Google, Samsung Offer First Look at Android XR Smart Glasses. Here’s What You Get, and What’s Missing
https://www.pcmag.com/news/google-samung-reveal-android-xr-smart-glasses-google-io
Publish Date: 2026-05-20 19:00:00
Source Domain: www.pcmag.com
Google’s latest push into smart glasses includes “intelligent eyewear” products from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, but its I/O developer conference this week also included another look at Project Aura from XReal.
Samsung partnered with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to create glasses with exterior cameras, a microphone, and a speaker, enabling the wearer to talk to Google’s Gemini chatbot. The glasses are built on Google’s Android XR platform, meant to unleash a range of wearables connected to the company’s software ecosystem.
Our Impressions of Android XR Glasses News From Google I/O 2026
The result is a pair of “audio smart glasses” that can offer an on-the-go, voice-based AI assistant, but no display in front of your face. In a demo, the company showed the Samsung glasses wirelessly connecting to a user’s phone, then harnessing Gemini to place an online coffee order and add an event to their calendar.
The glasses can also connect to a smartwatch and transmit a photo from the eyewear to the watch. Google emphasized that the glasses will pair with both Android and iOS devices.
(Credit: Google)
The glasses can also speak and summarize your notifications and texts. “Additional features include real-time translations with audio that matches the speaker’s voice, as well as the ability to translate text on menus or signs in the user’s line of sight,” Samsung says. “Working seamlessly within the Galaxy ecosystem, the device helps users easily manage everyday tasks or effortlessly capture photos, all without taking their phone out.”
(Credit: Samsung)
Google and Samsung didn’t exactly break new ground, though. The product seems poised to compete with the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which also feature…
