Meta ditches the camera on its newest smart glasses
The Ray-Ban Meta Audio Glasses have no cameras. | Photo by Brett Putman / The Verge Walking around Meta Connect 2026, everyone's sporting smart glasses in all sorts of shapes, colors, and sizes. It's a marked difference here, a tech bubble where "pervert glasses" are not a concern. Outside Connect, the public backlash against wearable surveillance tech - a catchall term that encompasses not just smart glasses, but also smartwatches and AI pendants - is gaining steam. So it's inc
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Meta has released new smart glasses with audio capabilities but no cameras, departing from its previous camera-equipped models. This move comes amid growing public backlash against wearable surveillance technology, though the company states the audio-only design has been in development for years based on research showing audio as the top use case for AI glasses. The camera-free glasses are also lighter than previous versions, allowing Meta to remove electronics from the frame and improve design flexibility. The absence of cameras means the glasses lack the privacy concerns that have made people skeptical of recording smart glasses, though the source text does not detail what privacy controls, if any, have been added to address broader surveillance concerns.
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