Set to rival Meta’s Ray-Ban supremacy, Samsung and Google showed off the design(s) of the duo’s long-rumoured smart glasses this week, co-developed by Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. If you missed the whole smart glasses pitch when Meta popularised them a few years back, these similarly rely on artificial intelligence — Gemini, in this case — that the user interacts with while wearing them. The glasses are set to launch this Spring.
Another Google Glass?
The four-way resulted in two distinct pairs of glasses, though the technology inside them will remain the same. First up is Gentle Monster’s, which adopts a more, er, unique-looking appearance, while Warby Parker’s pair sticks to a familiar design. Or, as Samsung put it, “Gentle Monster presents styles with disruptive yet refined aesthetics, while Warby Parker showcases refined and timeless designs.”
The South Korean giant also confirmed what we already knew about the specs, built on the Android XR platform. These won’t have a display at all, again mimicking Meta’s more gradual approach. All the rumours point to the companies building another pair that will feature a display, set for release sometime in 2027.
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‘Til then, you’ll have to make do with these glasses’ smart features. Those include real-time translations, navigation access by having Gemini whisper in your ear, and notification summaries from the linked smartphone. It’s also loaded with a camera (exact specs are unknown), which allows Gemini to see the world around you, responding with more personal results or translating signs in real-time. It’s all very interesting, we’re sure.
That is, if the companies can get the price right. Neither Samsung nor Google have revealed pricing for the smart specs at the time of writing. We can expect to see more details in that vein closer to launch, which Google reckons will take place sometime this Spring. For reference, Meta’s first-gen glasses launched at $300 back in 2021. They’re available locally for close to double that, starting at R10,500.
