Meta's Ray-Ban Gen 3 smart glasses are on sale now, keeping the camera and the glowing recording light that comes with it, while adding harder-to-defeat protections against anyone trying to disable or hide that light.
Meta is launching the third generation in three frame styles: Aviator, Zena, and an updated Wayfarer, alongside 27 total color and lens combinations including transition and prescription options. Pricing starts at $449 in the US. The cameras now shoot 12-megapixel photos and 3K Ultra HD video with Dolby Atmos audio on playback, plus a Dynamic Photo mode that captures a burst of shots to pick from. Battery life climbs to nine hours, up from eight on the Gen 2, and six onboard microphones are meant to cut background noise by more than 90 percent.
The bigger story is that Meta is still betting on camera-equipped glasses at a moment when public trust in the category is shakier than ever. Meta is also launching audio-only Ray-Ban Meta glasses the same day, without cameras, in Clubmaster and Burbank styles, a hedge that reads like an admission the camera version needs a fallback for buyers who do not want to be walking recorders.
A brighter anti-tamper LED is a real improvement, but it does nothing to answer the question that started the backlash in the first place: whether the people around the wearer even notice the light, let alone trust it.