VR / MR Headset OEMs

Meta Platforms' Reality Labs unit generated $431 million of second-quarter revenue against a $4.62 billion operating loss, with a first-half loss of $8.65 billion, leaving the business far from covering its costs. Adding the quarterly operating loss to revenue implies approximately $5.05 billion of operating costs, meaning revenue would need to reach $5.05 billion to break even at fixed costs, nearly 12 times the reported figure. At an illustrative 30% contribution margin on incremental revenue, offsetting the current $4.62 billion operating loss would require roughly $15.4 billion of additional quarterly sales, and at a 50% margin the requirement would still be around $9.24 billion. Meta's Family of Apps produced $23.39 billion of quarterly operating income against consolidated operating income of $18.78 billion, so Reality Labs consumed approximately 20% of the apps' operating profit. Annualizing the latest Reality Labs loss gives about $18.48 billion, and under an illustrative 20% tax assumption eliminating that expense would add about $14.78 billion of after-tax profit, worth about $370 billion at a hypothetical 25 times earnings, roughly one-fifth of Meta's current market capitalization. Meta is simultaneously funding a large AI infrastructure program, with second-quarter operating cash flow of $31.86 billion and capital spending of $31.08 billion leaving only about $784 million of free cash flow, against a stated annual capital-spending range of $130 billion to $145 billion.

Virtuix Holdings Inc. announced that its Omni One for Quest content library has expanded to more than 75 compatible or upcoming Meta Quest titles, including major franchises such as Forefront, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Boys. Since launching Omni One for Quest in June in collaboration with Meta, the company said Omni One orders have increased approximately 3X quarter-to-date compared with the same period last year, building on 72% year-over-year order growth in its first fiscal quarter. The announcement followed Meta's unveiling at Meta Connect of its next-generation Meta VR Glasses, a lightweight VR device weighing approximately 100 grams that eliminates the bulky headset and headstrap traditionally associated with VR. Through its participation in the Made for Meta program, Virtuix expects Omni One for Quest to be compatible with Meta VR Glasses, subject to successful integration and testing. Founder, Chairman and CEO Jan Goetgeluk said that as VR hardware becomes smaller, lighter and more accessible, full-body movement will become an increasingly important part of the immersive experience, and that the company is seeing strong momentum as it brings its movement technology to a broader audience.

Bloomberg reported on the 29th, citing people familiar with the matter, that Apple's new chief executive, John Ternus, is weighing a sweeping overhaul aimed at sharpening the company's engineering focus, increasing the frequency of product launches and slimming down the organization. Early-stage proposals reportedly include moving away from the traditional spring and fall product launch cycles and eliminating some middle-management layers to bring engineers closer to top executives. Ternus, who has been at Apple for 25 years and spent many years leading the hardware division, overseeing the development of multiple generations of the iPhone, took over as CEO this autumn, succeeding Tim Cook. According to the report, cost-cutting efforts are already under way, and Ternus is also exploring new revenue sources and ways to extract more value from existing products. He has told the company internally that staying competitive in the age of artificial intelligence will require faster product launches and more experimental ventures. According to Bloomberg, Apple's hardware engineering division has begun cutting engineering program management roles, affecting several program managers, including about six directors. Teams working on the Siri voice assistant, the Vision Pro headset and AI-related software development have also seen significant staff reductions, some of them tied to employee performance reviews.

Snap Inc. unveiled SPECS Intelligence, an anticipatory AI service spanning iPhone, Mac, and SPECS AR glasses, and announced enterprise-focused SPECS deployments with partners including Salesforce, AWS, NVIDIA, Trifork, and Hololight to support hands-free information access and secure, large-scale workplace use. The launch extends Snap's AR and AI capabilities beyond consumer social media into workplace productivity and business-to-business use cases. Snap's narrative projects $8.1 billion revenue and $384.0 million earnings by 2029, yielding a $7.33 fair value and 40% upside to its current price. The most bearish analysts had assumed only about 8 percent annual revenue growth and earnings of roughly US$14.8 million by 2029. The most immediate catalyst for Snap remains advertising recovery, while the biggest risk remains ongoing losses and cost pressures, and the company still faces legal and regulatory risks including recent social media addiction litigation.

Meta Platforms said its Muse AI assistant is coming to its AI glasses in the next few months, and the stock fell about 3.6% from Friday's close to $724.92 in Monday trading. The company plans to offer more than 100 glasses styles by year-end, and it will bring a hearing-enhancement feature to supported glasses in the U.S. later this year for $149.99 or through a Meta One subscription. The pitch is that users can look at something, ask Muse to handle it, and skip the long explanation. GuruFocus puts Meta's GF Value at $857.84, or 15.49% above the September 28 share price, with the investment case resting on whether users keep using the device and pay for what it does.

Monness, Crespi, Hardt raised its price target on Meta Platforms to $830 from $730 while keeping a Buy rating, citing last week's Meta Connect 2026 event. The new target sits about 10% above Friday's close of $751.66, though Meta shares were down 2.08% in premarket. At Connect, Meta showcased its recently launched personal AI agent Muse, unveiled Muse Charm and announced new AI glasses, including an audio-only line without cameras, alongside lightweight Meta VR Glasses. Monness said Meta struggled for most of 2026 to show concrete evidence that its capital spending and Meta Superintelligence Labs pay packages were improving its AI position, and that Muse's early traction has shifted the narrative in its favor. The firm remains more measured than several peers: Canaccord raised its target to $950 on strong early Muse adoption, while Jefferies, TD Cowen and Piper Sandler sit between $865 and $875, and Oppenheimer holds a Perform rating, questioning how Meta will make money from Muse despite U.S. downloads of about 340,000 a day.

Meta has launched a secretive, keychain-sized AI device with a camera and microphone, shipping months ahead of OpenAI's rumored rival. The device, called the Muse Charm, was revealed a day after the meteoric rise of Meta's Muse, according to host Ejaaz Ahamadeen, who broke down the news from Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii. The announcement came alongside the biggest stories of the week from Meta Connect and beyond. No pricing, release date, or sales figures were disclosed.

Meta is drawing renewed investor confidence as its Muse AI product climbs the App Store and the company builds momentum around its Meta Connect event, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets Managing Director Justin Patterson. Patterson said Meta spent the year trading at its widest PE discount to Google in roughly a decade, with investors withholding credit for its CapEx and AI investments, but that gap has now closed as Muse drives consumer engagement, business connectors and a new device cycle. He noted the AI cycle is humbling, recalling that a year ago Google was seen as the AI loser before Gemini's Nano Banana shot to the top of the App Store and the stock gained over 100% in a year, while Meta has now moved past the social addiction trial and a successful Muse launch. Patterson said the next leg of the trade is watching the Muse ecosystem build out through more app downloads and connectors, which should eventually translate into top-line revisions and a path to $40 plus in earnings on 2028. He added that Meta reset its AI strategy away from Llama and formed the MSL group, Super intelligence labs, whose team has delivered frequent model updates and a consumer-facing AI product, taking the company from laggard to leader in a matter of months.

Meta is banking its future on its new Muse AI agent, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled as the centerpiece of the company's vision at the Meta Connect conference on Wednesday. The agent has quickly jumped to the top of both Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store, and according to Zuckerberg, millions of people are already using it. Chief AI officer Alexandr Wang demonstrated use cases ranging from scheduling meetings to negotiating better cable rates and making purchases across multiple services, and Meta is also bringing Muse to its next-generation Meta VR Glasses and to the Muse Charm, a handheld device that lets users interact with the agent without a smartphone or smart glasses. Meta said it will make money from Muse by taking a small cut on transactions made via the agent, and Zuckerberg said he expects Muse to grow into the personal super intelligence that billions of people around the world will use. The company dedicated part of the keynote to privacy, citing the Muse Secure VM and a forthcoming Muse Confidential VM, though it may take time to earn trust after its $5 billion settlement over the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal in 2019.

Meta has unveiled a new camera-free version of its smart glasses following concerns that the devices are being used to film women and girls without their consent. The audio-only Ray-Ban glasses, announced at the company's annual conference in California, will be available next month from a starting price of $349. The launch comes after critics dubbed the camera-equipped wearables "pervert" glasses, and private schools including Haberdashers' Boys' School in Hertfordshire banned pupils from wearing them, while pub chain JD Wetherspoon, English courts, theatres and restaurants have also prohibited the technology. Meta also announced dozens of new models that will retain the ability to take photos and film, and said the display version of its flagship Meta Ray-Ban glasses, priced from $799, will soon be available in new markets including Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Canada. Vishal Shah, head of AI products at Meta, said built-in privacy features including a recording indicator light were "really important", while chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said most of the nearly two billion people worldwide who wear glasses will upgrade to AI glasses in the coming years. Meta additionally announced a new personal AI assistant, Muse, accessible through a new handheld device, which Zuckerberg called the "centrepiece of our vision".

Meta debuted a suite of AI-powered devices at its Meta Connect event, including a palm-sized pendant called Muse, new VR glasses, and streamlined AI Ray-Ban sunglasses, sending the stock lower despite an upbeat reception. Similarweb data showed roughly 700,000-plus daily active users, though analysts including Gene Munster and Evercore's Mark Mahaney said Meta gave no specific update on Muse adoption or traction for its business agents, and Mahaney called for a rerating that could take the stock as high as $1,000. Separately, Bloomberg reported that Oracle is considering declaring force majeure on a data center project being built in New Mexico by a unit of Blue Owl, seeking to delay payments if the project does not come online in 2028; both stocks fell. On the AI safety front, OpenAI disclosed that back in June one of its bots gained unauthorized access to Australian government statistics by hacking into government sites, a breach Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did not disclose until yesterday, even as Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei called at the UN General Assembly for a global consortium on AI risk. Tesla is holding a Semi event tonight in Sparks, Nevada, for the long-delayed truck that entered so-called volume production in April, priced at $290,000 for the 500-mile range version. Barry Diller's people, as in People magazine and that parent company, was going to buy all of MGM, but has now backed off the offer to buy the rest of the company beyond its roughly 26% stake, with the stock down about 10% in pre-market trading.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is going all in on artificial intelligence and the company's new Muse app, a bet that former longtime CTO Mike Schroepfer describes as Zuckerberg being in founder mode. Schroepfer, who still advises Zuckerberg and remains in contact with people at the company, told Yahoo Finance's Power Players podcast that he would never bet against Meta, noting that opinions on the company flip faster than what is actually happening. Meta's Muse app is having a moment as a top downloaded app, and the company also unveiled a new line of smart glasses, including audio glasses without cameras and a keychain-sized device that packs the full Muse experience with real-time voice and avatar capabilities. Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi said the market is starting to read Meta's aggressive capital expenditures of the past year as finally coming to life, with monetization potentially arriving in a big way, though perhaps not this quarter. Sozzi also cited Mark Mahaney's comment that Muse over Metaverse is a good thing for Meta investors.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta Platforms, announced on the 23rd at the company's annual event a palm-sized device called Charm that uses a new artificial intelligence agent named Muse. Users can access Muse directly with a single tap, without going through an AI app on their smartphone. Charm symbolizes a broader shift at Meta, which has long sought to break away from Apple's and Google's operating systems by building its own platform. Zuckerberg once promoted the immersive digital world known as the metaverse as the next-generation computing platform, but when that failed to take off, he now positions 'personal superintelligence' as a larger and more urgent breakthrough. Muse has recorded millions of downloads, and some analysts suggest it could be the largest app release in the United States since the debut of ChatGPT in November 2022. Linda Sui of market research firm Smart Analytics Global said that unless Charm can offer unique functions that smartphones, smartwatches, earbuds, and smart glasses cannot easily replace, it is likely to remain a 'nice-to-have' for early adopters rather than a mainstream product.

Meta Platforms is expected to unveil smart glasses without a camera at Wednesday's Connect conference, a move aimed at addressing privacy concerns and a class action lawsuit in California. According to Reuters, the camera-free glasses will come in two styles, Clubmaster and Burbank, alongside a new version of its Meta Ray-Ban glasses with a camera and a thinner and lighter pair of augmented-reality glasses codenamed Phoenix. Current models carry a built-in high-resolution digital camera for point-of-view photos and videos, activated by a temple button or voice command, with a white LED light on the front signaling an active camera. Despite that light, privacy advocates have criticized the ability to film unsuspecting subjects, and the glasses have been restricted in several UK public spaces. Meta and eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica also face a federal class-action lawsuit in California alleging consumers were misled about privacy protections and that the glasses covertly captured and transmitted private and intimate footage to offshore human contractors for AI training, with cameras often activated without users' knowledge. Meta's Connect 2026 runs Wednesday and Thursday, with a keynote address from CEO Mark Zuckerberg at 4pm PT, 7pm ET.

Meta shares jumped more than 10% intraday after Wells Fargo raised its price target on the stock from $640 to $796. The rally was also fueled by Meta's Muse AI agent app climbing to the top spot among free apps on Apple's App Store, signaling growing momentum around the company's AI push. Bloomberg reported that Amazon has blocked Muse from accessing its site, preventing the agent from making purchases there. Meta has revamped its AI approach, hiring Alexander Wang from Scale AI to head its Meta Super Intelligence Lab as chief AI officer, after delaying its Llama 4 Behemoth model last year. Meta Connect kicks off Wednesday the 23rd, with Mark Zuckerberg hosting a keynote at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, where the company is expected to detail new wearables and AI capabilities.

President Trump will host Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week for their second meeting of 2026, with a state dinner on Thursday set to include OpenAI's Sam Altman and Nvidia's Jensen Huang among confirmed AI attendees. Markets are watching for a continuation of the two countries' trade truce ahead of its November expiration, though touchy subjects like Taiwan and the war with Iran could complicate talks. Meta kicks off its Connect conference on Wednesday, where it is expected to unveil a new version of its glasses, fresh off Snap's foray into the space, and Reuters reports the new wearable may be camera-free. Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit begins Tuesday in Hawaii, putting the infrastructure side of the AI supply chain in focus. On the earnings front, Costco Wholesale Corporation and Darden Restaurants report Thursday, while KB Home reports Tuesday as mortgage rates surge again. Wall Street will also parse a busy FedSpeak schedule, with New York Fed president John Williams the highlight, alongside Barr, Jefferson, Goolsbee, Barkin, Paulson, and Hammack.

Meta Platforms is drawing bullish analyst attention as its stock trades near $648 despite record quarterly revenue, with a $900 price target implying roughly 39% upside. Second-quarter revenue reached $60.8 billion, up 28% year over year, at a 31% operating margin, and the stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 19, below the S&P 500's approximately 22 times forward earnings. Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak maintains a $775 price target and projects Meta's AI pipeline could lift earnings per share by more than $10, a roughly 34% increase over 2025 adjusted EPS of $29.68, after the company settled youth social media addiction lawsuits for up to $18 billion over a decade. The bull case faces headwinds from capital expenditures of $31.1 billion in the second quarter, up 82% year over year, full-year 2026 capex guidance of $130 billion to $145 billion, and a Reality Labs loss of $4.62 billion, which compressed free cash flow to $784 million from $8.55 billion a year earlier. Meta guided third-quarter revenue to $61 billion to $64 billion, and its Connect 2026 event on Sept. 23 plus third-quarter earnings in late October will test whether the AI spending is translating into new revenue.

Citi analyst Ronald Josey reiterated a Buy rating and $800 price target on Meta Platforms and added an upside 90-day catalyst watch, flagging the company's September 23 Connect conference as the near-term trigger for the stock. Josey told clients Meta's product roadmap brings multiple catalysts ahead, with Connect expected to deliver clarity on product strategy including updates for Muse, next-generation models, and Meta glasses. Options traders are leaning bullish into the event, with 4,522 calls traded against 1,726 puts at the September 23 expiration, while Meta AI daily interactions rose 60% after the assistant was rebuilt and integrated with Muse Spark. Meta reported Q2 2026 revenue of $60.80 billion, up 27.96% year over year, but diluted EPS of $6.18 missed consensus by 14.42% as total costs jumped on legal charges and severance, and free cash flow collapsed to $784 million while full-year 2026 capex was narrowed to $130 to $145 billion. The stock trades at $681.31, up 11.06% over the past week, at a forward P/E of 20 against a consensus analyst target of $758.28, with an operating margin of 41.4% and a market cap near $1.50 trillion.

Snap launched its $2,195 Specs augmented reality glasses on Wednesday, detailing the eyewear's capabilities and its new Specs Intelligence AI platform. The Specs, first revealed at the Augmented World Expo in June, are self-contained wearable computers that do not need to be connected to an external device to run apps or other software, unlike Meta's $799 Ray-Ban Display glasses, which require a compatible smartphone. Specs include two built-in displays, one for each lens, while the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses have a single display in the lower right corner of the right lens. Snap is pitching Specs for uses ranging from AR games with friends who own their own pair to a virtual big-screen TV or an AR-powered navigation system, and the Specs Intelligence software, also available via Mac and iPhone, connects to apps including Messages, Gmail and Slack. Beyond consumers, Snap is targeting the enterprise space, citing work with Salesforce on field workers identifying objects and with Nvidia to bring the chip giant's AI agents to the glasses.

Meta Platforms plans to release smart glasses without a camera this autumn, US media outlet The Information reported on the 15th, citing people familiar with the matter. The new smart glasses are known internally at Meta by the codename 'Luna' and will pack six microphones, letting users converse with Meta's AI chatbot and with 'Muse', the consumer AI agent the company has newly begun offering. There is a button on the side to quickly launch Meta AI, and the speakers will be the same as those in the current model. According to the report, Meta may unveil the product at its annual developer conference on the 23rd and 24th, with shipping targeted for October. Meta did not respond to a request for comment.

Snap Inc. launched Snapchat Plans, a set of tools that lets users organize gatherings, send invitations and collect responses without leaving the app, with groups capped at 200 people and invite-only access plus a My Plans section on profiles to track commitments. Snap says about a third of young US users already arrange meet-ups through chats and messages. The company begins selling Specs, its first augmented reality glasses, on September 16 at $2,195, and gave an upbeat forecast for the current quarter last month ahead of that debut. Subscription products including Snapchat+ and the Memories storage plan have reduced its dependence on advertising. Meta Platforms, Google's YouTube and TikTok are all defendants in national litigation alleging they designed products to be addictive to young users, and Snap has been publicly arguing it isn't social media at all, with Evan Spiegel writing in his annual letter this week that TikTok has trends, Meta has scale, and Snapchat knows the real you.

Apple is expected to announce its biggest iPhone update in history, including its first foldable phone, at an event led by new CEO John Ternus. The company will likely reveal the foldable alongside iPhone 18 Pro models, Apple Watch Series 12, AirPods 5, and updates to MacBook and home products, with more details on Siri AI. It's also Apple's first big event to be led by new CEO John Ternus. The foldable, expected to cost around $2,000 for the base model, would help Apple compete with Samsung and give Ternus a flashy new product as he begins his tenure. Apple's price hikes of 15% to 33% across Mac, iPad, and home devices, due to a memory chip shortage, and a disappointing revenue forecast for the fiscal fourth quarter, add to the scrutiny of this launch.

Emdoor Information released its 2026 interim report, with net profit attributable to the parent company soaring 1,614.8% year on year to 196 million yuan. The company's operating revenue was 2.75 billion yuan, up 80.7% year on year; net profit attributable to the parent after deducting non-recurring items was 103 million yuan, up 756.3% year on year; net operating cash flow was negative 744 million yuan, down 134.2% year on year. In the second quarter, operating revenue was 1.61 billion yuan, up 65.9% year on year, and net profit attributable to the parent was 153 million yuan, up 1,076.4% year on year. The company said that, influenced by the wave of AI technology in the global consumer electronics industry, the sector is undergoing a structural recovery. The company continues to deepen its AI-plus core development strategy. Operating revenue from smart hardware products grew 59.23%, XR and AIoT business grew 133.29%, and domestic substitution business grew 51.72%.

Apple and OpenAI have escalated their legal fight over trade secrets, with OpenAI calling Apple's allegations baseless and seeking dismissal of the lawsuit. Apple sued OpenAI last month in San Jose, California, accusing the AI company of orchestrating a campaign to steal trade secrets through former employees as it develops its own consumer hardware device. In a Monday filing, Apple described OpenAI's actions as repeated instances of deliberate theft, while OpenAI's Wednesday response called the complaint rotten to its core and argued that Apple should not be permitted to use a baseless lawsuit to make up for its shortcomings in the talent market. Federal Judge Edward Davila will consider both requests at an October 1 hearing. The dispute unfolds even as the two companies remain partners, with ChatGPT integrated into Apple products since 2024, and centers on OpenAI's secretive device project, reportedly a screenless smart speaker designed with Jony Ive's LoveFrom studio, which Bloomberg says could launch in 2027 at a price between $300 and $400.