“We pack the whole Muse experience, including the whole real-time voice and avatar stack, into something that fits on a keychain and is always available to talk to,” Mark Zuckerberg said on stage at Meta Connect in Menlo Park, California.
The thing he was describing is Meta Charm, a small handheld gadget for talking to the company’s new Muse AI assistant. It is about the size of an AirPods case, with a roughly 2-inch touchscreen and a built-in 5G connection. Meta says it will ship for the holidays in December. It gave no price.
The launch comes while Silicon Valley hunts for whatever follows the smartphone, and spends billions on devices built around AI assistants that can see, hear and respond to their surroundings. Glasses, wearable pins and handhelds are all in the running. Nobody yet knows which form factor wins.
Glasses first, then Muse
Meta began with AI glasses. Its Ray-Ban partnership with EssilorLuxottica became one of the first real successes in the category. The company has now spread Muse across the whole glasses line, adding computer use and links to retailers and services such as Walmart, Best Buy and Gap. Muse is to become the main interface, so wearers can shop, book appointments and finish tasks by voice.
Two other products were shown at the event. Meta VR Glasses cost $1,299 and aim to match bulkier, pricier rivals such as Apple’s Vision Pro. Moving the battery and processor into a separate puck brings the weight down to roughly that of a deck of playing cards. They launch in spring 2027. Linda Sui, founder of Smart Analytics Group, called the weight of around 100 grams “impressive”, but said the core use cases “remain broadly similar to previous VR headsets” and that the higher price could make mainstream sales hard.
Then there are the camera-free Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses, shipping from October 13 at $349, which is $100 less than the latest camera model. Dropping the cameras let Meta build its thinnest pair yet, about as heavy as a golf ball, and stretch battery life to 12 hours against nine on the third-generation Ray-Bans. New styles include the browline Clubmaster and the squared, retro Burbank. The camera models stay on sale, with two new styles, the Aviator and the cat-eyed Zena.
Privacy questions
The audio-only glasses still record sound, and nothing signals to bystanders that recording is underway. Camera models flash a light while filming. Critics say removing the cameras may not settle privacy worries. Meta has already faced privacy lawsuits and bans at some UK venues over devices that work better the more they see and hear.
Meta says privacy was not the only reason for the design. “Audio has been our most popular feature since day one because our glasses give you high-quality sound without closing you off from the world around you,” it said. Losing the cameras could still hurt demand, since photos and video rank among the most popular smart-glasses features, and it puts the glasses up against audio-only products like Apple’s AirPods.
