Meta Memo Outlines Ambitious Hardware Plans, Including New AI Pendant
The Takeaway
- Meta plans AI pendant, expanded AI glasses offerings and “Wearables for Work” in ambitious new hardware roadmap.
- New strategy aims to reverse losses in Meta’s harware unit, Reality Labs, which topped $4 billion last quarter.
- Meta targets 10 million wearable device sales in the second half of 2026.
Meta Platforms plans to start testing an AI pendant in the next year as part of an ambitious roadmap for wearable devices aimed at reversing the huge losses in its hardware division.
An internal memo describing the roadmap, reviewed by The Information, also lays out plans to significantly expand its selection of AI glasses and to add a business-focused service called “Wearables for Work.” The memo, from Alex Himel, Meta’s vice president of wearables, says the strategy is in part to drive more use of Meta’s AI models and products such as subscription versions of its apps and a consumer AI agent it is developing called Hatch.
Meta is racing against other big tech companies including OpenAI and Google to deploy new gadgets that they hope will propel use of their AI services. In addition to the work of its own teams, Meta has made acquisitions in the area including its purchase of AI pendant startup Limitless last year.
The company has faced sustained investor pressure to improve the performance of its Reality Labs division, which houses its consumer hardware business and has accumulated tens of billions of dollars in losses over the years. Earlier bets on the metaverse and virtual reality headsets have yet to generate meaningful returns, and the company has discontinued or scaled back some hardware efforts—including Meta Portal, a video-calling device— as the company refocuses on AI-powered wearables.
While its smart glasses have seen stronger early adoption, Reality Labs continues to burn money. Meta reported that the unit racked up more than $4 billion in operating losses in its latest quarter on revenue of just $402 million.
Meta is now looking to build recurring revenue streams through subscriptions to its chatbot, Meta AI. This week, Meta announced it is rolling out a two-tier subscription model for the AI chatbot that’s available on its Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp apps. Meta said the subscription will also extend to the company’s AI glasses.
“To build a sustainable business beyond hardware margins we need to monetize the software experiences that differentiate our devices,” Himel wrote in his memo.
Himel said Meta has set an ambitious goal of selling 10 million wearable devices in the second half of this year, driving sales by launching new products and selling them in more countries. The company aims to reach 6.8 million monthly active wearable users by the end of the year, the memo says. Eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica reported in February that it sold more than 7 million smart glasses with Meta in 2025.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last month that the number of people using Meta’s AI glasses daily has tripled year-over-year. “This continues to be one of the fastest-growing categories of consumer electronics ever,” he said in a Facebook post after Meta reported quarterly earnings.
Himel’s memo doesn’t include the specifications of the planned AI pendant—though it could include a camera. It says the company plans to start “dogfooding” the device, jargon for internal testing, next spring.
Upcoming ‘Mojito’ Glasses
Meta also is expanding the range of branded glasses it will offer, moving beyond the Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta glasses it has already launched in partnership with EssilorLuxottica. The company plans to scale the number of devices it offers consumers by expanding the number of brands and styles in order to broaden appeal and improve its gross profit, the memo says.
The first glasses to be released this year, code-named “Modelo,” are expected to debut as soon as next month. Additional models, code-named “Luna” and “RBM2 Refresh,” are slated for the fall, followed by a fourth pair called “Mojito VIP” in December. Additional internal prototypes, including “Artemis” and “SSG” (so-called “supersensing” glasses), are also being tested internally in the fall ahead of potential future releases.
The glasses and other future devices will be powered by Meta’s latest AI model, Muse Spark, and other upcoming models, alongside the yet-to-be-released AI agent Hatch, the memo says.
The strategy also involves launching a wearables developer platform, where developers will be able to upload apps to its devices. The new Wearables for Work service will target commercial customers, which Himel noted have shown a willingness to pay for devices with “vertical-specific capabilities.” The goal is to secure pilot programs with at least 10 companies, as well as deployments within at least two large organizations with more than 100 seats or devices each, he said.
Competition in AI hardware is intensifying. OpenAI acquired io Products, co-founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, for $6.5 Billion. As of early this year OpenAI had more than 200 people working on a family of AI-powered devices that will include a smart speaker likely to be priced between $200 and $300, The Information reported. Google has also announced plans to release smart glasses this fall, in partnership with Samsung.