Smart glasses dominated Meta Connect as company pushes new audio-only models
At this year's Meta Connect, smart glasses were the clear focus, with the company showcasing an unreleased camera-free audio model and glasses designed for people with hearing loss. The event underscored Mark Zuckerberg's continued bet on smart glasses as the next major tech platform.
Smart glasses were everywhere at Meta's annual Connect event this year, worn by staff and the influencers who flocked to the conference, with most product demos centered on the devices.
A camera-free audio pair
One of the most notable items on display was a still-unreleased pair of audio-only smart glasses. Their debut comes after Meta faced criticism over allegations that its camera-equipped glasses could enable covert surveillance. The new model has six microphones but no camera and no way to record surroundings, addressing some of those privacy concerns directly. The glasses are notably lighter than Meta's other models and are built mainly for listening to music and taking calls hands-free.
The glasses will integrate with Muse, Meta's personal AI agent, letting wearers issue voice commands for tasks like sending emails or hearing to-do lists. Users will also be able to choose a digital avatar to represent the assistant. During a demo, the assistant sometimes struggled to distinguish between commands and ordinary conversation happening nearby, occasionally interrupting.
Glasses for hearing loss
A second audio-only pair on display was designed specifically for people with hearing loss, a condition affecting a large share of the population — an estimated 50 million Americans have some degree of it. According to a Meta researcher, the glasses took about five years to develop. They will retail for $150, compared with hearing aids that can cost up to $1,600. The glasses amplify sound and let users switch between focusing on a single speaker or picking up sound from all directions.
Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly framed smart glasses as central to Meta's future. While the category has yet to find mainstream traction, the range of products shown at Connect reflected the company's effort to make its glasses both stylish and genuinely useful for everyday tasks.
