In Google I/Owe have more hands-on time with Android XRalthough in the form of more compact and portable glasses. Companies like Xreal and Samsung aim to bring Android smart glasses to the masses later this year with more portable models that can be used anywhere, as opposed to more mass-market ones. Galaxy XR Headphones. More importantly, Google is leaning on Samsung to bring its “smart glasses” vision to consumers with stylish offerings.
An official launch is still a few months away, but Samsung’s announcement revitalized enthusiasm for Android XR after a year of waiting for a suitable competitor to Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses. However, Samsung and, more importantly, Google, will have to learn from past mistakes to really get Android XR off the ground and avoid another “Glassholes” situation.
Understanding smart glasses
The smart glasses market is still in its infancy and has only recently begun to take off. Right now, Meta absolutely dominates the market, doing a great job of establishing the glasses as a multimedia device with AI features, and not the other way around. In fact, it wasn’t until later that the company really leaned into AI. adding multimodal capabilities which allows Meta AI to “see” what you’re seeing so you can understand it.
But now that AI and even displays are becoming part of the landscape, consumers are starting to wonder what the endgame is. And in a world where smartphones are everywhere, the purpose of smart glasses is not clear to everyone, especially when consumers are not even completely convinced that smart watches are necessary.
I spoke with Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC’s global device tracker, who told me in an interview that while the long-term goal of smart glasses (or smart glasses, as Samsung likes to call them) is to eventually replace our smartphones, that “won’t happen anytime soon,” even as AI models like Gemini become more capable.
However, in the short term, smart glasses are positioned as complementary devices to smartphones and companies have to make their use cases simple and attractive to consumers.
According to Ubrani, “the most immediate selling point or selling point for a lot of these smart classes today is actually audio and video first and AI second. And that’s a very clear and easy use case to sell to consumers.”
Let’s face it, we live in a content-driven world and Meta is leaning into owning Instagram to help attract consumers.
“It’s great for content creators,” Ubrani tells me. “And it offers value in the sense that it reduces the friction that consumers would have or face if they didn’t wear these glasses. It’s much easier for me to take a photo with my glasses than it is to take my phone out of my pocket, open the camera app and take a photo. The same goes for translation and music playback.”
I myself am fairly new to the current version of AI glasses with a camera, but I recently found myself taking the Lightning Type Meta Gen 2 to concerts and other social events. I like that it saves me from being another smartphone floating above the crowd and allows me to easily capture images and videos with little effort.
I’m also planning on running my first 5K later this year, and I already know that the Ray-Ban Metas will be on my face to document much of the experience.
This is the kind of experience Google and Samsung need to lean on with their next smart glasses. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to have Gemini In my face, frankly, because I’m more involved in the Google ecosystem than the Meta ecosystem. However, perceptions about AI remain mixed at best, and not everyone will be as excited about their glasses being able to tell them what’s in front of them or order an Uber.
That’s why it makes sense for Google and Samsung to focus less on AI, although they obviously don’t ignore it. Engage consumers with stylish glasses and a great camera to capture images and videos they can immediately post to their social networks. Then remind them extra benefits that come with Gemini or even a screen on your face, such as real-time translation and nanobanana editing functions.
And for some, this is already a benefit that Google and Samsung will have over Meta, especially considering how deeply Android XR will be integrated with their smartphones.
“From the device manufacturer’s perspective, from Google’s perspective, it’s about creating rigidity,” Ubrani says. “You stay within their ecosystem. You use their products and services more. And they, in turn, can learn from that and create more stickiness in the future.”
Fashion and Generation Z are the key
If Samsung and Google want Android XR to take off, they’ll have to do more than partner with companies like Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. This is a great start, following Meta’s strategy of putting more smart glasses in the hands of consumers by bringing the technology to stylish, everyday glasses. And from the looks of it, Samsung’s glasses may be something the average consumer would want to put on their face.
The next step is to get your marketing right by appealing to Generation Z and fashionable types. Ubrani highlights how this has worked for Meta, noting how the company had a mix of “fashion influencers and fashion blog writers” on Meta Connect along with analysts, journalists and developers.
It’s a strategy I’ve noticed in more technology companies lately. Motorola has relied heavily on Generation Z as the target audience for the Razr series, while partnering with fashion icons like Paris Hilton. This strategy has helped the company reach new heights with its Razr series, now with half of the US foldable marketa far cry from just a few years ago, when it was regaining its relevance.
“We need Google to do some of the same,” Ubrani tells me. “You can’t just rely on Samsung or Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. You have to invest on your own, going after a very generalized audience that doesn’t necessarily pay attention to technology.”
That’s not to say Google needs to create a pair of smart glasses of its own. While Google is surely capable of making its own “Pixel Glasses” or similar, Ubrani believes it is too early for Google, as the company is not exactly known as a fashion brand.
I will say that the Pixel line of smartphones is slowly changing the perception of Google products (they’ve never looked better). Still, the search giant doesn’t have the market share that Samsung does, and that’s a clear reason why the companies are working so closely on Android XR, it’s just that like they did with Wear OS. It would be nice to see other companies like Motorola in the mix, but Google is doing its best to get things off the ground, which I think should help it in the long run.
Other challenges
With Samsung at the helm and Google backing, Android XR is clearly poised to challenge Meta’s dominance or even prevent an eventual Apple entrance… right? Ubrani is not entirely convinced.
“It doesn’t mean they’re not capable, it’s just that Meta’s partnership with EssilorLuxottica is huge, right? Because EssilorLuxottica is the largest eyewear manufacturer in the world. They have a huge amount of distribution (Meta is) leveraging to sell these glasses. Then on the Meta side, Meta has this marketing and advertising business that is huge and rivals Google’s in many ways, and they’re leveraging that as well.”
It also helps that Meta has been willing to lose money in its Reality Labs division to sell his glasses. This heavy subsidy has paid off, helping to put more glasses on more faces, despite lacking the same ecosystem that Google will clearly benefit from. But still, Ubrani believes that Samsung and Google must be willing to do the same for Android XR to be successful, especially since their partners do not have the same level of distribution as Meta and EssilorLuxottica.
“But you know, Samsung has scale, Google has scale, so they can potentially get there. I just don’t know if they’re there yet, and it’s too early to make a decision on whether they’ll get there.”
The pieces are falling into place
When google glasses Launched in 2012, it was doomed to fail for many reasons. Aside from being too ahead of its time, the device simply had no consumer appeal. Sameer Samat, president of Google’s Android ecosystem, said this while speaking to the media at Google I/O this week.
“The most important thing I learned is that fashion comes first and technology comes second.”
It seems as if Google is very aware of the steps it needs to take to ensure Android XR is successful and doesn’t repeat the same mistakes it made in the past. And by leaning on Samsung, Google can potentially avoid any direct comparisons to Google Glass.
It also helps that consumer perception has changed since the days of Google Glass. With the prevalence of social media and the ubiquity of smartphone cameras, consumers are becoming more accepting of glasses with cameras, even if there are still some hesitations.
“We’ve certainly come a long way from the glass holes where these things are more welcome and, in some cases, you also know that people really want cameras in their faces,” Ubrani says.
“It doesn’t mean the job is done, as I think there are still some social taboos and we need to change some of these social norms… but we are certainly more accepting of technology today than we were 10 years ago.”
