After just two days, Meta Ray-Ban Display is now sold out in almost every store it was available in.
Restocks are “coming”, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says, and the company plans to double the number of stores where the glasses are offered.
What Is Meta Ray-Ban Display?
Meta Ray-Ban Display does everything the regular Ray-Ban Meta glasses do, except it also has a small fixed HUD (heads-up display) in the right lens, with an interface that you interact with using finger gestures detected by the included Meta Neural Band.
Meta Neural Band works by sensing the activation of the muscles in your wrist which drive your finger movements, a technique called surface electromyography (sEMG). The wristband includes haptic feedback, has an IPX7 water resistance rating, and Meta claims it should get around 18 hours of battery life.
Meta Ray-Ban Display’s monocular HUD has a field of view of around 20 degrees diagonal, brightness of up to 5000 nits, and resolution of 600×600, providing 42 pixels per degree, which is higher than Apple Vision Pro. The display has just 2% light leakage, meaning other people nearby essentially won’t be able to see it.
Here’s what you can use the display for:
- Meta AI with Visuals, including step-by-step directions.
- Messaging & Video Calling via WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, as well as notifications for phone messages.
- Preview & Zoom for capturing photos and videos with the built-in camera.
- Pedestrian Navigation via a minimap in 28 cities.
- Live Captions & Translation for the person you’re looking at.
- Music Playback, including the ability to seek and skip tracks.
Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses weigh 69 grams, compared to 52 grams for the regular Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and 45 grams for their non-smart equivalents. They’re also noticeably bulkier, with thicker frames and temples. But this is the tradeoff of adding a display.
The company claims that the glasses should get around six hours of battery life in normal use, but we’ll need to get our hands on them for a review to verify that in the real world.
In a software update set for December, Meta says Meta Neural Band will even let you enter text by swiping the letters with your index finger on a physical surface.
Here’s Bosworth’s full statement from Threads about the Meta Ray-Ban Display launch:
“Meta Ray-Ban Display is off to a flying start! Almost every store we’ve stocked across the country has sold out and demos are almost fully booked out through November. Love to see such a strong reaction to a killer product, working hard to get more pairs into people’s hands sooner.
If you haven’t been able to buy or book a demo yet, hang tight! Restocks are coming and if stores sell out they can get you waitlisted or place a backorder. This month we’ll double the number of locations to boost capacity. We’re doing all we can to get you more ways to buy.
For people asking why demos are required: between display glasses and the neural band, these are two pieces of tech that almost nobody has ever experienced before. As they first roll out we want to make sure people get the right fit and the best introduction before buying.
We were already excited about the product but I’ll be honest this response has been stronger than we expected so we are working to catch up!”
Meta Ray-Ban Display Hands-On: A Flawless Wristband For Flawed Glasses
Meta Ray-Ban Display is very much a first-generation device, with notable flaws, while Meta Neural Band works so well it feels like magic.
The statement comes as many early adopters have struggled to acquire Meta’s first smart glasses with an in-lens display.
The $800 glasses and their included sEMG wristband are only available in the US, and only in select Best Buy, LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, and Ray-Ban stores in key cities, as well as the Meta Lab.
While some stores have allowed anyone walking in to purchase Meta Ray-Ban Display, many have required an appointment. And by launch day, appointments were already booked out to mid-October in most locations, and even November or December for some. Now, most are booked out until December.
For those hoping to just walk in and buy, even finding the right store has been a challenge. Many hopeful buyers, including UploadVR’s Don Hopper have described arriving at their local Best Buy, LensCrafters, or Sunglass Hut to find empty shelves and confused managers unsure when even initial stock might arrive.
UploadVR’s Ian Hamilton, on the other hand, was able to secure one of the last units in New York City on launch day, but only by biking across the city from store to store. And he was told that only two of the three band sizes were available.
Hands-On With Meta Ray-Ban Display & Meta Neural Band Across New York City
UploadVR’s Ian Hamilton bought the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses on launch day and tested them across Manhattan.
To what degree these issues are caused by production bottlenecks, availability of trained staff, and greater than expected demand, only Meta knows. But for many eager early adopters, Meta Ray-Ban Display has seen a chaotic start, and arguably a paper launch. This is not (yet) a widely available product.
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