Next-generation Ray-Ban Meta glasses set for 2026 could recognize faces and run continuous AI sessions for “hours”, The Information reports.
The current Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses released in late 2023, and had sold 2 million units as of February. According to The Information’s new report, the company plans two next-generation smart glasses for 2026, codenamed Aperol and Bellini.
To be clear, Aperol and Bellini are separate from the smart glasses with a HUD, codenamed Hypernova, that The Information, Bloomberg, The Verge, and The Financial Times have reported Meta plans to launch later this year. Hypernova will be a higher-end product, with a price reportedly north of $1000, while the report seems to describe Aperol and Bellini as the next generation of the mainstream smart glasses product line.
David Heaney
According to the report, the 2026 smart glasses will have a set of features internally referred to as “super sensing”, wherein the Live AI feature coming soon to the current Ray-Ban Meta glasses will be able to run in the background for “hours”, compared to the roughly 30 minutes of the current device.
This would allow Meta AI to, for example, remind you to pick up your keys if you forgot, or to stop in a store to pick up ingredients for dinner, The Information writes. And Meta is currently “exploring” a facial recognition capability, the report says, which could for example remind you of someone’s name.
And while the current Ray-Ban Meta glasses always activate the white LED on the front when the camera is in use, either for capture or by Meta AI, Mark Zuckerberg has “questioned” whether it could stay off in the Live AI mode, The Information claims, an idea which Meta is “weighing”.
The development of these capabilities, and the discussion about not always activating the LED, come amid changes to how Meta makes decisions relating to privacy concerns, which The Information reported on in February. According to that reporting, Meta’s privacy, integrity, and legal teams now have less authority to block ideas, while product teams have more autonomy on these issues.
David Heaney
Based on the reliable reporting from The Information, Bloomberg, and The Verge, Meta now has at least six smart glasses products planned for launch over the next two and a half years.
- 2025: Oakley Meta Glasses + Hypernova (monocular HUD glasses)
- 2026: Aperol & Bellini (next-gen mainstream smart glasses)
- 2027: Hypernova 2 (binocular HUD glasses) + Artemis (true AR glasses)
On the VR/MR side, the company also reportedly plans Quest 4 and Quest 4S headsets in 2026, as well as a lightweight headset with a tethered compute puck for 2027.
Of course, any of these timelines could slip, and Meta could cancel planned products and spin up new ones, as it has done frequently in the past. Bloomberg recently reported that some Meta staff are working weekends as Hypernova has “a slight risk” of being delayed past its October target, for example.
David Heaney
Meta Connect 2025 will take place from September 17, and we expect Meta to announce Oakley Meta glasses and Hypernova as products and open preorders at this event for shipping in October — assuming they don’t get delayed or canceled.
