What to expect at Meta Connect 2026: New AI glasses, a mixed reality headset and more

There's a lot for Mark Zuckerberg to cover at this year's keynote.

Meta is about to hold its biggest event of the year. While Connect was once solely dedicated to virtual reality, the event now covers all the company's hardware projects, as well as AI and the metaverse.

And this year could be even more jam-packed than usual. Between Meta's ever-expanding smart glasses lineup, its breakneck AI releases and the current industry freakout over the pace of AI development, there's certainly a lot of ground for CEO Mark Zuckerberg to cover.

Like last year's event, Meta has again opted for an evening keynote, with Zuckerberg taking the stage at 4PM PT/7PM ET on September 23 . There will be additional talks and developer sessions the following day, starting with a 10AM PT/1PM ET "developer state of the union." As usual, I'll be on the ground watching the keynote live from Meta's HQ in Menlo Park so check back for our liveblog and post-keynote coverage. In the meantime, here's everything I'll be looking out for during Connect.

As with the last few years, there's likely to be a lot of glasses-related news. One interesting change with this year's strategy is that the company is reportedly working on a pair of camera-free frames . These glasses, which will reportedly come in two styles, will instead come with extra microphones for chatting with Meta's AI assistant. The lack of cameras could offer Meta a couple of advantages. The frames will reportedly be a bit slimmer and look more like "normal glasses."

More significantly, they could also help Meta address ongoing privacy concerns and backlash against its current lineup of glasses. Meta has been trying to get ahead of the "creep glasses" narrative in recent weeks by cracking down on people who tamper with the LED lights and post videos of themselves harassing others. In a recent AMA on Instagram , Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said the company would have "more to say" about the issue during Connect.

Ray-Ban has recently hinted that it has new Meta-branded glasses coming soon. That could be a reference to these camera-free frames or, perhaps, a new Gen 3 lineup (the first Gen 2 models debuted at last year's Connect). Another possibility is the next generation of Meta Ray-Ban Display . There have been reports that Meta is working on a version of the glasses that will come with displays in both lenses, which would open up some interesting possibilities in terms of their UI. But it's been a while since we've heard anything about the rumored device, sometimes called "Hypernova 2," so Meta could be holding that one back for now.

It's been a while since we've seen a new headset from Meta, and we've never seen anything from them quite like the device currently known as "Phoenix." The mixed reality headset has been rumored for some time, but it certainly seems like the company is gearing up for it to make its official debut at Connect.