What to expect at Meta Connect 2026: new AI glasses, mixed reality headset and more

Meta is about to host its biggest event of the year. While Connect was once solely dedicated to VR, the event now covers all of the company’s hardware projects, as well as AI and the metaverse.

And this year could be even busier than usual. Between Meta’s ever-expanding line of smart glasses, its dizzying AI releases, and the industry’s current panic over the pace of AI development, CEO Mark Zuckerberg certainly has a long way to go.

Like last year’s event, Meta once again opted for an evening keynote, with Zuckerberg taking the stage at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET on September 23. There will be additional developer discussions and sessions the next day, starting with a “State of the Developer Union” at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET. As usual, I’ll be on the ground watching the keynote live from Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, so check back for our live blog and post-keynote coverage. In the meantime, here’s everything I’ll be watching for during Connect.

As in recent years, there will likely be a lot of eyewear-related news. An interesting change in this year’s strategy is that the company is reportedly working on a pair of cameraless frames. These glasses, which are said to come in two styles, will instead be equipped with additional microphones for chatting with Meta’s AI assistant. The lack of cameras could give Meta some advantages. The frames would be a little thinner and look more like “normal glasses”.

More importantly, they could also help Meta address ongoing privacy concerns and backlash against its current line of glasses. Meta has attempted to get ahead of the “glasses creeping” narrative in recent weeks by cracking down on people who tamper with LED lights and post videos of themselves harassing others. In a recent Instagram AMA, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said the company would have “more to say” about the issue at Connect.

Ray-Ban recently hinted that it will soon offer new Meta brand glasses. This could be a reference to those cameraless frames or, perhaps, a new Gen 3 line (the first Gen 2 models debuted at last year’s Connect). Another possibility is the next generation of Meta Ray-Ban Display. It has been reported that Meta is working on a version of the glasses that would come with screens in both lenses, which would open up some interesting possibilities in terms of user interface. But it’s been a while since we’ve heard about the device, sometimes called the “Hypernova 2,” so Meta might be holding it back for now.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a new headset from Meta, and we’ve never seen anything quite like the device currently known as the “Phoenix.” The mixed reality headset has been rumored for a while, but it certainly seems like the company is gearing up to make its official debut at Connect.

Several images of the lightweight device recently surfaced in a HorizonOS update. These images show a slim device that almost looks more like a pair of glasses than a headset. It also clearly shows a cable, which confirms previous reports that Phoenix relies on a wired connection to a separate puck. It is also rumored to support hand and eye tracking rather than a dedicated controller.

And while we don’t know much about what Phoenix will look like in terms of specs, it seems a safe bet that the headset will be among the first devices to use the new Snapdragon Reality Elite chip that Qualcomm announced earlier this year. Aimed at mixed reality headsets, the chip was specifically designed to support lightweight form factors.

A new type of headset will likely also bring updates to HorizonOS, and it will be interesting to see what kinds of experiences Meta will promote with the new hardware. The company has been shutting down VR studios left and right, so I doubt we’ll see any huge game announcements with Phoenix. But it looks like Meta could promote more entertainment-focused offerings. Deadline reported last year that Meta was backing a new “3D horror series” based on A24. Talk to me it’s apparently intended to be viewed in the company’s headsets.

We might also hear more about Meta’s holographic avatars that we first saw two years ago with his Orion prototype. Meta told me at the time that the technology would eventually make it to virtual reality, and given that Qualcomm has touted “photorealistic avatars” as one of the benefits of its aforementioned chip, that seems like a very real possibility. The information also recently reported that an avatar of Meta’s CTO could make an appearance during the Connect keynote. These avatars could also factor into Meta’s evolving vision for the Metaverse. When the company nearly shut down Horizon Worlds in VR earlier this year, Bosworth said augmented reality was an integral part of the company’s “expansive metaverse build.”

The past few years of Connect have seen a lot of AI news and this year should be no different. This will be the first Connect since we’ve seen a flood of new AI releases from the company’s superintelligence group, and I’m sure the company is logging AI-focused updates for Connect.

I expect Meta to talk a lot more about his AI agent, Muse. The company announced that agent glasses support is coming “soon,” so I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear more about how this will work at Connect. (Agent capabilities could also be a good selling point for camera-less glasses.)

I also hope to learn more about Meta’s work to integrate more third-party apps into its eyewear ecosystem. Last year at Connect, the company announced a handful of apps that would be integrated into its camera glasses, but we haven’t seen much momentum since. And earlier this year, it began allowing developers to create dedicated apps for Meta Ray-Ban Display. Introducing a new line of third-party apps for executives could be a good way to generate more excitement for the product, even if we don’t see updated hardware.