Meta's upcoming $1,000 smart glasses will pack a screen and neural wristband

Meta is reportedly ready to take its wearable ambitions beyond ordinary-looking sunglasses.

According to a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Meta plans to release its first own-brand smart glasses with a heads-up display in late 2025. Codenamed Hypernova, the device will skip the Ray-Ban branding and retail between $1,000 and $1,400.

A tiny HUD and a neural wristband in the box

Hypernova will retain all existing Ray-Ban Meta perks like open-ear Bluetooth audio, photo and video capture, and Meta AI queries. But it takes hardware much further.

The headline upgrade is a tiny monocular display embedded in the lower portion of the right lens. It will show phone notifications and run dedicated micro-apps including Camera, Photos, and Maps.

Meta also overhauled the optics. The team internally views the current Ray-Ban camera as roughly equivalent to an iPhone 11 and wants Hypernova to match the iPhone 13. That extra hardware pushes the weight to around 70 grams, up from the current model's 50 grams, and it will come with a foldable, triangular prism charging case.

The most intriguing detail is input. Alongside temple touch controls, Meta will bundle its long-rumored sEMG neural wristband right in the box. Users can rotate their hand to scroll through screens and pinch their index finger to thumb to select, eliminating the need to constantly reach up and tap the glasses.

The broader roadmap

Hypernova is just one part of Meta's accelerating wearable push.

While Hypernova drops the EssilorLuxottica branding, the partnership remains intact. Meta is reportedly readying an Oakley-branded pair for later this year with a centered camera built for cyclists and athletes.

Further out, Gurman reports Meta is planning Hypernova 2 with displays in both eyes for 2027. The company is also working on Artemis, a consumer-grade true AR device targeted for 2027 using glass lenses rather than the exotic, ultra-expensive materials seen in the $10,000 Orion prototype.

However, Gurman notes internal debate inside Meta over whether HUD glasses are worth sustaining, or if the company should simply stick to cheap audio frames on the low end and full AR glasses on the high end.

Why it matters

We think the neural wristband is significantly more important than the tiny HUD lens.

Touching your glasses frame in public looks awkward, and keeping your arm raised gets tiring quickly. Subtle muscle-sensing gestures performed casually at your waist could finally make heads-up interfaces feel natural rather than performative.

That said, crossing the $1,000 threshold is a massive gamble. The Ray-Ban Meta succeeded largely because it looked and felt like a normal pair of $300 sunglasses. Stripping the Ray-Ban logo, bumping weight by nearly 40%, and charging four times as much will immediately narrow the addressable market down to developers and early adopters.

Hypernova looks less like a mass-market hit and more like a developer bridge toward true AR. If you just want hands-free audio and quick point-of-view videos, the existing Ray-Bans remain the smarter buy today. But if you want a front-row seat to how we will control ambient computing for the next decade, Hypernova will be the device to watch.