Meta just broke its own golden rule for smart glasses success. The company's new $800 Ray-Ban Display glasses prioritize tech over fashion, featuring a chunky design that screams 'prototype' rather than the refined aesthetics that made the original Ray-Ban Meta glasses a hit. The subtle name change from 'Ray-Ban Meta' to 'Meta Ray-Ban Display' reveals everything about this strategic shift.
Meta just threw away the playbook that made its smart glasses successful. The company's new Ray-Ban Display glasses, announced Wednesday at Meta Connect, represent a concerning return to the 'move fast and break things' mentality that CEO Mark Zuckerberg supposedly left behind years ago.
The $800 glasses pack impressive tech - a small display in the right lens, gesture-controlled wristband, and what Meta calls 'personal superintelligence.' Having demoed them at a preview event in London, WIRED's Verity Burns confirms they deliver on the technical promise. But there's a fundamental problem that could doom mass adoption.
'As impressive as they are, I still wouldn't buy them,' Burns writes after hands-on testing. 'Outside of tech fans and early adopters, I don't think a lot of people will.' The culprit isn't the premium price tag - it's the design.
While the original Ray-Ban Meta glasses succeeded precisely because they looked like regular Ray-Bans, the Display version screams 'smart glasses' in all the wrong ways. The frames are noticeably chunkier, creating what Burns describes as the 'uncanny valley of smart glasses' where subtle bulges demand attention 'but not in a good way.'
The shift becomes even more telling in the product naming. The original glasses led with 'Ray-Ban Meta' branding, emphasizing the fashion partnership. The new version flips to 'Meta Ray-Ban Display' - a tech-first approach that signals Meta's priorities have changed.
'In the world of wearable tech, aesthetics have killed more ideas than poor battery life,' notes WIRED's Amy Francombe. 'Frames are fashion. No one wants to wear a prototype on their face.' Meta seemed to understand this lesson perfectly with its first-generation success.
The original Ray-Ban Meta glasses became a surprise hit specifically because they solved the aesthetic problem that killed competitors like Google Glass and Snapchat Spectacles. Meta invested $3.5 billion for a minority stake in Essilor Luxottica (Ray-Ban's parent company) in July, recognizing that fashion expertise was crucial to mass adoption.
