The short version
- Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) is on sale in Australia from AU$679 in Wayfarer, Aviator and Zena frames. Meta says it runs up to nine hours, an hour more than Gen 2. Gen 2 stays on sale here from AU$629.
- Ray-Ban Meta Audio, Meta’s first glasses without a camera, starts at AU$529 in Clubmaster and Burbank frames. Meta says it ships on 13 October.
- Ray-Ban Display, the glasses with a screen, is not sold in Australia. Its 23 September international launch covered Canada, the UK, France, Italy and Germany only.
- Muse, the Muse Charm pendant and Meta’s hearing-enhancement feature are not here either. Meta VR Glasses are listed for spring 2027 at US$1,299.99, with Australian pricing not announced.
- On our arithmetic, Australian prices are about 1.5 times the US dollar price for both new Ray-Ban models. The Australian figure includes GST; the US figure is before sales tax.
What you can buy here now
Meta’s Australian store listed 21 glasses on our capture date, across Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta and Meta’s own Meta Glasses brand. The “from” prices, grouped:
| Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) | Wayfarer, Aviator, Zena · from AU$679 · new at Connect 2026 |
|---|---|
| Ray-Ban Meta Audio | Clubmaster, Burbank · from AU$529 · no camera · shipping 13 October |
| Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) | Wayfarer, Skyler, Headliner from AU$629 · Blayzer Optics and Scriber Optics from AU$709 |
| Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 1) | Wayfarer, Skyler · from AU$337 |
| Oakley Meta | HSTN from AU$659 · Vanguard from AU$829 |
| Meta Glasses | Adventurer from AU$389 · Capri, Nova, Fury from AU$469 · Kylie and LISA editions from AU$629 |
Two things stand out. First, the older generations have not disappeared: Gen 1 at AU$337 is now half the price of Gen 3, and Gen 2 sits AU$50 below it. Second, there are now three brands and 21 listings selling essentially the same idea, a camera, open-ear speakers and Meta AI in a pair of frames, so the choice in Australia is mostly about fit, style and battery rather than capability.
Gen 3: an hour more, AU$50 more
Meta’s announcement describes Gen 3 as an incremental update. The claimed changes:
- Battery: up to nine hours, which Meta says is an hour more than Gen 2.
- Microphones: a six-microphone array that Meta says cuts more than 90% of background noise.
- Camera: 12 MP stills and 3K video, plus a customisable action button and the existing LED recording indicator.
- Fit: temple tips an optometrist can adjust, and two new frame shapes (Aviator and the cat-eye Zena) alongside the Wayfarer, in 27 colour and lens combinations.
Engadget’s hands-on coverage called the update a price hike as well as a battery upgrade: Gen 3 starts at US$449. In Australia, on our arithmetic from the store listing, the step from Gen 2 to Gen 3 is AU$50 at the entry price. Reasoning beyond the sources: if your Gen 2 battery already gets you through the day, there is little in Gen 3 that changes what the glasses do. The case for it is a new buyer choosing between the two, where AU$50 for an extra claimed hour and a better microphone is a modest premium.
Ray-Ban Meta Audio: the camera-free option
The more interesting product for Australians is the cheaper one. Ray-Ban Meta Audio drops the camera entirely and keeps the open-ear speakers, microphones and Meta AI. Meta’s claims: 43 grams, up to 12 hours on a charge plus up to 48 more from the case, and compatibility with a wide range of prescriptions, in 23 colour and lens combinations.
In August we looked at how Australian law handles camera glasses: surveillance-device and privacy rules that differ by state, and venues that ban recording devices outright. Reasoning beyond the sources: a pair of glasses with no camera sidesteps all of that. It cannot photograph anyone, so it should not draw the objections a camera does, and it is the first Meta glasses you could reasonably wear into a gym change room, a courtroom or a workplace with a no-camera policy, though it is worth checking any specific venue’s rules. What it gives up is everything the AI does with what you see: no “what am I looking at” questions, no visual translation of a sign or menu. Voice questions, calls, music and spoken translation remain.
At AU$529 it is AU$150 less than Gen 3 and AU$192 more than Gen 1, which also has a camera. If you want open-ear audio in prescription frames and do not want a camera on your face, this is the only Meta product built for that.
What did not come to Australia
| Ray-Ban Display | Glasses with a waveguide display in the right lens and an EMG “Neural Band” wristband for control. US$800 in the US since 2025. International launch on 23 September covered Canada (CA$1,149), the UK (£749), France, Italy and Germany (€899). Not listed on Meta’s Australian store; no Australian date announced. |
|---|---|
| Muse and Muse Charm | Meta’s personal AI agent, coming to glasses, and a pocket-sized device for talking to it. Meta says it will “share more later this year”; Australian coverage reports neither is yet available here. |
| Hearing enhancement | Announced for the US only, at US$149.99, “later this year”. |
| Meta VR Glasses | A roughly 100-gram VR headset in a glasses form, tethered to a compute puck, with micro-OLED panels. US$1,299.99, spring 2027. Australian coverage lists Australia for 2027 with local pricing to be confirmed. |
The display glasses are the notable absence. Meta paused its first international rollout early this year, citing US demand and limited stock, and the September expansion picked five markets in North America and Europe. Reasoning beyond the sources: Australia often lands in a second wave for new categories from US companies, and the hearing feature in particular sits close to the line where Australian regulators treat hearing products as medical devices, a point we covered in our hearing-tech guide. We have not seen Meta explain either decision, and we would not buy a grey import of a device whose wristband, display features and AI services may not be supported locally.
What the price ratio tells you
Our arithmetic, dividing the Australian “from” price by the US starting price Meta announced:
| Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) | AU$679 ÷ US$449 = 1.51 |
|---|---|
| Ray-Ban Meta Audio | AU$529 ÷ US$349 = 1.52 |
The Australian price includes 10% GST and the US price is quoted before state sales tax, so the two are not directly comparable; take GST out and the ratio is closer to 1.37. That is broadly in line with how US tech companies price consumer hardware here, and it is consistent across the two products, so neither looks especially marked up for Australia. We have not compared against any exchange rate, which moves daily.
Before you buy
- Get the frames fitted. Gen 3 and Audio both use temple tips designed to be adjusted. If you buy online, find an optometrist or Ray-Ban stockist who will do it.
- Prescriptions add cost. The prices above are for standard lenses. Optical and Transitions lenses are priced separately; ask for the total before you commit.
- Check what “Meta AI” means here. Feature availability for Meta AI varies by country and language, and several features announced at Connect are US-first. Read the Australian product page, not the US keynote.
- Camera glasses have rules. If you choose a model with a camera, our smart glasses privacy guide covers where recording is restricted in Australia.
- Wait for independent reviews. The battery, microphone and weight figures above are Meta’s. Ray-Ban Meta Audio is not yet shipping; independent testing will follow.
The bottom line
Australia got the incremental update and the most practical new idea from Connect 2026, but not the headline product. Gen 3 is a modest, AU$50 step over Gen 2. Ray-Ban Meta Audio, at AU$529, is the first Meta glasses that answers the privacy objection by removing the camera altogether, and it is the one worth watching when it ships on 13 October. The glasses with a screen, the AI agent and the hearing feature are still somewhere else. Until Meta names a date, assume they are not coming this year.
Sources
Figures and quotes above are drawn from these sources, captured 5 October 2026:
- Meta Store Australia - Shop all AI glasses: every Australian “from” price in the tables above, as displayed on 5 October 2026, and the absence of Ray-Ban Display from the Australian range.
- Meta Store Australia - Ray-Ban Meta Audio: the AU$529 starting price.
- Meta - Introducing Ray-Ban Meta Audio and More AI Glasses Styles (23 September 2026): Gen 3 and Audio specifications, battery claims, microphone claim, frame styles and colour counts, US starting prices, the 13 October ship date and Muse on glasses.
- Meta - The Biggest News From Connect 2026 (24 September 2026): Muse Charm, the US hearing-enhancement feature and price, and Meta VR Glasses.
- Road to VR - Meta Ray-Ban Display is finally rolling out internationally (23 September 2026): the five launch countries and their prices.
- Women Love Tech - Every gadget worth knowing from Meta Connect 2026 (2 October 2026): Australian availability of Gen 3 and Audio, and that Muse and Muse Charm are not yet available in Australia and Meta VR Glasses are due here in 2027 with pricing to be confirmed.
- VR.org - Meta Connect 2026: everything announced: Meta VR Glasses price, weight, display and spring 2027 timing.
- Engadget - Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 hands-on: better battery life and a price hike (23 September 2026): the characterisation of Gen 3 as a price increase.
- Forbes - Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses are delayed, company admits (8 January 2026): the earlier pause of the international rollout.
- New Technology - Camera glasses are $89 now, and Australian law never planned for them and Your earbuds are a medical device now: our earlier coverage referred to above.