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Smart glasses. Google smart glasses. There are so many smart glasses already and Google's releasing a whole bunch of them this year. These are not Google smart glasses, but they're very similar to ones that I already know they're going to make and that I've tried. So, I'm going to talk to you about what we know about Google's plans for smart glasses in 2026. And they're pretty big. And a lot of that news is going to come at Google IO. Google's developer conference, Google IO, is starting very soon. And it's the place where Google talks about all
things that are coming in AI and for phones, but they're also talking about new tech. Specifically, what I'm interested in, smart glasses. Google's gonna have smart glasses this year. We already know this. They're going to be like the ones that I'm wearing on my face. What will they do? What's the landscape? Well, let's get into what I expect is going to happen at Google IO. Well, first of all, Google already laid the cards out here. So, I got to try some of these Google smart glasses back in December and before that, and I got to see what they could do. They work a lot like
meta ray bands and other AI glasses in that you're listening to music. You can take phone calls with speakers and microphones. They have a camera. You can look at things and say, "Hey, Gemini, what am I looking at?" Or, "Tell me about this." They also have ones that have a single display on them that can give you heads up information. It could be a map. It could be your Uber information or a notification. And eventually, Google wants to make ones with two displays. So does Meta. And that may be down the road, maybe the year after. There are going to be a number of players in the
space that Google's already inked deals with. General Monster, Warby Parker, Carring, and Samsung is in the mix. Now, Samsung may be part of making all those glasses. And there also reports that Samsung may make its own smart glasses because why not? It's Samsung. Of course, they are. And when those are going to come out, we don't know. They We may find out about launch dates at IO. Maybe they're going to launch at IO. Maybe they'll come out later this year. What I find really interesting about these glasses, though, is how much they could hook into your phone. Meta's glasses, besides how much you trust or find creepy,
Meta's own AI privacy policies, they don't do a lot with your phone. They're walled off from a lot of things that your phone runs in its OS. Google is going to allow Gemini to work similarly on the glasses to the what they do on the phone and to work with your phone notifications, and apps will be able to run on them, too. So, I saw demos of Google Maps on your phone and then getting the map directions on my glasses and looking down and seeing the street below me. I saw Uber updates that looked similar where I could look down and get my directions
to get to the Uber stop. There's a lot of seamlessness which I found really interesting and missing from smart glasses right now. I'm sure when Apple gets into the space, they'll be doing something kind of similar. But Google is going to play with that, open up things for developers. They've already been doing that through a lot of developer chats, but I think they're going to lay that even more clearly out. There is one other part of this equation that I haven't even talked about, and that's what these are on my face. Now, these aren't everyday glasses. These are XR glasses, but they're part of another product
strategy that Google's going to get into, which is a hybrid of mixed reality and smart glasses to show where the future of AR glasses are going to head. Now, XR's glasses right now already plug into a variety of things like phones, computers, basically works like a display that you wear on your face. There are other companies like VITURE that make these as well. XREAL is working with Google to make something that I tried back in December called Project Aura. Now, this has its own processor puck that runs Android XR, the same Android operating system that's
running on the Samsung Galaxy XR headset that's like a kind of like Apple Vision Pro alternative with Google that launched last fall. But the idea is that this thing with that little plug-in puck, which is not much bigger than a phone, you can basically get all those Android XR apps and see VR apps, AR apps, and multiple displays uh floating all around you with a 70in field of view, which is big and not as big as VR, but very immersive. We don't know the price of this, and we don't know how useful it's going to be. Although I do know that the Project Ora glasses
are basically going to be X-RO glasses that will also work with anything else, but they're also going to come up with that processor puck. Now, why? That's the interesting part. Again, it's about phone hookins. So, right now, you wear these, they plug into your phone, you can play a video, but they don't have a deep communication with the rest of your phone right now. Google wants to change that so that when you plug it into your phone down the road, you might get this seamless dual screen interaction so that it feels like an extended display, runs apps,
you could pull out a keyboard. Basically, your phone could be your full computer. Right now, with Project Aura, it's going to be running on a separate processor puck to achieve that same end with the idea that down the road, you're going to have phones that are going to have those same features ready to be plugged into glasses. And it also looks like something they're going to be kicking the tires on to see when will everyday glasses have full augmented reality and run multiple apps. I mean, will we even want that? But also, how capable will it be? And I think that
this plug-in project is going to be a step down that road while they also work on the AI glasses. So, that's a whole mouthful, but it's a lot. And that's what you should expect this year. And it is going to very much change the smart glasses landscape. And if you're looking to buy smart glasses, I would wait until we hear more about what Google has to say and maybe eventually what Apple has to say, but we don't even know about them yet. For the moment, it's about Google and how they're going to compete with Meta. And we're going to get into a whole lot more of that at
Google IO coming up soon. I will be there along with several of my senior colleagues looking at smart glasses, talking about smart glasses and all sorts of other things AI. So stay tuned for that. I'll probably bring some of these glasses, too. And if you have questions in the meantime or curious about what's going on, let me know in the comments. And as always, thanks for watching.
