At its annual Connect conference in Menlo Park, Meta extended its wearable ambitions into the athletic world, unveiling Oakley-branded smart glasses that fuse fitness tracking with artificial intelligence at a $499 price point. The move signals more than a product launch — it is a company charting a deliberate course from consumer eyewear toward a future it openly calls superintelligence. In an era when the race to define AI's physical form is accelerating, Meta is wagering that the humble pair of glasses may prove to be humanity's most intimate interface with machine intelligence.
Meta launches $499 Oakley smart glasses for athletes with AI integration
the time machine to the future
Mark
Why does Meta need a second smart glasses brand when Ray-Ban is already working?
Mimi
The Vanguard targets a specific user—athletes and fitness people who care about action cameras and water resistance. Ray-Ban is more lifestyle. This is positioning for a niche.
Luke
But is there actually demand? We know Ray-Bans sold well, but we don't have numbers on how many or to whom. Are athletes actually asking for this?
Mark
What's the real difference between the $499 Vanguard and the $800 Celeste?
Mimi
The Celeste has a display in the lens and gesture controls. It's closer to a true augmented reality device. The Vanguard is more of a camera with AI assistance.
Luke
Right, but we're told Celeste is "expected" to have these things and "expected" to cost $800. That's not confirmed. Zuckerberg wore them and immediately took them off—that's not a ringing endorsement.
Mark
Why is Zuckerberg so focused on this Orion device in 2027?
Mimi
He sees smart glasses as the hardware for superintelligence. If AI becomes smarter than humans, you need a device that's always with you, always seeing what you see.
Luke
That's his vision, sure. But superintelligence is still theoretical. We don't know if it's possible or when. Meta is betting billions on a future that may not arrive as imagined.
Mark
Is this actually working for Meta in the AI race?
Mimi
Not yet. They're behind OpenAI and Google on the model side. But they're trying to own the hardware layer—the glasses you wear every day.
Luke
That's a different bet. And it's smart strategically. But it doesn't solve the fact that their AI models aren't leading. This is a long-term play, not a near-term answer.
El Pulso
- Meta is under pressure in the AI race, trailing OpenAI and Google on advanced models, and is using hardware launches to assert relevance and attract top engineering talent.
- The $499 Oakley Meta Vanguard targets athletes with a centered action camera, water resistance, and live fitness data from Garmin and Strava — a sharp pivot from casual lifestyle wearables to performance tools.
- A more ambitious device, the Celeste glasses with an embedded lens display and gesture controls, looms at $800, but analysts warn the price may wall off mainstream buyers before the product finds its footing.
- CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on stage wearing the Celeste prototype, then quietly removed them without comment — a moment that captured both the promise and the unresolved questions surrounding the technology.
- Industry forecasts show AR and smart glasses shipments growing nearly 40% in 2025, but consumer awareness remains thin, leaving Meta to simultaneously build a market and dominate it.
- The launches unfold against a backdrop of serious scrutiny over child safety, with reports of Meta's AI chatbots engaging minors in harmful conversations and researchers allegedly discouraged from studying VR's effects on children.
At its annual Connect conference in Menlo Park, Meta extended its wearable ambitions into the athletic world, unveiling Oakley-branded smart glasses that fuse fitness tracking with artificial intelligence at a $499 price point. The move signals more than a product launch — it is a company charting a deliberate course from consumer eyewear toward a future it openly calls superintelligence. In an era when the race to define AI's physical form is accelerating, Meta is wagering that the humble pair of glasses may prove to be humanity's most intimate interface with machine intelligence.
Meta used its annual Connect conference in Menlo Park to introduce the Oakley Meta Vanguard, a $499 pair of smart glasses aimed squarely at athletes and fitness enthusiasts. Unlike the Ray-Ban line that established Meta's early foothold in wearables, the Vanguard is built for movement — featuring a centered action camera designed to capture the wearer's perspective, louder speakers, improved water resistance, and direct integration with fitness platforms like Garmin and Strava. Real-time training data and post-workout summaries feed directly to the wearer, and the glasses run nine hours on a single charge before shipping October 21 in the US and Canada.
Meta also offered a glimpse of something more ambitious: a device internally called Celeste, expected to cost around $800. It would embed a small digital display in the right lens for notifications and light tasks, with hand-gesture controls driven by a companion wristband. Analysts flagged the price as a potential barrier to broad adoption, and Zuckerberg's brief, wordless appearance on stage wearing the prototype did little to clarify the company's timeline or confidence in the product.
Both devices are pieces of a longer strategic arc. Meta has publicly committed to reaching 'superintelligence' — AI that surpasses human capability across every domain — and views smart glasses as the natural hardware platform for that future. The Celeste is framed as a bridge toward Orion, a more advanced prototype Zuckerberg unveiled last year and plans to release in 2027. To fuel the broader AI push, the company has launched aggressive recruitment campaigns targeting engineers at rival firms and pledged tens of billions in infrastructure spending.
The market itself is beginning to stir. IDC projects global AR and smart glasses shipments will grow 39.2% in 2025 to 14.3 million units, with Meta expected to lead much of that expansion through its manufacturing partnership with EssilorLuxottica. Yet consumer awareness of AI-enabled eyewear remains low, and the category's growth depends heavily on whether companies like Meta can make the technology feel essential rather than experimental.
The announcements arrive at a complicated moment for the company. Reports have surfaced of Meta's AI chatbots engaging children in harmful conversations, and whistleblowers have alleged that internal researchers were discouraged from examining the effects of virtual reality on minors. For Zuckerberg, whose metaverse bet absorbed enormous losses, the smart glasses initiative offers a more tangible — and commercially legible — path toward the future he has long described.
Meta introduced a new line of smart glasses on Wednesday, betting that athletes and fitness enthusiasts will pay $499 for eyewear that doubles as a training device. The Oakley Meta Vanguard, unveiled at the company's annual Connect conference in Menlo Park, California, represents Meta's latest attempt to expand beyond the Ray-Ban smart glasses that have become its early success in the AI era.
The Vanguard glasses pack a centered action camera—positioned for capturing what the wearer sees rather than a traditional selfie angle—along with louder speakers and improved water resistance designed to withstand sweat and splashing. They connect to Meta's AI assistant and link directly with popular fitness platforms including Garmin and Strava, feeding real-time training statistics and post-workout summaries to the wearer. The glasses will run for nine hours on a single charge and begin shipping October 21 in the United States and Canada.
Meta also previewed a more ambitious device during the event: a pair of glasses currently codenamed Celeste, expected to carry an $800 price tag. These would feature a small digital display embedded in the right lens for handling notifications and basic tasks, along with hand-gesture controls powered by a wristband. Analysts cautioned that the price point could limit appeal to mainstream consumers, though the company has hinted at Prada branding for the device. CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on stage wearing a pair but removed them almost immediately, offering no public commentary.
Both products reflect Meta's broader strategy in the intensifying competition over artificial intelligence. The company has trailed rivals like OpenAI and Google in deploying advanced AI models, prompting Zuckerberg to launch a talent recruitment campaign earlier this year aimed at poaching engineers from competitors. Meta has committed to spending tens of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure and chips.
The Celeste glasses are positioned as a stepping stone toward Meta's "Orion" prototype, a device Zuckerberg unveiled last year and described as "the time machine to the future." The company plans to launch Orion in 2027 as part of its long-term vision for superintelligence—a theoretical state where artificial intelligence surpasses human capability across every domain. While experts remain divided on whether and when superintelligence might be achieved, Meta is treating smart glasses as the ideal hardware platform for that future.
Industry analysts see momentum building in the smart glasses category. Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager at IDC, noted that consumer awareness of AI-enabled glasses remains limited, but that will shift as Meta, Google, and other manufacturers release products over the next 18 months. IDC forecasts that worldwide shipments of augmented and virtual reality headsets, along with display-less smart glasses, will grow 39.2 percent in 2025 to reach 14.3 million units. Meta is expected to drive much of that growth through its partnership with EssilorLuxottica, which manufactures the Ray-Ban smart glasses that have become the company's wearables flagship.
The announcement arrives amid ongoing scrutiny of Meta's practices around child safety. Reuters reported in August that Meta's chatbots had engaged children in provocative conversations about sex and race. Whistleblowers also disclosed this month that researchers were instructed not to study potential harms of virtual reality to minors. For Zuckerberg, whose massive investment in metaverse technology has generated tens of billions in losses, the smart glasses initiative represents a more concrete path toward the superintelligent future he envisions.
Citas Notables
It wasn't long ago that consumers were introduced to AI on glasses and in recent quarters brands have also begun to include displays, enabling new use cases. However, consumer awareness and product availability of AI glasses with display remains limited. This will change as Meta, Google, and others launch products in the next 18 months.— Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers
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