Samsung and Google Open Preorders for 30 Gemini-Powered Smart Glasses

Samsung Electronics and Google opened preorders Thursday for 30 models of smart glasses, a lineup the companies call Intelligent Eyewear, powered by Google's Gemini AI and built with eyewear brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. The full lineup launches in Korea and the U.S. on Dec. 10. U.S. prices start at $395 for Warby Parker models and $449 for Gentle Monster models; in Korea, where only the Gentle Monster collection will be sold, prices start at 650,000 won.

The stakes are straightforward. Gemini is Google's flagship AI model, and these glasses put it into a wearable form factor that competes for the role of default AI assistant in daily life. Samsung and Google each previewed four models earlier — Google in May, Samsung in July — before unveiling the complete 30-model lineup at an event in New York.

What exactly goes on sale?

The lineup splits into two collections. The Gentle Monster collection consists of 16 variants across six designs, each with different frame colors. The Warby Parker collection features 14 variants across three designs with multiple color options. Together they account for the 30 models now available for preorder.

The distribution differs by market. The full lineup will be available in the United States. Korea gets only the Gentle Monster collection. That asymmetry shapes the pricing: American buyers can choose from both brands, while Korean buyers face a single collection with a higher entry point of 650,000 won.

Compatibility is broad. The glasses work with both Samsung Galaxy smartphones and Apple iPhones, according to the announcement, which means the product is not locked to Samsung's own device ecosystem.

What can Gemini actually do on a pair of glasses?

The core interaction model is voice. According to Google, users can summon Gemini through a simple voice command or by touching the glasses' frames. From there, the assistant handles everyday tasks: checking Google Calendar schedules, or adding items the user is looking at directly to their shopping lists.

Translation is a headline feature. Google Translate provides real-time voice translation in more than 70 languages on the glasses, and the same capability helps users understand signs written in foreign languages. For a traveler, that covers both spoken conversation and written text in the environment.

One feature targets accessibility directly. Gemini's Guided Vision offers conversational audio descriptions to assist blind and low-vision users, as well as people who need additional visual guidance in everyday situations. The glasses, per Samsung and Google, let users explore their surroundings, access information through real-time conversations and interact more intuitively in daily settings.

What hardware is inside?

The glasses use a split computing architecture, meaning they connect to a smartphone and share some processing tasks with the connected device rather than doing everything on the frame. The design choices visible in the specs:

• A 12-megapixel camera mounted on the left side of the frame.
• Qualcomm's Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 Platform as the processor.
• Up to nine hours of battery life on a single charge.
• Up to 72 hours of battery life when used with the charging case.

Those numbers matter for a wearable. Nine hours covers a working day without the case; 72 hours with the case covers travel scenarios where charging opportunities are limited. The Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 is Qualcomm's dedicated platform for lightweight smart glasses, and pairing it with offloaded processing on the phone is what makes a glasses form factor feasible at these battery figures.

How do the glasses handle privacy?

Samsung addressed the two privacy questions that dominate any camera-equipped wearable: bystander recording and data reuse. The answers come in hardware and policy.

On the hardware side, an external LED indicator lights up whenever the glasses take photos or record videos. An internal indicator and an audible alert also notify the wearer when the camera is active, which the companies say prevents unintended recording. There is a failsafe: if the external LED is covered or fails to function properly, the camera automatically disables itself.

On the data side, Samsung said visual data collected by Gemini will not be used to train AI models or for advertising purposes. The company added that the glasses use on-device processing — computation performed on the glasses themselves rather than in the cloud — to prevent the identification of people's faces when Gemini analyzes the surrounding environment. Samsung framed this as protecting the privacy of bystanders, a population that cannot opt out of being seen by the device.

These commitments carry weight because Gemini's visual features depend on continuous analysis of the wearer's environment. The pledge not to use that visual data for training or advertising, and to keep face identification off the table, addresses the two most common objections raised against camera glasses. Whether the commitments hold over the product's lifetime is a question the Dec. 10 launch begins to answer.

Why this launch matters

The commercial logic is a three-way alliance: Samsung supplies the device platform and distribution, Google supplies Gemini and Translate, and Gentle Monster and Warby Parker supply fashion credibility — 16 and 14 variants respectively, spread across designs and colors that treat the glasses as eyewear first. Thirty models at launch is an unusually wide opening lineup for a first-generation product, and the dual-brand strategy signals an attempt to reach buyers who would never purchase a gadget-styled wearable.

The cross-platform support cuts both ways. By working with Apple iPhones as well as Galaxy phones, Samsung and Google position the glasses as an AI entry point for the entire smartphone market, not a peripheral for Samsung's installed base.

Preorders are open now. The Dec. 10 launch will show whether a voice-first assistant, 70-plus-language translation, and an accessibility feature like Guided Vision — wrapped in six Gentle Monster designs and three Warby Parker designs — can move AI glasses from demo to daily wear.