Meta used its Connect event to showcase smart glasses across demonstrations, with staff, influencers and attendees frequently wearing them. The emphasis reflects the company’s growing commitment to glasses as a major hardware and artificial-intelligence platform, while also addressing concerns about the privacy implications of camera-equipped devices.

The article highlights unreleased audio-only glasses with six microphones but no camera, designed for music, calls and voice access to Meta’s Muse assistant. The glasses are lighter and more comfortable than other models tested, although Muse sometimes became confused when the wearer spoke to someone else; Meta also demonstrated audio-only glasses intended to support people with hearing loss, a practical use case given that around 50 million Americans reportedly experience some degree of hearing loss.