Mark Zuckerberg Has Begun His Quest to Kill the Smartphone
If you can’t resist checking your phone every few minutes, Mark Zuckerberg has begun his quest to kill the smartphone—and his solution might surprise you. At Meta Connect 2025, the CEO unveiled the Meta Ray-Ban Display, a pair of next-gen smart glasses that could change how we interact with technology forever.
Image Credits:Meta
Zuckerberg pitched the glasses as a way to restore presence in human connection. “The promise of glasses is to preserve this sense of presence that you have with other people,” he explained. “We’ve lost it a little with phones, and we have the opportunity to get it back.”
Why Meta Wants to Replace Your Smartphone
While the pitch sounds emotional, Meta’s motives are also strategic. By moving beyond smartphones, Meta aims to reduce its reliance on Apple and Google, who take a cut of profits through their app stores.
Meta’s Reality Labs division has lost nearly $70 billion since 2020, worrying investors. But Wednesday’s keynote finally revealed where that money has gone: into developing hardware that could someday eclipse smartphones altogether.
The Meta Ray-Ban Display: Meta’s Most Ambitious Glasses Yet
The new Meta Ray-Ban Display goes far beyond earlier versions of Meta’s smart glasses. It comes packed with:
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High-quality cameras, speakers, and microphones
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Built-in AI assistant for instant support
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Augmented display that shows Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, maps, and live translations
Unlike clunky headsets, the display is offset so it doesn’t block your sightline, making it wearable in everyday life.
The Meta Neural Band: A Game-Changer
What sets this launch apart is the Meta Neural Band, a wristband powered by surface electromyography (sEMG). This tech allows users to control their glasses with tiny hand and finger movements—almost like telepathy.
Instead of pulling out a phone, you could send a text, scroll Instagram, or get directions with just a flick of your wrist. For Meta, this is the closest step yet toward truly replacing smartphones.
Can Meta Really Kill the Smartphone?
Of course, the big question remains: can Zuckerberg actually pull this off? Meta has faced embarrassing flops before, from its overhyped social metaverse to awkward avatar launches. But the Meta Ray-Ban Display feels different—sleek, practical, and powered by AI.
If Meta succeeds, this could mark the beginning of the end for smartphones as our primary device. For now, though, the glasses remain a bold experiment in the long road ahead.
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