On September 23, 2026, Meta announced that it is expanding availability of its display-equipped AI glasses, Ray-Ban Display, beyond the United States. The glasses, previously sold only through US retail stores, are now available in the UK, Canada, France, Italy, and Germany, with online ordering enabled for the first time. Alongside the expansion, Meta introduced new features including voice-guided navigation and a hologram-style avatar for video calls.
AI Glasses Controlled by a Wristband
Ray-Ban Display packs a full-color, high-resolution display into the edge of the right lens without obstructing the wearer's field of view. Its defining feature is the Neural Band, a wristband that reads faint electrical signals from finger muscles, letting users scroll menus with a thumb swipe or confirm selections with a pinch gesture, all without touching the glasses themselves. The product launched on September 30, 2025, exclusively through US retail stores, priced at 799 USD (about 125,000 yen) for the glasses and Neural Band bundle. Battery life is rated at up to 6 hours of mixed use for the glasses (up to 30 hours with the charging case) and up to 18 hours for the Neural Band alone.
An International Rollout Delayed by Overwhelming Demand
Meta had originally planned to bring Ray-Ban Display to the UK, France, Italy, and Canada in early 2026. However, US orders far exceeded expectations, and persistent supply shortages led the company to pause its international rollout plans in January. This week's announcement marks the restart of that expansion roughly eight months later. Pricing is set at 749 GBP (about 156,000 yen) in the UK, 1,149 CAD (about 133,000 yen) in Canada, and 899 EUR (about 161,000 yen) in France, Italy, and Germany, all broadly in line with the US price of 799 USD (about 125,000 yen). Online orders opened the same day in the US, Canada, and the UK, while pre-orders opened in France, Italy, and Germany with in-store availability set to begin on October 13. Prescription lenses can be ordered through Meta's website in the US and Canada, and will be available from October 13 through EssilorLuxottica optical stores in France and Italy, with Germany to follow later this year.
One of the new features provides voice-guided directions for cycling and public transit, offering landmark-based cues such as "turn left at the yellow house." It will first roll out in the US and Canada from late September. The other highlight lets users show a photorealistic digital avatar of themselves during WhatsApp calls. After a brief face scan in the Meta AI app, the system infers facial expressions from the tone and pattern of the user's speech and reflects them on the avatar in real time; this will begin rolling out as a WhatsApp early-access feature in the US this fall. Meta also plans to gradually roll out a new "Explore" app for finding nearby spots, Dolby Atmos video recording, calendar integration, notification mirroring, and a Threads community feed.
Summary
Ray-Ban Display had long been confined to US-only, in-store sales, but this announcement turns it into a product available across the UK, Canada, and three European countries. Combined with new features like navigation and hologram calling, the glasses appear to be moving beyond a novelty display device toward something with genuine everyday utility. It remains to be seen how far Meta will extend the product's reach and feature set from here.
※Exchange rates as of September 26, 2026: 1 USD = 157 JPY, 1 GBP = 208 JPY, 1 CAD = 116 JPY, 1 EUR = 179 JPY
Source: https://about.fb.com/news/2026/09/new-features-for-meta-ray-ban-display-navigation-hologram/
