After months of lead-up, Samsung and Google’s smart glasses—sorry, “intelligent eyewear”—are finally here, marking the biggest splash in the space since Meta’s arrival.
Samsung and Google didn’t let us try the glasses at past demonstrations, but now we’ve had the chance to, you know, actually put them on, and the vision of camera-clad, AI-equipped eyewear is looking awfully familiar, though it’s potentially even more focused on funneling your attention to AI of it all.
Before I get into what Samsung and Google’s smart glasses do, I should note that there are two different collaborating brands at play here. There are the Samsung/Google smart glasses from Gentle Monster and the Samsung/Google smart glasses from Warby Parker. The Gentle Monster-made smart glasses start at $449, and the Warby Parker shades start at $395. They come in six styles and three styles, respectively, and will be available in stores on Dec. 10, but you can preorder them now.
To no one’s surprise, Samsung’s intelligent eyewear (its terminology for smart glasses) pulls from a similar playbook as Meta’s line of first-party and third-party-branded smart glasses.
The most unique feature set of Samsung’s smart glasses—and any smart glasses, to be honest—is still those that include computer vision, which is the ability to use your camera to ask AI about your environment.
