Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses could soon get a massive upgrade – just don't look at the price

(Image credit: Meta)

published 2 April 2025

Quick Summary

Meta and Ray-Ban are reportedly planning to launch a version of their smart glasses with a small screen in one lens and a gesture-detecting wristband.

But be warned – the new specs could turn out to be priced over £1,000 / $1,400.

Meta and Ray-Ban are reportedly working on a more premium version of their smart glasses, which will include Meta Quest-style features. And they're even said to be launching before the end of 2025.

We reported rumours of smarter specs back in December 2024, and suggested that they could be a big help in getting ordinary people to embrace the tech. However, that was before we discovered the price

It is claimed that the new Ray-Ban Meta glasses could cost over £1,000 / $1,400 / AU$2,000. That's significantly higher than the £299 / $299 / AU$449 starting price of the current models.

Bloomberg writes that the glasses – currently dubbed "Hypernova" – can run apps and display photos, all of which can be controlled via a mix of hand gestures and capacitive touch sensors on the side of the frame. The interface is apparently similar to the Meta Quest on power on.

The bad news is that it's quite a lot more expensive than the current Ray-Ban glasses. Possibly over four times.

Meta's Hypernova smart glasses: key details and pricing

These are not Meta's "Orion" augmented reality glasses, but they may get one of Orion's features. The neural wristband, which can recognise some hand movements such as finger pinches and coin-flipping gestures, might make the jump.

The first Hypernova glasses are said to be a single-screen affair, but the report says that a second generation with two screens is in development for an intended 2027 release.

The screen in the current model allegedly appears in the lower right quadrant of the glass, and is designed in such a way that you need to look slightly downwards to see it. Bloomberg says there's also a better camera than in the current Ray-Ban smart glasses, and that Meta AI is a key feature.

It all sounds very interesting but the price could be too steep for many – over $1,000 and possibly $1,400, the report says. That's about £775 to £1,084 before VAT, and roughly AU$1,586 to AU$2,221.

The neural wristband is believed to be a big part of that price, so it's possible that Meta may also sell a cheaper, non-wristband version.

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).