Meta unveiled the handheld device Muse Charm at Connect 2026, integrating the personal AI Muse into a small terminal that can be attached to a keychain, allowing conversations without unlocking a phone or opening an app.

Mark Zuckerberg showcased the device at the end of his keynote, stating that they have packed real-time voice and digital avatars into a keychain-sized form. A fingerprint sensor in the top right corner activates the microphone with a touch. The appearance is similar to a thick smartwatch without a strap, featuring a small screen displaying an avatar named Jolly, with a camera and at least three microphone openings visible on the front. He mentioned that this is the fastest way to talk to Muse and show the surrounding environment without wearing glasses. The company has only produced a limited number of prototypes, and the component layout and materials are not finalized, aiming for a holiday season launch in December, with pricing yet to be announced.

Muse was launched on September 8 in the U.S. for users aged 18 and older, covering iOS, Android, web, and WhatsApp, with a free tier and paid tiers of $20 and $100 per month. Each user corresponds to a cloud-based Linux virtual machine with a built-in Chromium browser, with permissions approved by a process called Sentinel. The AI can send emails, book flights, shop, and place orders, already integrated with Shopify, PayPal, Expedia, Instacart, Gmail, OpenTable, Spotify, Ticketmaster, and more. New features include real-time video conversations, customizable voices, a standalone email, and the ability to operate a computer on Mac; smart glasses will be activated with a wake word and can directly perform tasks based on items or notices in the user's line of sight.

The hardware comes from a design lab led by former Apple interface design chief Alan Dye, with the model side belonging to the Superintelligence Lab. Zuckerberg hinted at the possibility of extracting small fees from transactions facilitated by the AI in the future. The third-generation Ray-Ban was also showcased, starting at $249.

In market dynamics, the buyers are U.S. consumers who do not want to wear glasses but want to call the AI at any time, while the sellers are Meta, bundling agent software, cloud virtual machines, and proprietary hardware into an entry point. The event was driven by the Connect release, with funds flowing from device purchases and subscriptions to computing power and hardware production lines. The beneficiaries are Meta, which already has social login, payment, and glasses channels; the pressured parties are general chatbots that still rely solely on mobile apps, as well as hardware plans like OpenAI that have yet to deliver consumer-grade devices.

After its launch, Muse quickly rose to the top of the app store rankings. Charm does not rely on unlocking a phone, but the company has not explained how it connects to servers.

Source: Public Information