Meta (META.US) 2026 Developer Conference Takes the Stage This Week: Smart Glasses and Phoenix Poised for Launch, Muse AI Is the Biggest Highlight; Wells Fargo & Company Raises Price Target to $796

Meta Platforms (META.US) will hold its most important annual product event, Meta Connect 2026, from September 23 to 24 local time (September 24 to 25 Beijing time). As Meta has in recent years expanded Connect from an event centered on virtual reality (VR) into multiple fields including artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), smart glasses, and the metaverse, this year's conference is expected to focus on showcasing its latest hardware products and progress in its AI strategy. According to information disclosed so far, Meta CEO Zuckerberg will deliver a keynote speech at 7 a.m. Beijing time on September 24, followed by a series of developer-oriented events the next day. This year's market focus includes a new generation of smart glasses, a lightweight mixed reality device codenamed "Phoenix," and how Muse, the personal AI agent Meta has recently emphasized, will be further integrated into the wearable device ecosystem. At the same time, Meta's recent releases of AI models and the initial progress made by Muse have also begun to attract Wall Street attention. According to reports, Wells Fargo & Company maintained its "Overweight" rating on Meta ahead of the Connect conference and sharply raised its price target from $640 to $796, implying about 19% potential upside from Meta's previous trading day closing price. The bank believes that Meta's recent model releases and Muse's early performance give the company "a story to tell" at this year's Connect conference. As of press time, Meta's stock price rose more than 6% to $708. Smart glasses product line may expand again; "camera-free" version emerges Smart glasses are expected to remain the hardware highlight of this year's Meta Connect. Compared with its product strategy in previous years, one notable new change is that Meta is reportedly developing smart glasses that do not come with a camera. The related product may be offered in two styles and, by increasing the number of microphones, make it more convenient for users to interact by voice with the Meta AI assistant. Removing the camera could bring two advantages. On one hand, the glasses could be made even smaller, with a shape closer to ordinary glasses; on the other hand, this could also help Meta ease the long-standing privacy controversy surrounding smart glasses. Previously, some Meta smart glasses with cameras sparked controversy because users tampered with the recording indicator LED light or recorded video without others' knowledge. Meta has recently tightened restrictions on such behavior. Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth also previously said that the company would further discuss this issue during the Connect conference. At the same time, Ray-Ban recently hinted at launching new Meta-branded glasses, but it is not yet clear whether this points to a camera-free version or a new generation of regular smart glasses. There have also been market rumors that Meta is developing a product internally codenamed "Hypernova 2," whose feature is that both left and right lenses are equipped with displays. If eventually launched, binocular display could provide a richer visual interaction interface for smart glasses. However, there is currently no clear information indicating that the product will definitely appear at this Connect event. "Phoenix" mixed reality device may appear; lightweight design becomes the biggest highlight In addition to smart glasses, Meta may also showcase a new form of mixed reality device rarely seen in recent years. This product, internally codenamed "Phoenix," has recently appeared in related images in a HorizonOS update. Judging from the exposed appearance, the Phoenix body is noticeably thinner and lighter than traditional VR headsets, with an overall form closer to a large pair of goggles. The leaked images also show that the device has a connecting cable, consistent with previous reports that Phoenix will connect via cable to a separate computing module. By moving some computing and battery components out of the headset body, Meta may further reduce the weight of the worn device. In addition, Phoenix is said to support hand tracking and eye tracking, thereby reducing reliance on traditional controller handles. In terms of chips, the outside world expects Phoenix may become one of the first devices to adopt Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite chip launched this year. The chip is specifically designed for mixed reality devices, with one focus being support for thinner and lighter hardware forms. If Phoenix is officially released, Meta may also update HorizonOS simultaneously and showcase entertainment and immersive experiences matching the new device. Muse may become the AI protagonist, moving from "chat Siasun Robot&Automation" to "doing things for users" Compared with hardware, another core highlight of this year's Connect may be Muse, the AI agent Meta has recently bet heavily on. Meta launched Muse on September 8, positioning it as a personal AI agent. Unlike traditional chat Siasun Robot&Automation that mainly answer questions, Muse emphasizes directly executing tasks for users, including sending emails, booking travel, and filling out forms, and some tasks can continue running even if the user closes the app. Muse is powered by the Muse Spark model built by Meta for agent tasks and is currently being gradually rolled out in the United States through iOS, Android, muse.ai, and WhatsApp. Zuckerberg previously described Muse as a personal agent capable of understanding users' goals and continuously completing tasks on their behalf. Meta plans to keep most basic functions free while offering higher usage quotas to high-frequency users through a subscription model. Meta also launched Muse Spark 1.3 this month, further improving performance in areas such as long-running agent tasks and programming tasks. Particularly noteworthy is that Meta previously revealed that Muse support for AI glasses is coming soon. Therefore, this year's Connect may further demonstrate how AI agents and smart glasses can be combined. This combination may also give the rumored camera-free glasses a clearer use caseeven without visual input, users can still communicate with Muse by voice and let the agent execute tasks in the digital world on their behalf. Meta wants to build a glasses app ecosystem; third-party developers become key In addition to embedding its own AI capabilities into glasses, Meta also needs to solve another problem in the smart glasses ecosystem, namely that the number of third-party applications is still limited. During last year's Connect conference, Meta announced that multiple apps would come to its camera glasses, but since then the ecosystem has not expanded particularly quickly. Earlier this year, the company began allowing developers to create dedicated apps for Meta Ray-Ban Display. Therefore, even if there is no large-scale update to display-equipped glasses hardware this year, Meta may still enhance the appeal of its existing smart glasses platform by showcasing more third-party applications. For Meta, this has longer-term strategic significance. If smart glasses eventually evolve from a phone accessory into an independent computing platform, then the ecosystem formed among developers, applications, and AI agents will become an important factor determining platform competitiveness. Holographic avatars may make new progress; metaverse strategy continues to extend toward AR Although AI has clearly stolen the spotlight from the metaverse in recent years, Meta has not completely abandoned its previous investments in virtual reality and digital worlds. Another possible technical highlight at this year's Connect is more realistic holographic avatars. When Meta showcased the Orion prototype two years ago, it introduced related technology and said it would eventually bring it to virtual reality devices in the future. Qualcomm (QCOM.US), when introducing the Snapdragon Reality Elite XR chip platform, also listed "photorealistic avatars" as one of the important applications supported by the new chip. In addition, reports say that the digital avatar of Meta Chief Technology Officer Bosworth may appear during the Connect keynote. This technology is also related to Meta's readjusted metaverse strategy. Earlier this year, after the company significantly adjusted the VR business of Horizon Worlds, Bosworth emphasized that augmented reality remains part of Meta's broader definition of the "metaverse." This means that Meta's future metaverse entry point may no longer be limited to traditional VR headsets, but gradually extend to AR and smart glasses worn in daily life. Wall Street focuses on Muse commercialization; Wells Fargo & Company raises price target to $796 Ahead of Connect, Meta's recent intensive launches of AI products have become an important factor for analysts reassessing the company. According to reports, Wells Fargo & Company maintained its "Overweight" rating on Meta while raising its price target from $640 to $796. The bank expects that one of the key focuses at this year's Connect will be actual usage data for Muse and progress on Meta's latest AI models. How much revenue Muse can ultimately generate has also become a topic of discussion on Wall Street. According to media citing calculations by Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein, if Meta hopes to generate about $27.5 billion to $28 billion in annual AI agent revenue through a $20-per-month Muse subscription service, it may need about 115 million paying users. However, Helfstein is cautious about whether Muse can reach this scale, mainly considering issues such as paid conversion rates, AI market competition, and consumer trust. Therefore, the relevant estimates currently reflect more the potential revenue space for Muse under large-scale commercialization rather than a baseline forecast.