Meta VR Glasses Arriving Next Spring: $1,300, Five Times Lighter Than Quest 3
At Meta Connect 2026, the company unveiled its first tethered VR glasses—just 100 grams and starting at $1,300—alongside the audio-only Ray-Ban Meta Audio, third-gen camera glasses, and a new hearing enhancement feature.
Meta saved its biggest reveal for a pair of glasses that offloads computing to an external unit. The Meta VR Glasses weigh in at roughly 100 grams, which Meta says makes them five times lighter than the Meta Quest 3 headset. The frame is built from magnesium alloy with pancake lenses, supporting full-color passthrough at 5K resolution. The product is slated to launch next spring at $1,300, a timeline that lines up with rumors dating back to 2023 pointing to a 2027 release.
Compute, storage, and battery are all housed in an external "puck" connected via cable, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite chip. Meta says a single charge delivers up to three hours of high-resolution video playback, and the puck itself supports 45W fast charging. At launch, 75 hand-tracking-enabled games will be available, and Touch Plus controllers will offer compatibility with the full Quest game library, plus streaming support for Xbox Cloud Gaming. The glasses can also connect to Windows or Mac, letting users control them with a virtual keyboard and trackpad—or plug in a physical mouse and keyboard directly. Meta is positioning this as a productivity tool, not just a gaming device. Video calls support hologram-like virtual avatars, letting the person on the other end see a 3D image through apps like WhatsApp and Zoom, with control via voice, eye tracking, or hand gestures.
Ray-Ban Meta Audio Ditches the Camera, Plus a Third-Gen Camera Model
If VR Glasses is Meta's bet on the future, Ray-Ban Meta Audio answers real-world concerns—this new model drops the camera entirely, keeping just voice assistant, music playback, and calling. It weighs 43 grams, lasts 12 hours on a single charge, and stretches to 48 hours with the charging case. The frames come in classic Clubmaster and square Burbank styles, with 23 color and lens combinations, plus support for prescription lenses. Preorders open today, shipping October 13, starting at $349.
As for the third-generation Ray-Ban Meta, which retains the camera, the frame is now slimmer and adds a new button to trigger Meta AI. Battery life extends from 8 hours in the previous generation to 9 hours, and a six-microphone array claims to cancel over 90% of background noise. The 12-megapixel camera supports 3K video recording, with Dolby Atmos spatial audio recording coming later. Beyond the original Wayfarer style, new Aviator and cat-eye Zena frames join the lineup. Available today, with 27 color and lens combinations starting at $449. Special editions include a tortoiseshell Aviator with brown Transitions lenses (starting at $579, limited-time release), plus collaborations with Kylie Jenner and Blackpink's Lisa (starting at $399).
Meta is also bringing hearing enhancement to its glasses lineup, aimed at people with normal hearing who struggle to hear clearly in noisy environments—not those who actually need hearing aids. The setup process resembles Apple's AirPods hearing enhancement feature, requiring users to complete a tone calibration in a quiet room first, after which they can toggle it on and off by saying "Hey Meta, start hearing enhancement." The feature launches in the US on Meta Glasses by year's end, later expanding to the third-gen Ray-Ban Meta and Ray-Ban Meta Audio. It's free for a 30-day trial, then $149, or included with a Meta One subscription, and is eligible for reimbursement through FSA and HSA medical accounts.
Beat Saber's Biggest Update Ever, and Even Ace Attorney Is Coming to VR
On the content front, Beat Games announced Beat Saber's biggest update ever, arriving next spring with gesture-recognition controls (playable without Touch Plus controllers) and a new solo mode called Flux, where players use a "Flux Tether" ability channeled between their hands to switch tracks, launching with 35 songs. The single-player campaign is also getting a rework, adding a narrative arc, new missions, and a redesigned menu system. Supernatural, the motion-based fitness platform now under an independent development team, returns to the Meta Horizon Store this fall, with users' existing points, streaks, and badges all carried over.
Next year, the classic title Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies (originally released on Nintendo DS in 2013) is coming to Meta VR Glasses and Meta Quest, supporting hand tracking and voice recognition so players can literally point at witnesses and shout "Objection!" Separately, the heist game Payday: Aces High is set to launch on Quest 3 and 3S later this year, with cross-play support against the PC VR version, opening for playtesting on October 19. Tetris Effect's mixed reality version arrives on Meta VR Glasses next year, and Two Point Hospital is adding hand-tracking controls as well.
On the entertainment slate, Disney+ subscribers can watch 3D versions of Avengers and Black Panther in select regions starting this November. Once Meta VR Glasses launch, users will also be able to watch VR-enhanced versions of Avengers: Infinity War and Star Wars: A New Hope through the new Disney Immersive Cinema by ILM app. Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green's documentary Open Season premieres on Meta Quest TV on September 29, marking the first original title under the Meta Presents series. To close out the keynote, Zuckerberg showed off a keychain device called Muse Charm, featuring a small screen, speaker, microphone, and fingerprint sensor for carrying the Muse AI agent on the go, with more details to be revealed by year's end.
