It’s Mark Zuckerberg’s turn to get on stage and yap about how his company, Meta, is leading the way with the metaverse—oops, we meant artificial superintelligence (whatever that means)—at the annual Meta Connect 2025 developer conference.
Connect takes place from Sept. 17 through Sept. 18, but the first day is when Zuckerberg will be keynoting, likely talking up the combined effectiveness of all the handsomely paid AI researchers he’s hired in the past few months. We’re also expecting him to announce at least one pair of new smart glasses—maybe the rumored and leaked “Hypernova” faceputer with a built-in display and matching wristband controller that will reportedly retail for around $800. If we’re lucky, we may even see third-gen Ray-Ban Meta AI smart glasses.
See Meta Ray-Ban at Amazon
Meta Connect 2025 is Meta’s big shot at taking the lead for a new computing form factor and platform. It can’t afford to blow it. Every tech company from Google to Amazon to Xiaomi is seemingly throwing resources at smart glasses, and by all predictions, 2026 is going to be an all-out war for our faces.
It all starts on Wednesday, Sept. 17, beginning at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. Yes, it’s gonna be a late event for us East Coasters. Our very own Senior Writer James Pero will be on the ground in Menlo Park, Calif. to see what Meta’s showing.
It’s 7:45 P.M. Somewhere in the World
Oh wait, it’s 7:30 p.m. right here in the Big Apple. We’re all gearing up for Meta’s big showcase in our own way. I’ve poured myself a little pick-me-up. It’s nothing special, merely an old-fashioned without the typical maraschino cherry because I’m fresh out. If Meta wants to drone me over a care package, I would be most obliged. —Kyle Barr
Nearly There
Hi guys, it’s me, the guy at Meta Connect. I wanted to live blog more earlier, but it’s been, uh… a little busy. For all of us here at Gizmodo. Nevertheless, I just sat down and am awaiting none other than Mark Zuckerberg himself. Give it up to our Staff Writer, Kyle Barr, who is blogging from Eastern time (it’s late over there). —James Pero
I Already Hate This
Just jumping off Kyle’s earlier post, but WTF Meta? Yes, I’m hangry. I’ve had very little sleep for like weeks because these tech companies think it’s cute or something to announce stuff every goddamn day this month. Can a consumer tech editor get a day to catch up? It’s been nonstop with IFA 2025, Apple’s “Awe Dropping” Event, AirPods Pro 3 review, iPhone Air review, and the iPhone 17 Pros review. (The last two dropped today, and I’d appreciate if you clicked on it a thousand times and then told all your friends and family to do the same because you love Gizmodo and wanna support our work.) Anyway, shout out to my team for staying past dinner to bring you whatever news Mark Zuckerberg has in store. I need to go touch grass after Meta Connect, or maybe virtual grass in a pair of AR smart glasses. —Raymond Wong
A Wizard Is Never Late…
We need to take a minute and analyze just how different this year’s Meta Connect is compared to previous years. This year’s developer conference starts Wednesday at 5 p.m. PT, or 8 p.m. ET. My colleague, Gizmodo Senior Writer of Consumer Tech James Pero, is in Menlo Park, Calif., for the day’s event. The rest of us are in New York, and we’re honestly dreading the incoming rush of news at such a late hour. 2024’s Meta Connect started at 10 a.m. PT, or 1 p.m. ET—a much more reasonable time. Similar morning/afternoon timing has been consistent going all the way back to 2020. Meta is likely set to introduce a whole slate of new products, and they want to give people the time to digest them. However, just like in 2023 with Apple’s late-night “Scary Fast” MacBook Pro showcase, most consumers will be tuning in the morning after. —Kyle Barr
It’s Connect Day
Good morning from Menlo Park. Well, kind of. I’m staying in Redwood City, which is down the road because, damn, have you seen hotel prices over here? Either way, I’ll be at Meta HQ soon and ready to dive straight into Meta Connect, the company’s annual dev conference.
Make sure you stay tuned in to this stream throughout the day until the keynote at 8 p.m. ET or 5 p.m. PT. I suspect I’ll have a lot of news for you all soon enough, and so will my colleagues Raymond Wong and Kyle Barr. —James Pero
It’s All About the Wristband
As significant as Meta-made smart glasses with a screen would be, the rumored (and potentially leaked) wristband would be even more pivotal. Smart glasses with displays are already out there in varying forms, but Meta’s rumored sEMG wristband would be a first.
To backtrack: Meta has been showing off prototypes of a wristband that can read the electrical signals in your arm and hand for a while now, and a leaked video seems to suggest that tech may finally arrive. The device would be able to read small hand and finger motions, allowing you to control glasses without ever touching them or shouting out loud to a voice assistant.
Smart glasses with a display already exist, but a novel input method that doesn’t use cameras? That would really be something. —James Pero
How Thick Are We Talking?
If a leaked video of Meta’s Ray-Bans is legit (and I suspect it is), I have one big question. What I want to know is, how thick are these bad boys? They look mostly like regular glasses, but they also look a bit thicker than the first generation. If they have a screen, they probably are bigger. It’s not the display tech that would beef a pair of display glasses up, necessarily, but the need for a bigger battery (because of the screen) would.
Gizmodo’s Senior Editor, Consumer Tech, Raymond Wong, did a little enhancement so you can see more clearly. What do you think? Looks slightly beefier to me. —James Pero
I brightened the a still frame for the leaked Meta Ray-Bans with built-in display and… they look chunky? pic.twitter.com/hfjudG5KW2
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) September 16, 2025
It’s All About the Ray-Bans
With Meta Connect so soon on the horizon, the company that made the word “metaverse” a common (and oft-derided) word in modern parlance seems like it already leaked what will be its next pair of AR glasses. The company’s rumored “Hypernova” glasses with a small heads-up display, or HUD, will reportedly bear the same Ray-Ban branding as the Ray-Ban Meta AI smart glasses. The leaked video also suggests users will make use of a wristband that reads electrical signals in your body for controlling the screen. —Kyle Barr
Looks Like Meta’s First Smart Glasses With a Screen Will Be Ray-Bans After All
Live Updates From Meta Connect 2025 ?
