Meta launches Ray-Ban AI glasses for prescription wearers

Meta is set to debut two new models of Ray-Ban smart glasses next week, designed specifically for prescription wearers. The new rectangular and rounded styles will be sold primarily through traditional prescription eyewear channels.

This is a calculated market expansion. More than half of the world's population wears prescription glasses, and until now Meta's AI glasses have been limited to people with perfect vision. With this launch, Meta is opening up to hundreds of millions of new potential customers.

The new models carry the same AI features as existing Ray-Ban Meta glasses: built-in speakers, microphones, a camera, and integrated Meta AI for real-time assistance. Users can get directions, translations, live information, and photo capture without reaching for their phone.

Distributing through optician chains is strategically smart. It builds credibility with consumers who already trust their optician, and makes it seamless to get corrective lenses fitted into a device they are already planning to buy. It also signals that Meta is now competing directly in a space historically owned by traditional eyewear retailers.

The launch comes as Apple continues to struggle to bring its own smart glasses to market, and as Google has long since shelved the original Glass. Meta currently has no serious competitor in this category.

For enterprise buyers and CIOs, prescription-ready AI glasses move wearable AI from a consumer curiosity into a tool that can realistically be deployed across a broader workforce — particularly in field service, logistics, and healthcare settings where hands-free AI assistance has real operational value.