Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday unveiled a small handheld gadget called Meta Charm for using its new Muse AI assistant, taking the company's hardware efforts beyond its successful smart glasses.
The AI device, about the size of an Apple AirPods case, features a roughly 2-inch touchscreen and a built-in 5G connection. Meta said Charm would be ready to ship for the holidays in December, but did not give a price.
"We pack the whole Muse experience, including the whole real-time voice and avatar stack, into something that fits on a keychain and is always available to talk to," Zuckerberg said at Meta's annual device event, Meta Connect, in Menlo Park, California.
Meta's surprise announcement comes as Silicon Valley searches for a successor to the smartphone, pouring billions into devices designed around AI assistants that can see, hear and respond to the world around them.
From smart glasses and wearable pins to handheld gadgets, companies are betting AI will reshape how consumers interact with technology. It remains unclear which form factor will reach mainstream status.
Meta itself started with AI glasses, turning its EssilorLuxottica Ray-Ban partnership into one of the first successes in that category.
On Wednesday, the social media giant also showed off its first virtual-reality device slim enough to pass for glasses, and a pair of camera-free smart glasses designed to ease the growing privacy backlash against AI devices that can take videos and pictures of people without consent.
The company also expanded its viral Muse AI assistant across its smart glasses lineup, adding new capabilities including computer use and integration with retailers and services such as Walmart, Best Buy, and Gap.
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