Meta to Launch Camera-Free Smart Glasses Amid Mounting Privacy Concerns
The Takeaway
- Meta plans to launch camera-free “Luna” smart glasses this fall
- Luna will instead have built in mics to speak with Meta AI
- Luna and new “Phoenix” AR glasses could debut at annual Connect summit next week
Meta Platforms plans to release a camera-free pair of smart glasses this fall, according to people familiar with the matter, as it looks to expand its hardware lineup amid privacy concerns about cameras on its existing offerings.
The new glasses model, internally code-named Luna, has six built-in microphones that will allow users to speak with Meta’s AI chatbot and its recently launched consumer AI agent, Muse, one of the people said. It also has a button on the side that can be used to quickly activate Meta AI, and speakers like those in its existing models that direct sound toward the user’s ears without covering them. In addition, the glasses have slimmer temple arms than previous Meta smart glasses such as its Ray-Ban models, making them look more like ordinary eyewear.
Meta could unveil the Luna glasses at its annual Connect developer conference, scheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday, the person said. The company is targeting October for shipments of Luna, which will come in two styles, one called Clubmaster and another called Burbank, the person added. Luna is part of an ambitious new set of plans for its wearable devices that Meta established earlier this year, The Information previously reported.
Meta hopes Luna can broaden the appeal of its wearable devices and offer an alternative to its flagship Ray-Ban smart glasses, two of the people said.
Those devices have become popular with consumers but also have faced increased scrutiny over privacy concerns, with some people misusing the devices to secretly record and harass members of the public in pursuit of viral videos and engagement on social media, according to multiple reports. Those glasses are designed with an LED light that blinks when the camera is recording, providing a visual signal to people nearby, but some users have covered or removed those.
Meta last month rolled out a software update to prevent the smart glasses’ camera from recording if that LED has been covered. Meta estimates that less than 0.1% of all glasses sold have been tampered with, Meta’s vice president of wearables, Alex Himel, recently told Semafor.
With no camera, Luna would avoid some of the privacy concerns associated with camera-equipped smart glasses, while still allowing users to interact with Meta’s AI through microphones and speakers, much like the Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta smart eyewear which have the Meta AI chatbot built in. The absence of a camera could also make the glasses less conspicuous in settings where people may be sensitive to being recorded.
Meta is pressing ahead with more devices despite racking up heavy losses in its Reality Labs division from years of bets on consumer hardware. The division reported an operating loss of $4.62 billion last quarter alone.
In addition to the two Luna smart glasses, Meta also plans to unveil new augmented reality glasses, code-named Phoenix, at Connect, two of the people said. Meta wants to market the glasses as a productivity and entertainment tool, allowing users to have their work computer screens displayed on the glasses or to watch films using them, the people said. The device comes with a device called a puck, which helps power the glasses, which are lighter than a previous version of the glasses prototype, one of the people said, adding that it also has longer battery life.
Earlier this month, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth carried out a review of Meta’s efforts to create a feature that enables hologram-like video calls, one of the people said. Zuckerberg and Bosworth decided to unveil a full-body, photorealistic hologram call experience during a live Phoenix demo in the keynote speech at Connect next week, with Bosworth appearing as the hologram, the person added, barring any changes to the current plans.
Reality Labs, Meta’s organization responsible for wearables and other advanced hardware, has been working on lifelike avatars, which Meta calls Codec Avatars, for more than a decade. The 4D avatars can mimic a user’s facial expressions and animate avatars using text prompts, according to Meta.
Phoenix was previously slated for release in the latter half of 2026. However, in December, employees in Reality Labs were told that the launch date for Phoenix would be delayed until 2027 “in order to get the details right.”