Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms Inc., unveiled the Muse Charm device during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, USA on Wednesday, September 23, 2026.
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meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has long been committed to owning the hardware that consumers use to access his company’s apps. He is pushing to make the Muse AI agent the “centerpiece” of Meta’s AI strategy, and is excited about the many upcoming devices that will help make that dream a reality.
At Meta’s annual Connect conference, held a week before OpenAI’s big event for developers, the company said there will be “more than 100 types of AI glasses” by the end of 2026, and Zuckerberg on Wednesday unveiled a pendant called the Muse Charm, although he did not specify a price.
The meta was lagging far behind the generative AI game. OpenAI, human and googleAll of these feature common AI models and numerous services used by consumers and businesses. Mr. Zuckerberg is trying to make up for lost time with Muse, an app that acts as a personal assistant that responds to emails and makes travel and shopping reservations on your behalf.
Investors have been buying, pushing the stock up 4.5% on Thursday and more than 25% since Meta announced Muse earlier this month. They’re betting that Zuckerberg, who hasn’t found a big market for virtual reality since he changed his company name to Meta and shifted his strategy to Metaverse five years ago, is now on the right track.
“Meta Connect 2026 more clearly links Muse AI as a killer app that is deeply integrated into hardware strategies, extending from AR glasses to Muse Charm, a dedicated keychain-like device that provides quick access to Muse,” Mizuho analysts said in a report Thursday. The company, which recommends buying the stock, said Meta’s AI advances will “drive multiple expansions in Meta stock.”
The Muse Charm is like a combination of a child’s Tamagotchi keychain and a wearable medical buzzer. Zuckerberg said Meta still needs to finalize “finishing materials” and “component layout” to be ready to ship in time for the holiday season.
As ChatGPT creator OpenAI prepares for next week’s DevDay conference, hopes are high that Sam Altman’s company will unveil its long-awaited hardware product, which will reportedly be a hockey puck-shaped speaker.
OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment.
Ahead of OpenAI, Zuckerberg is building on the momentum of Muse, which has surged to the top of Apple’s App Store, overtaking ChatGPT. Meanwhile, OpenAI and Anthropic are grappling with growing concerns about their market-leading AI models, as commentators and company executives sound the alarm about the potential for harm to humanity.
get off the apple
For Zuckerberg, the Muse Charm is just his latest hardware effort to end the company’s reliance on it. apple For distribution. The issue has become particularly troubling since Apple changed its privacy policy in 2021, restricting app developers’ ability to further target users.
Meta has had some success with smart glasses through a partnership with Ray-Ban’s parent company. Essilor Luxottica. The company announced on Wednesday that it will include Muse in its smart glasses in the coming months, offering “hands-free access activated by saying an agent’s name.”
Meta also announced Meta VR Glasses. It’s slimmer and lighter than older Quest-branded VR headsets, but it’s also more expensive at $1,299 when it launches next year. This will be Meta’s first VR device since 2024, when the company introduced the $299 Quest 3S.
Although the pendant represents an entirely new device category, many experts say there is no clear market demand given the ubiquity and capabilities of smartphones. Zuckerberg said it has a fingerprint sensor that, when activated, allows him to talk to an AI agent.
“Why would I need to carry around another device?” Anthony Ferry, CEO of e-commerce company Wayvia, said in an interview after seeing the Connect presentation. To be of value, it has to be “easier than using your phone,” he said, adding, “If you have to pull out your phone to get some work done or modify an order, it’s just another bill.”
Anshika Jain, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, said she understands the appeal.
“Meta’s Muse Charm reflects a broader shift in the way consumers interact with AI in real-time, making it a more convenient and simpler interface for their daily lives,” Jain said in an email. “At its core is the Muse AI agent, which is designed to understand context and take action in a faster way, rather than just responding to queries.”
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Jain said Muse Charm could find “use cases such as asking questions, receiving reminders, planning, and accessing information on the go.”
In addition to proving that Muse’s sudden emergence is more than just a passing fad, Zuckerberg also needs to find a viable economic model for the AI agent. Amazon It follows similar moves against Perplexity, OpenAI, and Google to prevent Meta’s Muse from scanning sites and making purchases on behalf of customers.
Zuckerberg said he expects that “over time, by taking a small fee on transactions, we will make money.”
Ferry said companies “need to consider whether this is actually growing their business” and not just benefit Meta’s bottom line.
“If we can get customers that we haven’t been able to reach with this, that’s great,” Ferry said. “But if the same customer buys the same product through a different channel, that’s not automatically a new sale. You need to understand what it costs and whether you’ll get additional business for that money.”
“Meta has outlined a clear monetization framework, and the company expects to generate revenue primarily by making its product free to most users while taking a small fee from transactions completed through Muse,” William Blair analyst Ralph Schuckert wrote in a Thursday report.
Highlight: Meta successfully integrates AI, hardware, and data.
