Mark Zuckerberg has begun his quest to kill the smartphone

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled the Meta Ray-Ban Display, a new generation of smart glasses designed to reduce smartphone dependence and restore social presence lost to phone use. The glasses integrate with a novel Meta Neural Band wristband that uses surface electromyography (sEMG) to detect hand and brain signals, enabling users to compose text messages silently by mimicking writing gestures. Zuckerberg demonstrated texting speeds of about 30 words per minute, which is competitive with average smartphone typing speeds, marking a significant advancement over previous voice or gesture-based input methods. This innovation represents Meta’s strategic effort to capture hardware market share currently dominated by Apple and Google, reducing reliance on their app store revenues. Despite Meta Reality Labs’ history of costly projects and mixed results, the Ray-Ban Display and Neural Band showcase promising technology that could redefine user interaction by minimizing screen time and promoting more natural, discreet communication. However, it remains uncertain whether consumers will adopt this new interface over traditional smartphones, making this a high-stakes bet