Meta Connect is kicking off on September 25, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg taking to the stage and making a whole host of announcements. Here’s what we’re expecting based on all the rumors and leaks leading up to the special event.
After last year’s bumper set of announcements, the Zuck is back with some follow-ups — including a new cheaper headset and significant upgrades to Meta’s AI offering. But what is also interesting is what will not be at the event, as the company has seemingly given up on its plans to launch a new Meta Quest Pro. It seems like the lackluster sales of the Apple Vision Pro scared the company from this, and instead made it go for the lower price.
So without further ado, let’s take a look across all the reports we’ve seen this year and make some solid predictions on what may be coming down the line.
Meta Quest 3S
Meta’s clearly tired of the Quest 2 being its budget-tier headset, and the tech needs to fall more in line with the 3 for a consistent experience across the board. And in that vein, the Meta Quest 3S (with a $300 to $400 price range) has been pretty heavily leaked ahead of a Connect announcement.
You’ll notice that the rumored device looks very similar to the current Quest 3, albeit a rearrangement of camera holes. That tracks with the spec list we’re expecting, which seems to be making trade-offs in the sensor and lens department — going back to fresnel lenses over the sharper, more adjustable pancake lenses.
But this is all to ensure you’re still getting that Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor for a more consistent mixed reality experience across headsets.
A new generation of Meta Ray-Ban glasses
When I say “a new generation,” I don’t mean any you can buy right now. Namely, we’re hearing a lot about Project Orion — a pair of specs that Meta has worked on for nearly 10 years. Basically, think of the Meta Ray-Bans but with augmented reality display tech built-in too.
Alongside this, though, you can expect to see some AI updates to the current Ray-Ban specs too. Our predictions point toward the use of Llama 3.1 — varying from the 8B model for on-device capabilities to the 405B for wider use cases.
One thing I learned from my trip to Costa Rica is that the Meta Ray-Bans are easily one of the best AI devices you can buy right now, so any and all continuous improvements are warmly welcomed. And speaking of updates…
Meta AI upgrades
AI was a huge focus of Connect 2023, which even included an artificial version of Snoop Dogg performing as a dungeon master…yeah, we were just as confused as you! Some AI developments have been previewed already, such as the assistant in Instagram, Whatsapp and the Quest headset.
Here, we’re expecting more of a look at Meta’s conversational AI, alongside AI studio — a code-free way for people to build AI chatbots. Plus, with multimodal being all the rage, Llama’s family of models will probably get a shout-out.
