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- Meta says there's high demand for its Ray-Ban Display glasses, with waitlists extending into 2026.
- Meta said Tuesday that it's pausing on a wider expansion due to supply shortages.
- The delay includes launches in the UK, France, Italy, and Canada, originally scheduled for early 2026.
Meta says it can't keep its latest AI glasses on shelves.
The Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, which came out in the fall of last year, have waitlists that extend well into 2026, the company said in a blog post on Tuesday. Due to the "unprecedented" demand for the specs, Meta said it would be pausing its planned expansion to the UK, France, Italy, and Canada, which was originally scheduled for early 2026.
"The demand has been much higher than we anticipated," Meta's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, said Monday during an ask-me-anything session on Instagram. He was responding to a question about when more units would be shipped to Best Buy.
"As soon as we produce things, we're bringing them to stores, and they're selling out, and we're continuing to do that," he said.
He added: "It's a new product, a new category, you kind of don't really know, and you want to make sure you produce to match your expected demand, and you hope to not be off by as much as we've been off here."
The $799 Display glasses feature a built-in screen that can display text messages, maps, and captions over the real world. It's a leap forward from the first-generation AI glasses, which functioned more like regular glasses with the addition of cameras and voice controls.
Buying the Display glasses isn't as simple as clicking "add to cart." Meta requires shoppers to schedule a demo appointment at a retailer, according to its website. That's assuming there are any retailers in their area, as the glasses have rolled out to a select number of Ray-Ban, Sunglass Hut, LensCrafters, and Best Buy locations in the US.
"We'll continue to focus on fulfilling orders in the US while we re-evaluate our approach to international availability," Meta wrote in its blog post.
Meta built a lot of buzz with the first iterations of the AI-powered glasses, which were released in October 2023. Since then, eyewear has been a key topic at Meta's splashy demo events, such as its annual developers conference, Meta Connect.
The European market has been a sticking point for tech companies, including Meta, on the regulatory front. The EU has been strict with holding global tech giants to its Digital Markets Act, a set of rules governing large digital platforms that provide core services, such as online search engines, app stores, and messenger services.
In April 2025, the European Commission imposed a €200 million fine on Meta, alleging that the company didn't offer a version of its services — namely its apps, Facebook and Instagram — that uses less personal data from consumers.
The Display delay wouldn't mark the first time European customers have had to wait for a Meta product. Meta said the EU may miss out on some of its AI innovations, such as models that use visual data, citing "inconsistent regulatory decision making" in an open letter signed by Mark Zuckerberg in 2024.
While the fines and regulatory hurdles may be a headache for the tech giant, selling out of its new glasses may be a problem Meta doesn't mind having.
