At Meta Connect 2026, Meta revealed the third generation of its Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses. The updates to the glasses are mostly cosmetic, with a new button and slightly longer battery life than the Ray-Ban Meta (gen 2).
The standard Ray-Ban AI glasses are slightly thinner, with a more comfortable fit via more adjustable temple tips. The big update is more styles, colorways, and lens combinations — but no major changes to the company's privacy policies.
Two new styles
Now, Ray-Bans can be purchased in 27 color and lens combinations, including Black, Havana, and select seasonal colors across three styles. Plus, there are two new frame styles and a larger version of the Wayfarer frames.
The newest style is the Ray-Ban Meta Aviator frames, which copy the famous Aviator style, à la Top Gun. The second new frame is the Ray-Ban Meta Zena, which is a cat-eye frame.
Price and availability
Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) is available today starting at $449.
Also upcoming is the new hearing-enhanced feature that will launch on Ray-Ban Meta glasses first. This feature is supposed to support people with mild to moderate hearing loss. This feature is supposed to isolate sound and help you hear better. It will cost a one-time $149.99 fee or be included as part of the Meta One subscription. A specific launch date was not announced.
Longer battery life, more mics
The third generation gets nine hours of battery life, one more than Gen 2, and a new 6-microphone array that is meant to cut down on background noise.
The new action button is customizable but is mostly meant to give you instant access to Meta AI.
Meta is also adding the ability to take landscape- or portrait-oriented photos and dynamic photos. Dynamic photos take a slew of photos that you can pick from when you try to capture a moment or a group that won't stop closing their eyes.
Meta spokespeople said that later this year a software update will let you capture videos in Dolby Atmos and capture sound in 360-degree spatial audio.
Outlook
And that's about it. If you're looking for more styles and colors, then Meta has you covered, but if you're hoping for more updates, 2026 is fairly quiet.
We were hoping that Meta would announce new privacy controls for its glasses, but those appear to have been rolled out during the summer. However, the company did announce a new audio-only pair of Meta glasses, as well as a new VR headset with hands-free controls.
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