Meta Connect 2025 shifts focus from the metaverse to smart glasses and AI. Could this mark the beginning of a new wearable tech era?
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| Meta Connect 2025 reveals Meta’s pivot from metaverse dreams to real-world AR with AI-powered smart glasses leading the charge. Image: Meta |
Tech Desk — September 18, 2025:
At Meta Connect 2025, the message is clear: the future isn’t in far-off virtual worlds — it’s right in front of your eyes.
This year’s event, hosted at Meta’s Menlo Park headquarters, marks a clear pivot in the company’s vision. Once synonymous with the metaverse, Meta is now signaling a new chapter — one focused on AI and augmented reality through smart glasses.
The stars of the show are Meta’s next-generation smart glasses, created in partnership with Ray-Ban and Oakley. These aren’t prototypes. The Hypernova model, leaked earlier this month, features a heads-up display, a discreet camera, microphone, and built-in AI assistant — all embedded into everyday eyewear. It reflects a move toward functional, fashionable, and intelligent wearables designed for daily use.
Oakley’s new Speyra smart glasses add another dimension. With a unified sports-lens design and front-facing camera positioned above the nose, this model appeals to runners, cyclists, and outdoor enthusiasts, bridging performance and technology seamlessly.
But Meta’s ambitions go deeper than just hardware.
The introduction of Meta Superintelligence Labs, led by former Scale AI CEO Alexander Wang, signals the company's aggressive push into artificial general intelligence. The lab aims to consolidate Meta’s AI development, tightly integrating advanced machine learning into both software and hardware platforms.
This strategy hints at something bigger: a new computing paradigm where glasses — not smartphones — become the primary interface between humans and machines.
Although CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to address the metaverse in his keynote, it's clear the metaverse is no longer the main act. AI and wearables have taken over. The narrative has shifted from virtual escape to enhanced reality — from building alternate worlds to augmenting our own.
Thursday’s session, featuring Chief Scientist Michael Abrash and VP Richard Newcomb, is expected to dive deeper into the fusion of AI and wearables — a discussion that may reveal more about Meta’s roadmap for turning eyewear into the next major computing platform.
The keynote will be streamed live on Meta’s website at 6:00 AM Bangladesh Time on Thursday. Users with Meta Quest headsets can also experience the event in VR. A separate developer track will explore how to build AI-powered experiences for the next generation of wearable devices.
With millions of units already sold, smart glasses are no longer a novelty. But the launch of Hypernova and Oakley’s Speyra could be the tipping point. If successful, they may trigger what some are calling an "eye revolution" — where screens disappear and AI is always within view.
Meta’s pivot signals a broader trend: the future of tech may not be something we carry — it may be something we wear.