EssilorLuxottica Gives the Meta Glasses the Stylish Upgrade They Desperately Needed

By Ben McKimm - News

Updated: 24 June, 2026

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Table of contents

Table of contents

• New Frame Silhouettes and the Kylie Jenner Co-Design
• Camera Upgrades and POV Capture Modes
• Smart Software and Live Translation
• Commercial Value and Retail Premiumisation

Readtime: 8 min

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• Three new frame silhouettes: rectangular Adventurer, square Fury, and a slim oval Kylie co-design.
• Uses the new Muse Spark AI engine out of the box for advanced conversational tracking.
• Co-wire temple technology and 15-degree adjustable nose pads for customised physical security.
• Expands the real-time live translation library to translate 20 total languages directly into your ears.
• Debuts a dedicated Kylie Jenner custom edition featuring a personalised AI voice profile.

While brands, including Meta themselves, previously invested billions of dollars into the headset-based Metaverse, the wearable tech space is now completely abandoning the bulky, sci-fi look in favour of hardware you can wear to lunch without getting side-eyed. Tech giants seem to finally understand that smart glasses have to function as premium fashion pieces first and computing devices second. This newly revealed line-up of Meta glasses resets the entry point for the category, launching a fresh array of styles that deliver proper, high-end optics without looking like a piece of spyware.

Meta’s latest release with EssilorLuxottica is a collection that balances tech performance with pure lifestyle aesthetics, rolling out onto shelves starting at USD$299 (AUD$599). The hardware has been retooled from the ground up, keeping components light enough to sit comfortably on your face all day while boosting on-board storage capacity to 32GB.

But we believe what will really drive consumer interest is how seamlessly the software integrates into your daily routine. Beyond basic voice commands, the smart eyewear platform features advanced Meta AI capabilities that can answer questions hands-free, based on your surroundings. So whether you’re checking your calendar, catching up on emails, or finding the best local spot to eat nearby, the assistant feeds answers directly into your ears via discreet open-ear speakers. The only thing it can’t do is eat the food. Let’s take a closer look!

Key specifications for the Meta Glasses:

• Starting price: from AUD$299 (AUD$599)
• On-Board camera: 100° Ultra-wide 12MP sensor shooting up to 3K UHD video
• Storage capacity: 32GB storage (Holds 1,000+ photos or 100+ 30s clips)
• Battery lifespan: 8+ hours on a single charge / Up to 40 hours total with folding case
• Weather protection: Hardened chassis featuring up to IP67 water and dust resistance
• Audio processing: 2 open-emanar Bluetooth speakers matched to a 6-microphone array

New Frame Silhouettes and the Kylie Jenner Co-Design

They function well, but looking great is arguably more important to a mainstream consumer who’s not particularly interested in wearing a piece of spyware. The good news is that Meta has taken a huge leap forward in visual variety with this launch, giving buyers 26 unique style combinations across eight distinct colourways. You’ll find frame colours that span a wide palette, including Classic Black, Classic Tortoise, Racing Green, Linen, Merlot, Mahogany, Sandstone, and Dark Tortoise. They’re customised by industry heavyweight EssilorLuxottica, allowing buyers to configure the frames with clear lenses, sunglasses, Transitions lenses, or Polarised lenses, depending on their individual prescription requirements.

While we’re more interested in the Fury and Adventurer frames, the most talked-about piece is the signature slim oval style created in collaboration with Kylie Jenner. This marks the first time Jenner has actively shaped the physical hardware of an AI eyewear product, taking direct control over the silhouette, frame fit, colour choice, and custom packaging. The glasses feature three-way adjustable metal nose pads and custom gem details built to catch the light on the move.

It even customises the underlying software code. When you slide the glasses on, they’ll play a custom sparkling chime before launching a Meta AI model voiced entirely by Jenner. She’s even recorded signature lines for the device, meaning you can set your morning alarm and wake up to her iconic “rise and shine” phrase echoing straight through the temple arms and into your head. Why?! Well, we’re not quite sure, but to top it off, the custom compact charging case features a built-in mirror on the inner flap (perfect for quick touch-ups on the go).

Camera Upgrades and POV Capture Modes

When we weigh the new Meta Glasses up against the popular Gen 2 Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarers, the camera hardware shares a near-identical foundation. Both sets of frames sit the camera flush in the top corner and rely on a 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor with a 100-degree field of view. They’re both capturing sharp, vertically oriented still photos alongside hands-free 3K video at 30 fps, and both allow you to push the frame rate up to 60 fps if you drop the resolution to 1080p Full HD.

Where the new Meta Glasses pull ahead of the Wayfarers is in the advanced shooting modes and physical controls. This new lineup introduces an entirely separate Action Button on the frame, meaning you no longer have to rely purely on the standard touchpad or voice prompts to trigger your favourite custom capture setups.

However, the real differentiator of the new Meta collection is what happens when you move fast. While the Ray-Ban Wayfarers are good for casual point-of-view social clips, the new Meta line is geared heavily toward action storytelling. It introduces dedicated Slow-Motion and Hyperlapse video capture modes right out of the box, letting you compress a long 10-minute bike ride into a high-speed 1-minute video track without opening a third-party editing app.

To top it off, the new Meta line’s rolling out a Dynamic Photo mode via firmware v126. When toggled on inside your media settings, hitting the Action Button fires off a rapid multi-frame burst, automatically analysing the cluster to flag the sharpest, least blurry shot while still letting you pick your own favourite frame to upload.

Both frames route all your media straight via built-in Wi-Fi 6 to the companion app, but the new line’s 32GB of storage easily handles up to 500 photos and 100 30-second clips before you need to clear up storage. Both are great options, but if you’re looking to push video quality, check out the new pairs.

Smart Software and Live Translation

The Meta Glasses’ brains run on the new Muse Spark AI platform, which gives the glasses a much deeper visual understanding of your immediate surroundings.

Voice activation uses natural context tracking, so once you initiate a conversation with the assignable action button or a voice prompt, the microphone stays active and plays a distinct tone after each answer, letting you ask follow-up questions naturally without constantly repeating the wake phrase.

Meanwhile, the live translation software is a feature shared with iOS but is arguably even more practical here, perfect for international travel by supporting real-time audio translation across 20 languages. To make it work, you simply face the person speaking, and the glasses capture their words, converting their half of the conversation directly into your ears while displaying your responses on the app screen for them to read. The system also acts as an on-the-go secretary, linking directly to your Gmail or Outlook accounts to read incoming emails, update calendar appointments, or drop a live pin on your contacts for up to 60 minutes via WhatsApp and Instagram.

Commercial Value and Retail Premiumisation

The baseline configuration starts at a retail price of USD$299 (AUD$599), which is roughly what you would pay for premium non-smart sunglasses. You’ll get the smart frames along with a portable, flat-folding travel case that delivers up to 40 hours of additional battery life to the glasses when tucked away in the box inside your bag. Note that the charging case can be specified in five distinct colour finishes, matching Black, Mocha, Forest, Cream, or Midnight Black to your personal style preferences.

By partnering with EssilorLuxottica and focusing heavily on classic, human fashion silhouettes, Meta is betting that blending deep daily AI utility with genuine style will turn smart eyewear into a permanent daily essential. We think they’re onto a winner, but we’ll have the final say once we test a pair for ourselves.

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