Google and Samsung’s Android XR Smart Glasses Are Finally Here

Since you’ll be buying the glasses from an eyewear brand, they will be the customer-facing party to handle any problems you may have with the device or prescriptions. On the backend, Payne says there are elaborate business integrations and handoffs, so the customer service workload is split between all the companies.

Google has already previewed Intelligent Eyewear glasses with displays built into the lenses—useful for showing navigation instructions or real-time captions for folks with hearing issues. However, they are not ready yet; Payne says they’re currently being tested by “non-Googlers” and are still on the road map, though he didn’t share a specific release window. As for plans to launch audio-only smart glasses, like Meta’s recent Ray-Ban Audio, Warby Parker co-CEO Dave Gilboa tells WIRED, “There’s a pretty robust pipeline of additional products.”

What Can They Do?

Smart glasses have been around for a few years, but they come in many forms. Unlike display smart glasses designed to plug into a laptop to mirror or extend your screen, or more immersive glasses like Meta’s VR Glasses, which layer virtual experiences over the real world, Intelligent Eyewear is more akin to what Google pitched years ago with the original Google Glass.

You can hear notifications pipe through from your connected smartphone and respond to messages by speaking to Gemini. You can listen to music, take phone calls, and get audio navigation through Google Maps. Yes, you can snap photos and videos too, though Payne quickly notes that these glasses are designed more to have Gemini assist you throughout the day than to capture content.

That’s likely because Meta has faced public scrutiny over how people use its smart glasses, so much so that it has spawned a new term for people wearing them: the Meta Creep (harkening back to when anyone wearing Google Glasses was called a “Glasshole”).