Meta’s smart glasses with screens are launching soon — and they’ll be surprisingly affordable

The race to own your face is heating up. While Apple struggled to sell its ultra-expensive Vision Pro headset, Meta is preparing to launch sleek smart glasses with built-in displays—and this time, the price tag could make them a mainstream hit.

From Ray-Bans to Orion

Meta has already dipped its toes into the wearable market with its Ray-Ban Stories, selling more than a million units. But those glasses mainly focused on cameras and audio. What’s coming next is far more ambitious.

Codenamed Orion, the new smart glasses are expected to launch in September 2025, according to Bloomberg. Unlike Meta’s previous offerings, Orion models will feature displays built directly into the lenses, allowing wearers to see notifications, apps, and other real-time information right before their eyes.

An Affordable Price Point

The most surprising part? The price. Instead of launching at $1,000 or more, Meta is expected to start Orion glasses at around $800—well below the $1,400 initially rumored during development.

By comparison, Meta’s Ray-Bans sell for $200–$400, and Oakley-branded connected glasses go for around $500. Apple’s Vision Pro, meanwhile, is still listed at nearly $4,000, pricing it out of reach for most consumers. Meta appears to be following the same strategy that made its Quest VR headsets successful: slim margins, fast adoption, and wide accessibility.

Neural Control and AI Integration

Beyond price, Orion’s biggest innovation may be how you control it. Instead of relying on voice or touch, Meta has developed a wristband that reads neural signals sent from the brain to the forearm muscles. This lets wearers control the interface with subtle hand or finger movements—or even type “in the air.”

The project, nicknamed Hypernova inside Meta, has been refined with the help of Dr. Thomas Reardon, the neuroscientist best known for creating Internet Explorer in the 1990s. Combined with AI-powered protocols, the system promises intuitive interaction—notifications you can swipe away with a twitch, or text typed invisibly midair.

A Bet on the Future of Glasses

Meta’s full demo, showcased in July to The New York Times, illustrated the company’s long-term vision: glasses that merge fashion, function, and computing power into a device people might actually want to wear every day.

While corrective lenses and premium frames will push the price above $800, the entry point is aggressive enough to challenge not only Apple but also smaller competitors in the wearables market.

The Big Picture

Smart glasses have long been seen as the natural next step after smartphones, but adoption has lagged. By cutting costs and leaning heavily on AI and neural control technology, Meta hopes to break that barrier.

If Orion succeeds, September 2025 could mark the moment when augmented reality leaves the niche world of headsets and lands squarely in the mainstream—on your face, not in your pocket.

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Felix Marlowe

Felix Marlowe manages Belles and Gals’ vibrant social media platforms. With expertise in social engagement and viral marketing, Felix creates content that sparks conversation and keeps followers coming back for more. From celebrity news to trending challenges, Felix makes sure our social media stays at the forefront of pop culture.