The news: Meta is making its boldest play yet for wearable computing, unveiling $799 Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses with a lens display, onboard Meta AI, and a neural wristband for gesture control. The glasses were revealed at its Meta Connect developer conference Thursday.

For Meta, this is a direct attempt to win the hardware layer before Apple and Google bring their own smart glasses to market.

Wearable computing’s next frontier? Promising all-day wear with up to 18 hours of battery life, Meta Ray-Ban Display is being positioned as an alternative to smartphone operating systems and apps for messaging and video calls, pedestrian navigation, live captions and translation, music playback, video recording, and media capture.

An in-lens display and Meta Neural Band—a wristband with sensors that read tiny muscle signals in the wrist for gesture control—differentiate the glasses from more affordable Meta Ray-Bans.

Or another failed AI gadget? The $799 price tag, which matches the entry level of many smartphones, is ambitious but signals Meta’s intent to compete for the same share of attention. That could prove to be a high ceiling for mainstream adoption as consumers weigh whether glasses can replace, rather than supplement, their phones.

Advertising implications: Head-worn augmented-reality (AR) revenues are forecast to surge from $2.61 billion in 2024 to $13.05 billion in 2029, per ARtillery Intelligence. That growth won’t come exclusively from hardware sales; app ecosystems, AR content, and experience layers will drive much of the value.

For advertisers, wearables unlock new possibilities:

• Location-aware micro-prompts tied to where a user is looking.
• Branded live translations or navigation overlays that deliver immediate utility and impression.
• Seamless commerce through gesture or voice commands, shortening the path from intent to purchase.

Yes, but: The Meta Ray-Ban Display still relies heavily on smartphone connectivity to function. If performance lags, or the experience feels like an accessory rather than a true replacement, adoption could stall. 

Our take: Meta won’t stand alone in the field for long if it can prove smart glasses are more than a novelty. Apple, Google, Amazon, and Snap will follow, each layering AR into their ecosystems and competing to define the next advertising frontier. 

For brands, this means new hooks—ads woven into navigation, translation, and real-world interactions—that feel less like interruptions and more like an extension of everyday life.