Meta is preparing a new wave of AI-powered hardware, including a wearable AI pendant, according to an internal company memo detailed by The Information. The memo, as reported by The Information, lays out an ambitious roadmap that pushes Meta well beyond its current lineup of smart glasses and headsets and deeper into always-on, AI-first devices you wear on your body.
This is a significant move. Meta has spent years and tens of billions of dollars chasing the next computing platform after the smartphone. A pendant signals the company thinks that platform might not be strapped to your face at all.
What the memo reportedly covers
The Information reports that the memo outlines several hardware bets, with the AI pendant standing out as the most notable new addition. Specifics from the document point to a broader strategy rather than a single gadget:
- A wearable AI pendant, a category that puts Meta in direct competition with startups that have tried similar form factors.
- A continued expansion of Meta’s existing device ambitions, building on the momentum of its Ray-Ban smart glasses.
- A clear signal that AI, not just AR and VR, is now the organizing idea behind Meta’s hardware roadmap.
What stands out here is the shift in framing. For years, Meta’s hardware story was about the metaverse and immersive headsets. The pendant suggests the company now sees lightweight, voice-and-camera AI devices as a faster path to everyday users.
Why this matters
The AI pendant category has a rough history. Earlier attempts from startups like Humane, with its AI Pin, and various “AI companion” necklaces struggled with weak battery life, slow responses, and the basic question of why anyone needs a second device when a phone already does the job. Most flamed out or pivoted.
Meta changes that math. It has three advantages those startups never had:
- Distribution. Billions of users across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, plus retail partnerships through Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica.
- A working AI stack. Meta AI is already built into its apps and glasses, so a pendant plugs into an existing assistant rather than starting from zero.
- Hardware experience. The Ray-Ban Meta glasses have actually sold well, giving the company real lessons in building consumer wearables people want to wear in public.
That combination is why a Meta pendant should worry every other player in the space. The status quo before this was a field of underfunded startups and cautious big-tech experiments. Meta entering with scale and a memo this ambitious raises the stakes for everyone, including Apple, Google, and OpenAI, all of whom are circling the same idea of an AI device that lives with you all day.
The bigger picture
Meta’s logic is straightforward. If AI assistants become the main way people interact with technology, Meta wants to own the hardware that delivers them, not rent space on Apple’s or Google’s phones. A pendant, like the glasses, is a way to put Meta AI in front of users without going through a rival’s app store.
There’s risk here too. Always-on cameras and microphones worn on the body raise obvious privacy questions, and Meta carries more baggage on that front than most. How the company handles recording indicators, data use, and consent will shape whether the pendant gets adopted or rejected.
What to watch next
The memo is a roadmap, not a product launch, so timelines and final designs can still shift. A few things worth tracking:
- Whether Meta confirms the pendant publicly or keeps it under wraps until it ships.
- How the device handles privacy signaling, the issue that has tripped up every wearable camera so far.
- Pricing and whether Meta subsidizes hardware to grow its AI user base, as it has hinted with glasses.
Meta is betting that the device after the smartphone is something you wear, not something you hold. The pendant is the clearest sign yet of where that bet is headed. For the full breakdown of the memo and its hardware plans, the original reporting is at The Information.