Meta reportedly developing camera-free Luna smart glasses

Meta’s camera-equipped smart glasses have sold better than other entrants in the category, but they’ve also unsettled some consumers who see them as invasive symbols of a surveillance-heavy future. Now, as the company faces complaints that it’s selling “pervert glasses,” it has reportedly decided to offer a version without any camera at all.

The Information reports that Meta is developing a new smart glasses model, dubbed Luna, that skips cameras in favor of a system built around communicating with Meta’s AI chatbot and Muse, its AI consumer agent. The glasses reportedly include six built-in microphones so users can talk to the chatbot, plus a side button that activates the AI system when pressed. Luna could be unveiled as soon as next week at Meta Connect, the company’s annual hardware and developer event in Menlo Park, according to the outlet. TechCrunch has reached out to Meta for more information.

The smart glasses category has grown over the past few years, with Meta near the front of the pack of providers, but concerns over usability, cost, and privacy have dogged the business, and many consumers remain unsure whether or why they should use the devices. Meta’s Reality Labs division, which builds its smart glasses line, is still losing an enormous amount of money, as the company’s April earnings report showed.

Why it matters

A camera-free Luna would let Meta chase the privacy-conscious side of the smart glasses market it has struggled with, without giving up the AI-assistant hooks it’s betting will make wearables the next major computing platform.