Google, Meta and Snap think this tech is the next big thing
New York
CNN —
Silicon Valley thinks it's finally found the next big thing in tech: smart glasses – the same thing Google tried (and failed at) more than a decade ago.
But Google Glass may simply have been ahead of its time. Now tech companies believe technology has finally caught up, thanks in part to artificial intelligence—and they're going all-in on truly 'smart' glasses that can see and answer questions about the world around you.
The latest example: Snap announced this past week it's building AI-equipped eyewear to be released in 2026.
The renewed buzz around smart glasses is likely the combination of two trends: a realization that smartphones are no longer exciting enough to entice users to upgrade often and a desire to capitalize on AI by building new hardware around it.
That's why, although smart glasses aren't entirely new, advancements in AI could make them far more useful than the first time around. Emerging AI models can process images, video and speech simultaneously, answer complicated requests and respond conversationally.
And that could make smart glasses finally worth wearing.
'AI is making these devices a lot easier to use, and it's also introducing new ways people can use them,' said Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager covering wearable devices for market research firm The International Data Corporation.
Meet the new class of smart glasses
Google, Snap, Meta and Amazon have previously released glasses with cameras, speakers and voice assistants.
But the Google Glass of a decade ago never caught on. The screen was tiny, the battery life was short and the 'glasses' themselves were expensive and unfashionable. More modern glasses like Amazon's Echo Frames, Meta's original Ray-Ban Stories and early versions of Snap's Spectacles made it easier to listen to music or take photos hands-free. Yet these still didn't do anything you couldn't already do with a smartphone.
This newer crop of smart glasses is far more sophisticated.
For example, when I tried prototype glasses based on Google's software last year, I asked Google's Gemini assistant to provide cocktail ideas based on liquor bottles I had been looking at on a shelf. The glasses will also remember what you've seen and answer questions based on that: During its I/O developers conference in May, a Google employee asked Gemini for the name of a coffee shop printed on a cup she has looked at earlier.
With the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses, users can perform tasks like asking whether a pepper they're looking at in a grocery store is spicy or translate conversations between languages in real time. Two million pairs have been sold since their 2023 debut, Ray-Ban parent company EssilorLuxottica said in February.
Attendees wear Google Glass while posing for a group photo during the Google I/O developer conference on May 17, 2013 in San Francisco, California.'There's been several years of various failed attempts,' said Andrew Zignani, senior research director of ABI Research's Strategic Technologies team. 'But there's finally now some good concepts of what's working.'
And market research indicates the interest will be there this time. The smart glasses market is estimated to grow from 3.3 million units shipped in 2024 to nearly 13 million by 2026, according to ABI Research. The International Data Corporation projects the market for smart glasses like those made by Meta will grow from 8.8 in 2025 to nearly 14 million in 2026.
What's coming next
Snap didn't reveal many details about its forthcoming 'Specs' glasses but did say they will 'understand the world around you.
'The tiny smartphone limited our imagination,' Snap wrote in a blog post announcing the glasses. 'It forced us to look down at a screen, instead of up at the world.'
Apple is also said to be working on smart glasses to be released next year that would compete directly with Meta's, according to Bloomberg. Amazon's head of devices and services Panos Panay also didn't rule out the possibility of camera-equipped Alexa glasses similar to those offered by Meta in a February CNN interview.
'But I think you can imagine, there's going to be a whole slew of AI devices that are coming,' he said in February.
Demonstration of prototypes of glasses that can display information in the user's field of vision at the Google I/O developer conference on May 20 in Mountain View, CA.
Andrej Sokolow/picture-alliance/dpa/AP
AI assistant apps, like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Search and Gemini apps, are already laying the foundation for smart glasses by using your phone's camera to answer questions about your surroundings. OpenAI is putting its tech in everything from a mysterious new gadget co-designed by Apple veteran Jony Ive to future Mattel toys.
Google said last month that it would bring more camera use to its search app, a sign that it sees this technology as being key to the way people find information in the future. Apple this past week announced updates to its Visual Intelligence tool that let users ask questions about content on their iPhone's screen, in addition to their surroundings, by using its camera.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently reiterated his belief that smart glasses could become critical to how people use technology during testimony in a federal antitrust case.
'A big bet that we have at the company is that a lot of the way that people interact with content in the future is going to be increasingly through different AI mediums, and eventually through smart glasses and holograms,' he said in April.
Do people actually want smart glasses?
Still, tech giants need to get regular people to buy in. This includes potential privacy concerns, which played a big role in Google Glass' demise. Recording video with camera-equipped glasses is more subtle than holding up your phone, although Meta and Google's glasses have a light on the front to let other people know when a wearer is capturing content.
Perhaps the biggest challenge will be convincing consumers that they need yet another tech device in their life, particularly those who don't need prescription glasses. The products need to be worth wearing on people's faces all day.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg presents Orion AR glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on September 25, 2024.
Manuel Orbegozo/Reuters
And these devices likely won't come cheap. Meta's Ray-Bans usually cost around $300, roughly the price of a smartwatch. While that's not nearly as expensive as the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro headset, it still may be a tough sell as people spend less on ancillary tech products. Global smartwatch shipments fell for the first time in March, according to Counterpoint Research, perhaps a sign that customers aren't spending as much on devices they may not view as essential.
Yet tech firms are willing to make that bet to avoid missing out on what could be the next blockbuster tech product.
'Many in the industry believe that the smartphone will eventually be replaced by glasses or something similar to it,' said Ubrani the IDC analyst. 'It's not going to happen today. It's going to happen many years from now, and all these companies want to make sure that they're not going to miss out on that change.'
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