Meta plans to unveil its latest smart glasses with a built-in display at its Connect conference on Wednesday.

This move will advance Meta’s augmented reality plans while the company is under scrutiny over social media protections for children.

At the two-day event at Meta’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, Zuckerberg plans to introduce the company’s first commercially viable eyewear with a screen.

Analysts expect the device to debut for about 800 US dollars. Internally, the project has been known as “Hypernova,” and the product is expected to reach the market as “Celeste.”

The launch would extend Meta’s bid to keep pace in AI-powered hardware against rivals like OpenAI and Alphabet’s Google, though analysts say the price could weigh on demand.

The glasses are expected to be far less advanced than “Orion,” a prototype highlighted at last year’s Connect, which Zuckerberg described as “the time machine to the future.” Orion is slated for release in 2027.

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Meta sells two AI-enabled eyewear lines built with Oakley and Ray-Ban. Those products offer cameras, voice-driven control, and the ability to livestream to Instagram and Facebook.

Zuckerberg has directed over 60 billion US dollars since 2020 into the company’s AR divisiont. He has stated that smart glasses will be the main route to bring “superintelligence” into everyday life. In pursuit of AI leadership, he has also fueled an expensive talent contest by recruiting leading researchers from rival firm.

Reuters reported that Meta’s artificial intelligence guidelines enabled  chatbots to converse with children on topics such as race. 

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Along with the display-equipped glasses, Meta is expected to unveil a first-generation wristband that lets wearers control the eyewear using hand gestures. The company also plans to introduce a refreshed Ray-Ban line with better battery life and cameras and added AI features.

Meta is one of the few big tech firms that progressed significantly in smart glasses, selling around 2 million pairs of the Ray-Ban model since 2023.

According to CNBC the Hypernova glasses may carry Prada branding, since the Italian label’s wide frames can easily contain the electrical components.

Even so, the expected price of $800 may be too much for most users, well above above the $299 starting price for the Ray-Ban line and $399 for the sport-focused Oakley glasses. Analysts estimate that the device could sell “a few hundred thousand units at most,” though the rollout could help attract more developers to build software around this new tech.

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