. Users can speak to Muse, control parts of the device without controllers, and interact with virtual content through hand and eye movements. Muse can render images, schedule calendar events, and search for products.

Who benefits from framing this as a cinema, a workspace, and a console in one device? The answer depends on whether people want to wear a headset for those tasks instead of using existing screens. Meta is betting they will. The company has been working on this hardware for years. The question is whether the market has moved on.

The audio-only smart glasses tell a different story. They ship on October 13 and start at $349. They come in two styles: the Ray-Ban Clubmaster and Burbank. These glasses have no camera. They retain the audio capabilities of Meta’s camera-equipped models. Meta says this design enables better battery life and a slimmer form factor. The company also says the glasses qualify as US FDA-certified hearing aids for people with mild to moderate hearing loss.

Why remove the camera now? Privacy concerns have been raised regarding Meta’s audio-only smart glasses model. Critics have dubbed camera-equipped wearables “pervert glasses” amid worries about filming women and girls without their consent. Meta has faced multiple proposed class-action lawsuits related to its smart glasses. One alleges that the company sent footage captured by the glasses, including highly personal material, to third-party human reviewers for annotation and AI development.

Meta says it takes privacy concerns seriously. The company recently created a policy to deactivate recording if the LED light that indicates recording has been tampered with. Meta will delete the accounts of anyone who uses a modified device and posts harassing content. Building in privacy features such as a recording indicator light is “really important,” Meta’s vice president of AI product, Vishal Shah, told AFP on Wednesday.

But some analysts are doubtful that removing cameras alone will allay privacy concerns about AI devices equipped with microphones. The audio-only glasses still listen. They still connect to Muse. They still send data to Meta’s servers. What happens to that data? Who can access it? How long is it kept? Meta has not answered these questions in detail.

Meta also unveiled a small handheld gadget called Muse Charm. The device is about the size of an Apple AirPods case. It features a roughly 2-inch touchscreen and a built-in 5G connection. It fits on a keychain and lets users cue up Muse without pulling out their phone. Meta says Muse would become the primary interface for its glasses, allowing users to shop, make appointments, and complete tasks through voice commands.

Why does Meta want people to talk to their glasses instead of their phones? The company is pitching a reality where we are not always relying on our iPhones. Meta has a head start in smart glasses, a powerful Ray-Ban partnership, and a fashion-first strategy. These advantages have put Meta ahead in the race for post-smartphone hardware, despite persistent privacy concerns.

The Muse AI assistant got updates too. Meta announced integrations with numerous shopping sites. Users can fully customize their Muse avatar, from its look to its name to how it speaks. Muse can now execute multistep routines like managing personal schedules and scanning through emails. Meta is bringing Muse to its glasses so users can connect with their agent throughout the day.

What does it mean for an AI assistant to live in your glasses? It means the assistant hears what you hear. It sees what you see, if you wear the camera-equipped model. It knows where you are and what you do. Meta says this enables hands-free access to information and tasks. But it also means more of your life flows through Meta’s systems.

The new VR glasses will support the full Quest game library with controllers. They also support Xbox Cloud Gaming. Meta says users can see their keyboard, desk, mobile phone, and surroundings while they work, thanks to full-color passthrough. The glasses have no external controls, only hand gestures and voice commands.

Why bundle gaming, work, and AI into one headset? Meta wants to own the next computing platform. The company is not alone. OpenAI, Apple, and Snap are all racing to define what comes after the smartphone. Meta’s strategy is to flood the market with devices that do different things. Some have cameras. Some do not. Some are for VR. Some are for audio. All of them run Muse.

The audio-only glasses arrive in a climate of scrutiny. Several countries have raised questions about privacy violations from tiny cameras on glasses and other wearables. Meta has had to respond to some users disabling the glasses’ LED light that turns on to alert people nearby that the video camera is recording. The company says it is fortunate to already have an audio-only product in development, given the privacy narrative playing out around glasses globally.

What would the story look like if Meta had not announced these products now? The conversation about privacy would continue without Meta’s response. The company would still face questions about what it does with the data from its devices. The audio-only glasses would still be in development. The VR glasses would still be years from launch.

Meta’s announcement changes the timeline, not the underlying questions. Who benefits from this framing? Meta does, by positioning itself as responsive to privacy concerns while expanding its hardware footprint. Consumers may benefit if the audio-only glasses offer real value without the camera. Or they may not, if the microphone raises similar worries.

The VR glasses will launch in spring 2027 for $1,299. That is a long time to wait. It is also a long time for competitors to move. Apple could lower its price. New entrants could arrive. The market could shift. Meta is betting it will not.

The audio-only glasses ship October 13 for $349. That is soon. It is soon enough for people to decide whether they want a pair. It is soon enough for privacy advocates to test them. It is soon enough for regulators to take notice.

Meta says the glasses are an FDA-cleared hearing enhancement device. That is a new category for the company. It is also a new way to sell glasses that listen.

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