Google has just unveiled a series of partnerships with leading eyewear brands—including Warby Parker, Kering Eyewear, Korean fashion label Gentle Monster, and Chinese manufacturer Xreal—to develop AI-powered smart glasses.
The move follows the unexpected success of Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, which have sold over 2 million units since their 2023 debut, with EssilorLuxottica, owner of the Ray-Ban brand, now planning to scale production to 10 million units annually by the end of 2026.
These developments, along with expectations that Apple will eventually transition from its Vision Pro headset to more mainstream smart glasses, signal that eyewear is well on its way to becoming a major new computing platform. Interestingly, smart glasses are emerging as the next frontier for AI—thanks to their hands-free design and constant access to contextual data, making them ideal vehicles for AI agents that assist users in understanding and interacting with their environment.
Next-gen smart glasses are expected to offer features like real-time object recognition (e.g., describing a painting in a museum) and live translations on top of traditional functions like checking calendars or playing music. Assistive capabilities will also be a key focus, particularly for users with visual or hearing impairments.
As noted in previous reports, fully-featured AI and AR (augmented reality) prototypes still face technical hurdles. Many remain bulky—especially compared to Meta’s sleeker Ray-Bans—require tethering to a smartphone, have relatively low display resolution, and suffer from limited battery life.
That said, momentum in the smart glasses space is building rapidly, and meaningful improvements are likely within the next year or two. Notably, Meta is expected to unveil its next-generation smart glasses at the Connect 2025 conference in September.
If AR glasses succeed in becoming everyday computing devices, the implications could be massive—opening up new markets for connectivity and AI chipmakers (like Qualcomm, which powers the Meta Ray-Bans, or MediaTek) as well as display suppliers such as Himax.
