Meta's new $349 Ray-Bans ditch the camera, spawn a VR headset – and all run on Snapdragon

Qualcomm's XR chief named every chip live on our show from Maui – plus prices, dates and what each device actually does

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The Shortcut launched its daily live show yesterday at Snapdragon Summit in Maui, and our first guest in our tropical studio hadn’t been on the mic five minutes before he gave us the biggest tech story of the day:

Snapdragon chips are powering the four of the new devices announced at Meta Connect, according to Ziad Asghar, Qualcomm’s Senior VP & General Manager of XR, Wearables and Personal AI.

Ziad Asghar gave us the scoop on the devices and their chips:

• 🥽 Meta VR Glasses (Snapdragon Reality Elite platform)

• 😎 Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 (Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1)

• 😎 Ray-Ban Meta Audio Glasses (Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1)

• 📿 Muse Charm (Snapdragon Wear Elite)

So while Mark Zuckerberg was 2,350 miles away in California showcasing these new devices on stage, we got the full picture of the key internals from the person behind the chips.

Here’s what Meta actually announced, starting with the pair that ditches the camera.

Ray-Ban Meta goes camera-free

😎 Audio-only Ray-Bans. These glasses drop cameras for simple speakers and microphones, allowing for a much lighter design that looks even closer to a normal pair of sunglasses.

🚀 Powered by Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1. It has the same chip and therefore reliable audio capabilities we loved in our Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 review.

❌ No cameras. These glasses have zero cameras, which will ease concerns that camera glasses are too invasive to others’ privacy. Meta is still offering smart glasses with cameras (handy for first-person videos and photos), but it’s nice that the company’s lineup also includes audio-focused models as well.

🤗 More comfortable. They weigh just 43 grams and are much slimmer than the chunkier frames of the camera-equipped Ray-Ban Metas. The arms and nosepads are also adjustable to fit your face perfectly.

💅 More Stylish. They come in 23 color and lens combinations across two different frame options: Clubmaster and Burbank. You can also add your prescription to the lenses.

🤖 Summon Muse AI hands-free. Meta’s new agentic AI can do things for you, and it’s smart enough to understand your personal context from previous conversations, as well as your information for making purchases on the go. It works the same way it does on your phone, just with your voice.

💰 A bit cheaper. At $349, Ray-Ban Meta Audio is cheaper than the camera-equipped version, making them more accessible to folks who might not have tried out smart glasses yet.

📆On your face in October: The glasses are up for preorder now and launch on October 13.

Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 are thinner, more powerful

The camera-equipped version of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses got a refreshed third generation at Meta Connect, and there are some nice improvements here.

📐Design upgrade. The design is a bit more comfortable thanks to adjustable temple tips and a slimmer overall frame. The embedded camera cutout is also smaller than Gen 2.

🔘 An extra button. On the side, there’s a customize button that can open anything you want (it’s set by default to Meta AI). We here at The Shortcut love shortcut keys.

🔋Battery boost. The glasses also last one extra hour on a charge, giving you nine hours of usage compared to Gen 2’s eight hours and Gen 1’s four hours. If you’re going from Gen 1 to Gen 3, you’ll notice a big difference.

📸 First-person videos & photos. There’s a 12MP camera on the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 that enables 3K video recording and photos. A new feature called dynamic photos will take a series of pictures when you hit the shutter button and let you pick the best frame after the fact.

🎤 Magic mics. The six-mic array has been upgraded to capture Dolby Atmos spatial audio for a cinematic boost, and it cuts more than 90% of background noise.

🕶️ More styles. There are 27 color and lens combinations across three frames: Wayfarer, Aviator, and the new cat-eye Zena.

😎 Special editions. Meta says it’s also shipping a special Aviator model to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Ray-Ban Aviator in a retro colorway.

📆 Available now. The new Ray-Ban Metas with cameras are on sale starting now for $449.

Meta VR Glasses look straight out of the future

🥽 Like Apple Vision Pro went on a diet. The new Meta VR Glasses have a very futuristic design that’s almost hard to believe is real. They look like an Apple Vision Pro that went on a serious diet, with a more traditional, glasses-like frame that doesn’t require a head strap. Just slide them on and you’re immersed in a virtual reality. They’re five times lighter than a Meta Quest 3, yet still insanely powerful.

🚀 Powered by Snapdragon Reality Elite. The Meta VR Glasses use Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Reality Elite platform to deliver high-end performance and surprising efficiency. What’s most interesting is where the chip is located: inside a tethered puck that also houses the battery. This allows the glasses to be much thinner and lighter than they’d otherwise be. Plus, there’s a clip on the puck so you can attach it to your bag or pocket.

⚙️ Impressive specs. Despite their size, these glasses boast top-end VR specs, including a 5K Infinite Display built on micro-OLED panels that promise super-sharp visuals. There’s support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos audio, Vision Pro-like hand gestures for controlling the interface, and 45W fast charging.

🔋 3-hour battery life. Meta VR Glasses should last about three hours on a charge, according to Meta. Depending on how Meta is measuring its battery life, that’s either a bit longer than and tied with the Apple Vision Pro M5 headset.

✅ All the immersive VR features you’d expect. These glasses check a lot of boxes for a well-rounded VR experience. You can watch movies on a massive virtual screen (and in 3D with supported content), you can get work done with a virtual keyboard and monitor that turns any empty desk into a workstation, you can make video calls using holograms of people, and you can interact with Meta AI.

🎥 IMAX-certified. Meta worked with IMAX to earn the first IMAX Certification for a VR device with the VR Glasses, which means the screen you see will meet IMAX’s standards for watching movies. It also worked with Disney+ to show off this capability with access to immersive versions of popular movies like The Avengers and Star Wars: A New Hope.

🍿 More content is on the way. Meta says it’s working closely with Peacock, HBO Max, Paramount+, Prime Video, YouTube, DirecTV, AMC+, Crunchyroll, Plex, ESPN, Tubi, and more to provide the best media lineup of any VR device. It’s also bringing immersive sporting events from the MLB, NBA, UFC, and more to the glasses, as well as new 3D movies directed by none other than James Cameron.

📆 Coming in 2027. Meta says the VR Glasses will launch in Spring 2027. The real kicker? Pricing is set at $1,299, which is less than half the price of a Vision Pro.

Your Muse, but as a Tamagotchi

🧿 Meet the Muse Charm. Meta also teased a product it’s working on called the Muse Charm. It’s designed to be a dedicated device for interacting with your Muse, with a miniature version of the character you choose on the screen that speaks back to you. (Yes, the Tamagotchi vibes are strong here.) It’s meant to live independently from your smartphone, similar to products like the Rabbit R1 from the early days of the AI revolution.

📆 Arriving later this year. Meta didn’t share a lot of details about the Muse Charm, but it did confirm it plans to ship it by December, just in time for the holidays. For any heavy Muse users in your life, it could make for a neat stocking stuffer… assuming Meta gets it done in time.

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