Meta’s annual Connect event is back. September 23 and 24, mark your calendars, clear your schedules, and prepare for another round of carefully choreographed hype. The company announced the dates this week, alongside a tease for what appears to be a new pair of smart glasses. The official line? The event will focus on “the latest in VR, wearables, metaverse, and AI.” All the buzzwords, neatly packaged.
I’ve been covering this industry for over a decade. I’ve seen the rise and fall of Google Glass, the awkward adolescence of VR, the gold rush that was Web3, and now the AI-ification of everything. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that Meta’s Connect events are masterclasses in controlled messaging. They show you exactly what they want you to see, and they hide the rest behind a curtain of polished demos and CEO platitudes.
So what are we actually getting this year? Let’s dig in.
The Glasses Tease: A Familiar Shape in the Shadows
The teaser image Meta released is classic Zuckerberg. A dark, moody shot of what looks like a pair of smart glasses, sitting on a surface, catching a sliver of light. It could be anything. It could be a prop from a sci-fi movie. But we know better. This is almost certainly the next iteration of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, or perhaps a new form factor entirely.
Last year’s Ray-Ban Meta glasses were a pleasant surprise. They weren’t trying to be a full AR headset. They were just good smart glasses with decent cameras, reasonable audio, and a voice assistant that didn’t make you want to throw them across the room. They sold okay. Not great, but okay. And that’s the problem.
Meta needs a hit. The Quest 3 is a solid piece of hardware, but it’s not flying off shelves. Horizon Worlds is still a ghost town in all but the most generous interpretations. And the metaverse? The metaverse is a word that now makes investors twitch. So what do you do when your grand vision is stalling? You pivot. You tease something new and shiny. You put a pair of glasses in the spotlight and hope people forget about the empty virtual dance floors.
I think these new glasses will be interesting. I think they’ll have better cameras, maybe some subtle AR overlays, and definitely deeper AI integration. But I also think they’ll be a stopgap. A way to keep the narrative moving while the real AR hardware — the stuff that actually layers digital objects onto the real world in a convincing way — remains stuck in R&D purgatory.
What struck me here is the timing. September is late for a hardware launch if you want holiday sales. Unless the glasses ship later, or unless Meta is planning to announce something bigger at the event itself. A Quest 4? A proper AR headset? I’d bet on the former, but I wouldn’t rule out the latter.
VR: The Reluctant Workhorse
Let’s talk about VR, because Connect is still, at its core, a VR conference. Or it used to be. Now it’s a mixed reality conference, an AI conference, a wearables conference, and a metaverse conference all rolled into one. That’s a lot of plates to spin.
The Quest 3 is a good headset. I use mine more than I expected. The passthrough is decent, the controllers are fine, and the library of games and apps is growing. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: VR is still a niche. It hasn’t broken through to the mainstream. The PlayStation VR2 launched and fizzled. Apple’s Vision Pro is a luxury experiment. And Meta’s Quest line, for all its affordability, still feels like a toy to most people.
I don’t think that changes this year. I think we’ll see incremental improvements: better resolution, lighter weight, maybe some new input methods. But the fundamental problem remains. VR is isolating. It’s uncomfortable for long sessions. And the killer app still hasn’t arrived. Is it a social app? A fitness app? A productivity tool? Nobody has definitively answered that question, and until they do, VR will remain a curiosity for enthusiasts.
Meta knows this. That’s why they’re pushing mixed reality so hard. The Quest 3’s passthrough is good enough to let you see your living room while you play. That’s the compromise: keep one foot in the real world so you don’t feel completely cut off. It’s a smart move, but it’s also an admission that pure VR isn’t ready for prime time.
What I want to see at Connect is a clear vision for VR that goes beyond gaming. I want to see compelling use cases for education, for remote work, for creative tools. I want to see Meta prove that VR is more than a fancy gaming console. But I’m not holding my breath.
AI: The New Shiny Toy in the Room
Ah, AI. The thing that every tech company is now required to talk about, whether it makes sense or not. Meta has been quietly building its AI capabilities for years, but it’s only recently started shouting about them. The Llama language model, the AI assistants, the generative tools for creators — it’s all part of a push to make Meta an AI-first company.
And I get it. AI is the hot thing. Investors love it. The press loves it. But there’s a risk here. Meta has a habit of chasing trends. Remember when they changed their name to Meta and went all-in on the metaverse? That worked out great. Now they’re pivoting to AI, and I worry that the metaverse — the thing they literally bet the company on — will be left to wither on the vine.
At Connect, I expect to see a lot of AI demos. Smart glasses that answer questions in real time. Avatars that move and speak more naturally. Tools that generate 3D objects from text prompts. These are all cool. They’re also distractions from the fact that the core product — the virtual world where people actually want to spend time — still isn’t there.
Here’s the question I keep coming back to: Is AI the path to the metaverse, or is it the excuse to delay it? I think it’s both. AI can make virtual worlds more dynamic and responsive. But it can also be used to paper over the cracks. A chatbot in Horizon Worlds is not the same as a bustling digital city. It’s a band-aid.
What I’d love to see is Meta using AI to solve real problems. Making VR headsets easier to set up. Reducing motion sickness. Improving hand tracking so you don’t need controllers. These are the boring, practical applications that would actually improve the experience. Instead, I suspect we’ll get flashy demos of AI-generated avatars that still look like they’re made of wax.
Wearables: The Glasses Gambit
The smart glasses tease is the headline, but wearables as a category is where Meta is placing its long-term bet. The company has been clear that they see glasses as the eventual successor to smartphones. A device you wear all day, that augments your reality without demanding your full attention.
It’s a compelling vision. But it’s also a decade away from being real. The technology isn’t there yet. Batteries are too big. Displays are too dim. Processing power is too limited. And the social stigma of wearing a computer on your face is still very real.
The Ray-Ban Meta glasses sidestepped these problems by being deliberately limited. They didn’t try to do too much. They were just glasses with a camera. That’s a smart strategy. But it also means they’re not really “smart” in the way the industry imagines. They’re a stepping stone.
At Connect, I expect Meta to show the next stepping stone. Maybe a version with a small display in the lens. Maybe better audio. Maybe a form factor that looks less like a tech gadget and more like normal eyewear. But I don’t expect a breakthrough. The breakthrough is still years away, and everyone in the industry knows it.
What concerns me is the hype cycle. Meta is good at generating excitement, but that excitement can backfire. If they promise too much and deliver too little, they risk burning the goodwill they’ve built with developers and early adopters. The XR industry is fragile. It doesn’t need another wave of disappointment.
The Metaverse Question: Is Anyone Still Listening?
Let’s address the elephant in the room. The metaverse. Meta’s entire corporate identity is now tied to this concept, but the word has become toxic in many circles. It’s associated with empty virtual real estate, ugly avatars, and a vision that feels more corporate than communal.
I think the metaverse is a good idea that was executed poorly. The technology wasn’t ready, the content wasn’t there, and the marketing was tone-deaf. Meta rushed it, and now they’re paying the price. At Connect, I expect the word “metaverse” to be used sparingly, replaced by “spatial computing” or “immersive experiences” or some other euphemism that doesn’t carry the same baggage.
But the vision hasn’t changed. Meta still wants to build a persistent, shared virtual space where people work, play, and socialize. They’re just being more careful about how they talk about it. The question is whether anyone still cares. The buzz around VR and the metaverse has faded, replaced by AI hype. Meta is fighting for relevance in a landscape that has already moved on.
I don’t think the metaverse is dead. I think it’s hibernating. It will come back when the hardware is better and the use cases are clearer. But that’s a long-term bet, and Meta needs short-term wins. That’s why they’re leaning into AI and wearables. That’s why the glasses are the star of this show.
What I’ll Be Watching For
So what do I actually expect from Connect 2026? Let me lay it out.
- New smart glasses: Almost certainly. Better cameras, deeper AI, maybe a small display. Not a revolution, but a solid iteration.
- Quest 4 tease or announcement: Possible. The Quest 3 is two years old by September. A refresh would make sense, though I’d expect a 2027 launch.
- AI everything: Expect every demo to have an AI component. AI in glasses, AI in VR, AI in avatars. It’s the flavor of the year.
- Horizon Worlds update: Maybe some new features, but I don’t expect a big push. The platform is in maintenance mode.
- Developer tools: This is where Connect has always shined. New SDKs, better integration with Unity and Unreal, and tools for building mixed reality experiences.
What I won’t be watching for is a clear, coherent vision. Meta doesn’t do that anymore. They throw a lot of things at the wall and see what sticks. It’s a strategy that has worked for them in the past — Instagram, WhatsApp, Stories — but it’s a risky approach for a company trying to build the next computing platform.
I’ll be watching the audience reaction as much as the announcements. The XR community is skeptical, and rightfully so. We’ve been burned before. We’ve been promised the future and given a prototype. If Meta can deliver something that feels real — something that works today, not just in a keynote — they might win back some trust. If not, it’s going to be a long September.
I’ll be there, taking notes, drinking the free coffee, and rolling my eyes at the buzzwords. It’s what I do.
Further Reading
Read the original announcement at Road to VR.
Original source: read the full article