Meta expected to show camera-free smart glasses at Connect as privacy backlash grows

Meta built its smart glasses business on a camera. At its Connect conference on Wednesday, it is expected to show a pair without one.

The company will unveil new glasses, including a camera-free model, amid growing concern about devices that can record people without their consent, Reuters reported.

Meta has not confirmed the product.

The camera-free glasses were first reported by The Information, which said they are codenamed Luna, carry six microphones for talking to Meta AI and its Muse agent, and will come in two styles, Clubmaster and Burbank, with shipments targeted for October.

Sales of the glasses Meta co-developed with EssilorLuxottica rose to more than 7 million last year, according to Reuters, giving it a dominant share of the market.

Several UK restaurants, pubs, and theatres restrict the glasses, and New York has barred them from its courtrooms.

Meta faces a proposed class action in California alleging it misled users about privacy protections and that human annotators viewed footage of people’s private moments; Meta contests the allegations.

Meta’s main safeguard, a light that turns on while the camera records, has not fully held up. It has pushed updates to disable the camera when the light is tampered with, but cheap stickers have been shown to defeat it.

Removing the camera may not end the argument. Some analysts told Reuters they doubt it can allay privacy concerns about AI devices that can still record audio, and that losing the camera could blunt demand, since photo and video capture ranks among the glasses’ most popular features.

Analysts also expect a new camera-equipped Ray-Ban model and a thinner augmented-reality pair, reportedly codenamed Phoenix, days after Snap detailed its $2,195 Specs AR glasses.

Meta spent years persuading people to wear a camera on their face. Now it is a bet that some would rather not.