Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 and Ray-Ban Meta Audio: Price, Release Date, Specs

Meta announced two new pairs of Ray-Ban smart glasses at Connect on September 23, 2026. Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) is on sale now from $449 with up to nine hours of battery life and a new action button, while the new Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses, built for open-ear listening, are up for pre-order from $349 and ship on October 13.

What Meta announced at Connect 2026

Connect is Meta’s annual hardware and software showcase, and this year the glasses line-up was the centre of it. In its official announcement of Ray-Ban Meta Audio and the new styles, Meta describes its biggest expansion of AI glasses yet, built with eyewear partner EssilorLuxottica. The company says that by the end of the year it will offer more than 100 different glasses options across Ray-Ban, Oakley and its own Meta Glasses brand.

Two products matter most for anyone shopping this autumn:

• Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3), the third generation of what Meta calls the world’s best-selling AI glasses, with a slimmer design, longer battery life and a customisable action button.
• Ray-Ban Meta Audio, Meta’s first-ever audio glasses, positioned as a replacement for earbuds that keeps your ears open to the world around you.

Alongside those, Meta added a cheaper entry point to its Meta Glasses range, new celebrity collaborations, an FDA-cleared hearing enhancement feature, a wave of updates for the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses and a first look at a new category it calls Meta VR Glasses. According to Meta’s Connect 2026 recap, its Muse personal AI agent is also coming to the glasses “in the coming months.”

Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3: price and release date

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) went on sale on the day of the announcement, September 23, 2026, with prices starting at $449 USD. That is $70 more than the $379 starting price Meta set for Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) a year earlier.

Gen 3 comes in 27 colour and lens combinations across three frame styles:

• Aviator, plus a limited-edition Aviator in a vintage-inspired colourway marking the frame’s 90th anniversary
• Zena, which Meta calls “a bold new cat-eye frame”
• Wayfarer, the shape most people associate with Ray-Ban Meta

Meta’s announcement gives the US price only. It has not listed UK, EU or other regional pricing in the posts it has published so far, so expect local prices to appear on Meta’s and Ray-Ban’s regional stores rather than in the press release.

Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 specs and new features

Gen 3 is an evolution rather than a reinvention. Meta says it has “packed the tech Ray-Ban Meta wearers love into a slimmer, more comfortable design.” The confirmed changes are:

• Battery: up to nine hours of use, which Meta says is an hour more than Gen 2.
• Action button: a new customisable button that gives instant access to Meta AI.
• Microphones: a new six-microphone array that Meta says cuts more than 90% of background noise on calls and voice commands.
• Camera: a 12 MP camera with 3K Ultra HD video recording.
• Dynamic photos: a new capture mode that lets you choose the best frame after the fact.
• Fit: professional-adjustable temple tips so an optician can tune the fit.
• Privacy LED: as with every generation, a built-in LED lights up to show people nearby when you are taking photos or video.

Meta also says that later this year its AI glasses will be the first consumer devices to capture and play back video in Dolby Atmos with 360-degree spatial sound. The company presents that as a feature for its AI glasses generally rather than a Gen 3 exclusive, and has not given a date beyond “later this year.”

Ray-Ban Meta Audio: price, release date and battery

Ray-Ban Meta Audio is the more unusual product. Meta describes audio as the most popular feature of its glasses “since day one,” and this model is built around it: music, podcasts, calls and a hands-free AI assistant in a pair of frames that look like ordinary Ray-Bans. Meta’s announcement lists no camera among its features, which is the key difference from the Gen 3 model.

• Price: from $349 USD
• Pre-orders: open now (from September 23)
• Shipping: October 13, 2026
• Weight: 43 grams, which Meta says makes them its lightest and slimmest AI glasses yet
• Battery: up to 12 hours on a single charge, plus up to an additional 48 hours from the included charging case
• Styles: 23 colour and lens combinations across two new shapes, the retro Clubmaster and the rectangular Burbank
• Prescriptions: both styles are compatible with a wide range of optical prescriptions
• Comfort: professional-adjustable temple tips, adjustable or swappable nose pads and overextension hinges

Meta also claims the Audio glasses capture your voice on calls more clearly than earbuds. That is Meta’s claim; it has not published the test conditions behind it.

Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 vs Audio vs Gen 2

The table below puts the two new models next to last year’s Gen 2, using only the figures Meta has published in its official announcements. Where Meta has not stated a figure, we say so rather than guess.

The practical split is simple. If you want a hands-free camera, Gen 3 is the model. If you mostly want open-ear audio, calls and Meta AI without a camera on your face, the Audio model is $100 cheaper and lasts longer per charge.

Cheaper options: Meta Adventurer from $249

For buyers who care more about price than the Ray-Ban name, Meta expanded its own Meta Glasses line, first launched with EssilorLuxottica earlier this year. The headline is a new Meta Adventurer with a black frame, grey lenses and a plug-in case starting at $249 USD, which Meta calls its most accessible price yet. It is available to pre-order now on Meta.com and goes on sale October 23 in all countries where Meta Glasses are sold.

The rest of the Meta Glasses news:

• Two new styles, Capri and Nova.
• A new Ivory colourway of Meta Glasses by Kylie Jenner, based on the Starfire style, from $399.
• A new collaboration with LISA: the Meta Adventurer LISA Edition and Meta Capri LISA Edition, both prescription-ready and from $399.
• A limited-edition Meta Fury with a clear frame and mirrored lenses, exclusive to Connect and Meta Lab stores at launch.
• A Mix & Match programme to pick frame, lenses and case colour online or in a Meta Lab store.

Meta Glasses also launched in Singapore, South Korea, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates on September 23, with Brazil “coming soon.” Meta separately says Oakley Meta, Ray-Ban Meta and Ray-Ban Meta Optics will reach Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Israel, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Malaysia and the Philippines later this year.

Hearing enhancement, audio balance and mono audio

One of the more significant announcements is software. Meta says hearing enhancement, which it describes as FDA-cleared software to help adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss, is coming to supported AI glasses. It can be set up at home in minutes with no clinic visit or prescription, according to Meta.

• Where and when: launching in the US later this year
• Price: $149.99 as an add-on (Meta says it is HSA/FSA eligible), or included with a Meta One subscription
• Devices: “supported AI glasses” – Meta has not yet published the full list

Every AI glasses wearer is also getting an audio balance control to shift sound toward the left or right ear, and a mono audio option to route all sound to one side.

Meta Ray-Ban Display: new features and countries

Meta did not announce a new version of its screen-equipped glasses, but its Meta Ray-Ban Display update adds features and, more importantly for many readers, new places to buy them. The glasses launched in the US in 2025 at $799 including the Meta Neural Band.

Where you can buy Meta Ray-Ban Display now

• US: online ordering began September 23.
• UK and Canada: online ordering and retail sales (Vancouver, Toronto and London) began September 23.
• France, Italy and Germany: pre-orders are starting progressively, with online and retail sales (Paris, Milan, Rome, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich) from October 13. Prescription lenses arrive October 13 via EssilorLuxottica optical stores in France and Italy, and later in the year in Germany.

New Display features

• Cycling and public transit directions on the in-lens display, starting later in September in the US and Canada.
• Landmark-based walking directions, such as “turn left at the yellow house” instead of a street name.
• Hologram, a voice-driven, photorealistic version of your face for WhatsApp video calls, entering Early Access in the US later this fall.
• Explore, a new on-glasses app for discovering experiences.
• A more powerful calendar (English, US) and mirrored phone notifications “coming soon.”
• Threads Community feeds on the glasses.

What about Meta VR Glasses?

The most ambitious hardware at Connect was not a Ray-Ban at all. Meta VR Glasses weigh about 100 grams and pair with a tethered compute puck that holds the processor, battery and storage. Meta says they are five times lighter than Meta Quest 3, run on Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Reality Elite processor, and deliver up to three hours of continuous high-resolution media playback from the puck battery with 45W fast charging.

They are not a near-term purchase: Meta says they go on sale in spring 2027 for $1,299.99. Treat them as a signal of where the company is heading rather than an alternative to the glasses you can buy this month.

Should you buy Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 or wait?

If you already own Gen 2, the confirmed upgrades are modest on paper: one extra hour of battery, a better microphone array, the action button, new frame shapes and dynamic photos. Much of the software news, including hearing enhancement, Dolby Atmos capture and, later, Muse, is described by Meta as coming to “AI glasses” broadly, and Meta has not yet published which older models get each feature.

If you are buying your first pair, the choice comes down to the camera. Gen 3 at $449 is the full package. The Audio model at $349 is lighter, lasts longer and sidesteps the privacy questions a face-mounted camera raises. And if price is the priority, the $249 Meta Adventurer undercuts both from October 23.

Meta AI remains the assistant at the centre of all of these frames. If you are weighing it against other chatbots, our comparison of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini plans covers the assistants most people already use on their phones.

What happens next

• October 13: Ray-Ban Meta Audio ships; Meta Ray-Ban Display goes on sale in France, Italy and Germany.
• October 23: Meta Adventurer ($249) goes on sale.
• Later in 2026: hearing enhancement in the US, Dolby Atmos video capture, Hologram Early Access and Muse on AI glasses.
• Spring 2027: Meta VR Glasses at $1,299.99.

We will update this page as Meta publishes regional pricing and the list of glasses that support each new feature.

Written byNadia Osei

Nadia Osei covers mobile and consumer gadgets for Pandromeda: smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, earbuds and smart-home devices. She tracks launches, software updates and pricing across Apple, Google, Samsung and the rest, and builds comparisons from the manufacturers' published specifications.

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