Google to launch first AI glasses in 2026, decades after Glass failure

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Google is planning a major return to the smartglasses market, announcing it will launch its first new AI-powered glasses in 2026.

This move positions the tech giant to compete in the growing consumer market for AI devices, notably against Meta’s successful Ray-Ban glasses.

The new wearables are designed to integrate Google’s powerful Gemini chatbot directly onto the user’s face, allowing the AI to see and hear the world around them. This level of real-time, context-aware assistance is the key differentiator from Google’s previous effort.

The company is developing two distinct models. The first is a set of “screen-free assistance” glasses, which will use built-in speakers, microphones and cameras to enable users to chat naturally with Gemini, take photos, and get help.

The second type, “display AI glasses,” will feature an in-lens display to privately show helpful information, such as turn-by-turn navigation or real-time translation captions.

This is not Google’s first venture into smartglasses. Over a decade ago, it pioneered the technology with its augmented reality (AR) Glass device. However, that product faced significant challenges, including an unusual design, poor battery life, a lack of useful apps, and serious privacy concerns that led to users being infamously dubbed “Glassholes.”

Google ultimately halted its mass-market production in 2015.

The new models are fundamentally different because they are built on a far more advanced foundation: GenerativeAI. Google co-founder Sergey Brin noted that the capability to help users without being constantly distracting is “much higher” in the age of AI.

Google is collaborating with major eyewear companies Warby Parker and Gentle Monster on the design and hardware, aiming to create devices that look and feel like regular glasses or sunglasses, thus avoiding the aesthetic pitfalls of the original Glass.

The glasses will run on Android XR, Google’s operating system for its extended reality hardware.

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