Global Virtual Reality Market Forecast to Reach $488.49 Billion by 2035

Meta Connect 2026 begins Wednesday, September 23 at 4:00 P.M. at Meta's campus in Menlo Park, California, headlining a week of investor events that also includes McDonald's Investor Day and a White House meeting between President Trump and China President Xi. The two-day livestreamed Meta showcase will include updates on the company's latest work in AI, AI-powered glasses, virtual and mixed reality, and related developer technologies, with major product announcements and a keynote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg anticipated. McDonald's holds its highly-anticipated Investor Day the same day, with investors watching how management plans to restore U.S. momentum while sustaining international growth and the durability of its new beverage platform, whose launches in the U.S., Canada, and Germany reportedly exceeded expectations. On Thursday, September 24, President Trump meets China President Xi at the White House, with Taiwan, AI, tariffs, and global conflicts expected on the agenda and more details possible on China's purchase of Boeing aircraft; Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon are expected at the evening state dinner. Also Thursday, a bond hearing is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. related to Paramount Skydance's planned $110B purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery. The week's earnings slate includes Autozone, Thor Industries, and KB Home on Tuesday; Cintas, Paychex, General Mills, and Cracker Barrel on Wednesday; and Darden Restaurants and Costco on Thursday.

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.