Google and Samsung's Android XR Smart Glasses Start at $395

By Marcus Bennett

Google and Samsung's Android XR smart glasses start at $395, with preorders open now and official sales beginning December 10. Nearly two years after the two companies first announced the Android XR platform that powers the hardware, the "Intelligent Eyewear" collaboration has reached the market.

Samsung provides the hardware expertise. Google handles most of the software platform. Smart glasses are one part of Android XR, which also covers mixed-reality headsets and glasses for more immersive experiences, such as last year's Samsung Galaxy XR and the upcoming Xreal Aura.

The stakes are competitive. Meta tapped Ray-Ban for its competing, market-leading wearables, and Google and Samsung have answered by signing eyewear brands Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to handle the design and fit. The two brands bring brick-and-mortar retail presence, which lets people demo the glasses before buying. Kering Eyewear, which owns brands like Lindberg and Maui Jim, has also signed up to make glasses for Android XR in the future.

What do the glasses cost and when can you buy them?

The first models are available for preorder now, with official sales starting December 10.

• Warby Parker frames start at $395 and come in three styles — Alden, Reid, and Wren — as optical or sunglasses, with various prescription, lens, and width options.
• Gentle Monster glasses start at $449, in six designs with various colors and tints, with prescription options for most frames.

The hardware inside is identical across both brands.

What are the specs?

The glasses weigh around 41 grams, which is 10 grams less than Meta's new Gen 3 glasses. Battery life is nine hours, and the included charging case can recharge the glasses up to seven times.

A 12-megapixel camera carries an LED indicator that shows everyone in eyeshot when recording is active. A button captures photos and 90-second videos at up to 3K resolution with a press. A touch-sensitive temple piece lets users tap to activate the onboard Gemini assistant, or slide two fingers back and forth to control the volume of audio from the glasses' speaker.

The devices are the first to support the "Hey Gemini" hotword, though the familiar "Hey Google" phrase also works. Juston Payne, Google's senior director of product management for XR, called the new spoken wake phrase a signal of Gemini's "optimal form" on the glasses.

"We felt that these are a Gemini-forward device," Payne told WIRED. "It's really you and Gemini going through your day together, so it was feeling a little dissonant for us. You're not talking to Google, you're talking to Gemini."

Which phones work with them?

Compatibility is limited. The glasses work only with select models of Google Pixel phones, Samsung Galaxy phones, and iPhones:

• Pixel 7 or newer
• Galaxy S or Z Fold running Samsung's One UI 9.0 or higher
• iPhone 13 Pro or newer

A Google spokesperson told WIRED the company will share more about expanding support to other phones in 2027 after launch.

Because customers buy the glasses from an eyewear brand, the brand is the customer-facing party for device problems and prescriptions. On the backend, Payne said there are elaborate business integrations and handoffs, splitting the customer service workload among the companies.

What about display glasses and audio-only models?

Google has already previewed Intelligent Eyewear glasses with displays built into the lenses, useful for navigation instructions or real-time captions for people with hearing issues. They are not ready yet. Payne said they are currently being tested by "non-Googlers" and remain on the road map, but he did not share a release window.

On plans for audio-only smart glasses, like Meta's recent Ray-Ban Audio, Warby Parker co-CEO Dave Gilboa told WIRED: "There's a pretty robust pipeline of additional products."

What can they actually do?

Unlike display smart glasses that plug into a laptop to mirror or extend a screen, or immersive glasses like Meta's VR Glasses that layer virtual experiences over the real world, Intelligent Eyewear is closer to what Google pitched with the original Google Glass years ago.

The glasses pipe notifications from a connected smartphone, and users can respond to messages by speaking to Gemini. They support music, phone calls, and audio navigation through Google Maps. They capture photos and videos, though Payne quickly notes the design intent is daily Gemini assistance, not content capture.

That framing likely reflects Meta's public scrutiny over how people use its smart glasses, severe enough to spawn a new term for their wearers: the Meta Creep — echoing the "Glasshole" label once applied to Google Glass users.

"We learned through Glass that you can make people uncomfortable if you're not clearly communicating," Payne said.

How is Google handling privacy?

Google announced a series of policies and features alongside the glasses to address those concerns:

• Tamper detection, so the camera knows if someone tried to disable the indicator light.
• Recording stops if the indicator light is blocked while recording.
• Visuals from asking Gemini to look at something are not saved in Gemini History, and Google says it will not use them to train AI models or target ads.
• The glasses automatically redact the faces of people nearby before Gemini processes visual data.

Google's full privacy-focused announcements around the glasses appear in a separate WIRED story.

How does Gemini work on the glasses?

Most features Google positions around Intelligent Eyewear rely on Gemini. See a poster for a comedy show, ask Gemini for more information, or add it to a calendar. Gemini can add items to a shopping list or build a travel itinerary with hotel recommendations and save it to a note. Some outputs are saved in the Gemini app, but the assistant can leverage other smartphone apps — it can play music on Apple Music on an iPhone, and it knows notes belong in Samsung Notes on a Samsung phone.

Activating Gemini is technically a "Gemini Live" experience: the assistant starts and supports a free-flowing conversation. A swipe back on the glasses' arm ends the interaction. Users must be specific when asking Gemini to look at something; otherwise it will not use the camera. It can summarize a page in a book, or take a spread of cocktail ingredients and return drink suggestions with step-by-step instructions, at the user's pace.

Some Gemini controls run on-device without touching the cloud, such as asking the assistant to play the next track. Early next year, Google says users will be able to use gestures on the Fitbit Air or Google Pixel Watch to control music playback or activate Gemini on the glasses from their wrist.

How well does translation work?

Translation is a major capability. Gemini automatically detects languages and translates them into the user's preferred tongue. The user must stare at the individual speaking, and the range is limited; quality depends heavily on environment and noise level. In WIRED's controlled demos it worked remarkably well, with only a few errors. The translation mimics the speaker's tone and voice so the words feel like their own.

An accessibility feature called Guided Vision provides audio descriptions for people with impaired vision, such as reading fine print or locating everyday items. Google is also collaborating with Aira to stream the glasses' feed directly to a human interpreter for real-time visual support.

Where can you try them?

To demystify the features — and persuade consumers that smart glasses are not a fad for tech insiders — Warby Parker and Gentle Monster are launching pop-up experiences in New York City this week. The pop-ups run for about a month and let people walk through the experience with a pair of nonprescription glasses to demo the Gemini capabilities.

"These are the original wearables that have been around for hundreds of years," Gilboa said. "A lot of people start by getting an eye exam in one of our stores, and then come in, do a demo, buy these — we just want to make it as easy and seamless as possible."

With display-equipped variants in external testing, Kering Eyewear on board, and a "robust pipeline" of additional products promised by Gilboa, the $395 starting price marks the opening move of a multi-year hardware push rather than a single launch.