Now it’s Meta’s turn to host a developer conference, and this year’s Meta Connect will be held on September 25th and 26th. While much of the event will be focused on how developers can get the most out of Meta’s products, most of the actual news will likely be announced during back-to-back opening and developer keynotes on September 25th, starting at 1pm ET.
You can watch the keynote live on the Meta for Developers Facebook page. You also have the option to watch the keynote at Horizon Worlds, a “virtual experience inspired by the Meta campus in Menlo Park.” Meta has shared keynotes on its YouTube channel in the past, but only after Connect has concluded, so it’s unlikely they’ll be livestreaming the event there.
During the Connect keynote, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will talk about advances in mixed reality, AI, and wearables, and the company also promises to introduce new products and features, including potentially augmented reality glasses codenamed Orion, which executives have been teasing for some time now.
There’s also expected to be a cheaper version of the Quest 3, the Quest 3S. Leaks suggest this model could retail for $300, significantly lower than the $500 Quest 3. The Quest 3S might make it easier for people to finally ditch the Quest 2, which is significantly less powerful than the Quest 3 when the Meta launches in 2020.
Meanwhile, Meta is likely to announce updates to its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses at Connect. Meta and Ray-Ban owner EssilorLuxottica recently renewed their partnership, so there’s likely a lot more to come from the deal now or in the future.
Additionally, there will likely be a lot of AI talk during the developer keynote starting at 2pm ET, where we’ll hear more about how AI is being used in Meta headsets and smart glasses, which will likely result in a buzz about the open source Llama large-scale language model.
