Meta Connect 2025 — the company’s biggest conference of the year where it unveils smart glasses and VR headsets — kicks off on Wednesday night. We’re expecting the star of Meta Connect 2025 to be the company’s new AI-powered smart glasses with Ray-Ban and Oakley, but the company may have some other surprises in store regarding the Metaverse, Quest headsets, or even its broader AI ambitions.
Meta says it has sold millions of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and earlier this year, Meta unveiled its latest AI-powered smart glasses with Oakley, which were designed for athletes. Silicon Valley is leaning heavily into AI wearables, and Meta seems to be one of the companies leading the charge.
Notably, this is the company’s first Connect conference since it started Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), its boldest effort yet to develop cutting-edge AI systems under former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang. It’s possible we’ll get some official updates on how that project is going, and we may hear from some MSL executives.
As Meta looks to regain its footing in the AI race, this year’s Connect feels especially consequential.
How to watch
Meta Connect 2025 starts at 5 p.m. PT Wednesday, with a keynote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The event will take place in person at Meta’s headquarters in Menlo Park. You can register for free to watch the livestream virtually on Meta’s website. Meta’s agenda says the keynote will be roughly an hour.
If you want to get that Menlo Park feel from the comfort of your living room, you can also access the keynote through Horizon via your Meta Quest headset. You can also access the Meta Connect 2025 keynote on Facebook via the company’s official developer page, Meta for Developers.
On Thursday, Meta will host a Developer Keynote staring 10 a.m. PT to discuss the new experiences people can build with its devices. Then, at 10:45 a.m. PT, Meta will host a conversation between Chief Scientist of Reality Labs Michael Abrash and VP of Reality Labs Research Richard Newcombe. The two Meta executives are slated to discuss the “future of glasses with contextual AI, and how Meta is poised to transform the future of computing.”
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October 27-29, 2025
What to expect
There have already been several leaks regarding what will be announced at Meta Connect 2025. Perhaps the biggest pertains to a new type of smart glasses called Hypernova.
A now-removed video on Meta’s YouTube channel, spotted by UploadVR, showed a pair of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with a heads-up display on the right lens, as well as cameras, microphones, and an onboard AI assistant.
The glasses in the video were controlled by a wristband, which was unveiled at last year’s Connect and is controlled by subtle hand gestures.
The video suggests that Meta will unveil, and perhaps launch, the Hypernova glasses this week. CNBC previously reported that Meta was planning to unveil Hypernova and launch the wristband at Connect 2025.
Meta also seems likely to unveil new pair of smart glasses it developed with Oakley at Connect 2025. The companies are expected to launch a new pair of AI-powered smart glasses in Oakley’s Spheara style. This features a large unified lens on the front — an ideal shape for runners and bikers. Unlike previous Meta smart glasses, this model has one centered camera above the nose bridge, rather than two cameras on the top corners of the frames.
On the VR front, it’s unclear whether Meta will release any new Quest headsets as part of this year’s Connect. Even though the conference, and company, is named after the Metaverse, it seems like that’s less of the focus this year. Meta is reportedly developing an ultralight VR headset for launch by the end of 2026. However, the company could wait to show that off at next year’s Connect.
That said, Meta promises that Zuckerberg will talk about the Metaverse in some shape or form. We don’t doubt that.
As for Meta’s AI ambitions, it wouldn’t be surprising if Zuckerberg used Connect 2025 as a chance to highlight all the work MSL is doing. The company’s first LlamaCon, its AI developer conference, took place earlier this year before Meta invested billions in Scale AI and hired researchers from around the industry.
Right now, Meta’s standalone AI app is in a confusing spot where it both controls smart glasses and can be used as an AI chatbot. It’s possible that app also gets some updates that make it easier to use.