Meta’s New Smart Ray-Ban Glasses Glitch During Demo
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Meta just formally introduced its updated Ray-Ban smart glasses and wristband at the company’s annual Meta Connect conference. Earlier this summer, rumors swirled about the anticipated price point of these new glasses, suggesting they could start at the $800 mark in hopes of igniting sales. $800 would match the entry price for the iPhone 17 and significantly undercut Apple’s Vision Pro headset, which has been the subject of several complaints by early adopters.
Throughout 2025, several reports have surfaced showing that Mark Zuckerberg and Meta have been offering top AI engineering talent pay packages in excess of $100 million to join Meta Superintelligence Labs, including salary and stock compensation with accelerated vesting. Seven new hires were poached directly from OpenAI, forcing the ChatGPT maker to “recalibrate” its compensation packages. These eye-popping figures make Zuckerberg’s failed glasses demo yesterday even more embarrassing.
During Zuckerberg’s presentation, he spoke with food influencer Jack Mancuso, who was wearing Meta’s new Ray-Ban AI-powered glasses. Mancuso asked the glasses to help him make a “Korean-inspired” steak sauce for his sandwich using the ingredients laid out on his countertop. The AI responded, saying, “You’ve already combined the base ingredients…” before prompting Mancuso to “…grate the pear and gently combine it with the base sauce” repeatedly. Zuckerberg was quick to blame the hiccup on “bad wifi.”
Things got worse from there. During the next segment, the glasses failed during four separate attempts to connect a WhatsApp video call from nearby Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth using the Neural Band’s (wristband) gestures. Bosworth also blamed the Wi-Fi as the reason for the glitches. Meta’s employees in attendance can be heard laughing in the background.
On a positive note, the prescription-ready glasses will be priced at $799. They’re available for pre-order now and scheduled to launch on September 30 in the US. The glasses boast a 12 MP ultra-wide camera and a battery life of up to 8 hours that can be recharged up to 50% with the charging case in 20 minutes. As predicted, the glasses feature a single digital display in the lower-right corner that fades away when not in use. The display serves as the camera’s viewfinder, a screen for watching social media, viewing turn-by-turn directions, making video calls, and more.
Although Meta’s risky live debut of the Rayban second-generation smart glasses didn’t go as planned, we bet they’ll have the kinks worked out by launch. If not, you’ll be sure to hear about it.
