More than a decade after quietly shelving Google Glass, Google is back in the smart eyewear business – and this time, it has Gemini doing the heavy lifting.
At Google I/O 2026, the company unveiled a new line of AI-powered glasses set to launch this fall. Designed in collaboration with eyewear brands Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, with Samsung handling the hardware, the devices represent a markedly different approach from their ill-fated predecessor.
The first version drops the in-lens display entirely, focusing instead on audio-first interactions. Users access Gemini through voice commands or by tapping the frame, keeping their hands free and eyes on the world around them. Built-in cameras and speakers support navigation, messaging, music playback, real-time speech and text translation, and contextual queries about nearby places or objects. The glasses pair with both Android and iOS devices.
A second category featuring in-lens displays is already in development, with Google promising more details later this year.
The launch places Google directly in competition with Meta, which has already sold over seven million Ray-Ban smart glasses and established a clear early lead in the consumer AI wearables market. Snap and Apple are also building in the same direction.
Privacy questions – the defining controversy of the Google Glass era – resurface here too. AI-powered cameras that can record without bystanders’ awareness remain a live concern across the category.
Google was early to smart glasses, then walked away. Now it wants back in – and Gemini might finally give it a reason to stay.
