U.S. tech giant Meta (META) has decided to shelve its planned international expansion of its popular Ray-Ban smart glasses to prioritize backlogged U.S. buyers. META stock fell modestly on Tuesday morning following the update.
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The Facebook parent company launched Ray-Ban in 2023 in partnership with French-Italian eyewear company EssilorLuxottica. In September, it introduced the $799 version of the smart glasses designed with a built-in display and a new Neural Band wearable device.
Meta to Re-evaluate International Launch of Ray-Ban
Meta initially planned to expand sales of the device to the UK, France, Italy, and Canada by early this year. However, Lisa Brown Jaloza, Meta’s communication manager, in a blog post noted that the social media giant has hit pause on the move due to “unprecedented demand and limited inventory”.
Jaloza pointed out that the waitlist for the device for American buyers extends well into this year despite the “extremely limited inventory” for the smart glasses. “We’ll continue to focus on fulfilling orders in the US while we re-evaluate our approach to international availability,” the Meta manager noted.
Meta Unwraps More Ray-Ban Features at CES 2026
Meta disclosed the update as part of its announcements related to the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2026 where U.S. top tech firms such as Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Intel (INTC) have rolled out several key updates on their artificial intelligence chips efforts.
Apart from the expansion update, the Silicon Valley company pulled the curtains on new features being introduced to the Ray-Ban smart glasses. One of the new features is electromyography (EMG) handwriting, that is, the ability to send messages to WhatsApp and Messenger by writing with the finger on any surface.
EMG describes the process of using electrical signals produced by the muscles used as input and control signals. Other new features include the phased rollout of an embedded teleprompter for presentation — beginning this week — and expansion of the glasses’ pedestrian navigation features to four new cities, leading to a total count of 32 U.S. cities covered.
Moreover, Meta noted that it is working in partnership with Garmin (GRMN), a designer of GPS-enabled hardware and software, to make it possible for its users to use the Neural Band to control Garmin’s in-car software. Meanwhile, Meta is reportedly making plans to raise the prices of its virtual reality devices and recently delayed the release of its Phoenix mixed reality glasses to 2027.
Is Meta Stock a Good Stock to Buy Now?
On Wall Street, Meta’s shares continue to carry a Strong Buy consensus rating from analysts. This breaks down to 37 Buys, six Holds, and one Sell issued by 44 analysts over the past three months.
In addition, the average META price target of $828.71 suggests about 26% upside from current trading levels.
