Meta is holding its annual Connect developer conference next week, and it’s going to showcase a bunch of expected updates and perhaps some surprise new hardware, alongside what might be a heavy Meta AI showcase featuring the company’s newest Llama large language model and image generator in apps like WhatsApp.

And as Meta sunsets custom tools for AR filters, we could end up seeing a whole new set of developer tools designed to harness generative AI experiences. Perhaps it will all come together in Meta’s next big push into the metaverse, including significant Horizon Worlds updates.

However, the most anticipated products expected to appear during the conference are the successor to the Meta Quest 3 and perhaps updates to the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. Hopefully, we’ll see the rumored “Orion” AR glasses, but we will need to catch the Connect keynote to find out.

When is Meta Connect 2024?

Meta’s Connect developer conference starts on Wednesday, September 25th, and ends the next day, on Thursday, September 26th. The conference will kick off with the Connect keynote, headlined by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, at 1PM ET / 10AM PT, followed immediately by a Developer keynote at 2PM ET / 11AM PT. Meta has a full program schedule on the Connect site.

How to watch Meta Connect 2024

The Meta Connect keynote will stream live on the official Meta Connect website. If you’re a Quest headset user, you can also watch it on Horizon Worlds. Following the keynotes, you can participate in live developer sessions for deep dives on AI and mixed reality on Facebook.

What to expect at Meta Connect 2024

The most exciting thing about Meta is that it holds the key to the closest thing to mainstream VR headsets with the Quest 2 and Quest 3. The latter, however, started at a price that was too high ($500 compared to the now $200 Quest 2) and did not have a very sharp AR video passthrough. Now, we’re expecting a cheaper version, the “Quest 3S,” that might sell for $299.99, according to leaks.

Meta also has other VR headsets in the pipeline, including a new Quest 4 for 2026 and something at the pro level designed for spatial computing, internally dubbed “La Jolla,” for 2027. Recent reports suggest plans for the latter might now be on ice, especially as Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro struggles to gain traction. We may not see these models specifically at Connect, but other models in the pipeline may show up.

Expect an update on the futuristic Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses at Connect, too. The current glasses look clean and aren’t too chonky, but they’re ripe for an iterative update, even if no AR capabilities are coming. The glasses respond to your commands with Meta AI, so expect fresh chatbot assistant experiences on the way.

Meta is also working on new mixed reality glasses, internally dubbed Orion, which we can expect at least a glimpse of. Snap recently let us wear its new AR Spectacles, but those are developer only, and a former Snap engineer on the project called them “obviously bad.” Hopefully, what we see of Orion is a lot more interesting.

Along with Meta’s VR strategy comes expectations of new software and experiences, including the future of games on Quest. Right now, there are questions about what Meta is doing for games: it’s shutting down the Ready at Dawn game studio that made immersive 3D games like Echo VR, while casual games like Wordle are rolling in. Meanwhile, Meta recently launched an app that lets you play console games on the headset through HDMI.