Smart glasses have come a long way in the last couple of years, but most are yet to be truly useful or feature affordable prices. To me, the smart glasses worth owning let you enjoy a giant screen for gaming or movies without having to crane your neck.

Unfortunately, most like the Xreal One ($499) or Viture Pro ($549) are expensive. That's where the RayNeo Air 4 Pro steps in with a nearly equal features and a much friendlier price.

Right now for Prime Day, the RayNeo Air 4 Pro glasses are $60 off at Amazon. We rate the Air 4 Pro as one of the best smart glasses for anyone looking to save some money but still want a quality pair of specs.

Plus, if you really want to lean into your DC Comics fandom, the Air 4 Pro is available in two Batman-themed editions: Justice and Chaos. These feature a clip-on Batman or Joker lens cover the glasses and a few extra goodies.

The Justice and Chaos editions are on sale for $255, only $15 more than the standard model. Even if you don't want to wander your house demanding, "swear to me" it's a pretty tempting deal.

Seriously, I've been wearing these glasses at night to not bother my partner and they're quite comfortable and have the picture quality of a $500 pair of smart glasses for under $300!

The Air 4 Pro comes with HDR10, which greatly improves the quality of shows like those from Apple TV Plus. You are no longer locked to SDR content, and it's massive.

Plus, at 2.7 ounces, these glasses aren't that heavy and compared to its predecessor, runs much cooler. Plus, with the sleek design (Batman-mask aside), they look pretty normal compared to bulkier external display smart glasses.

If you're looking to get a taste of what smart glasses can do without spending a mint, the Ray Air 4 Pro might be the entry-level option you're looking for — and this Prime Day sale makes them even more appealing.

SMART GLASSES

We're tracking all the best Prime Day smart glasses deals

I just went hands-on with Meta's newest lineup of smart glasses, and one thing is immediately clear: the company is ready to move beyond borrowed brand power.

While the second-generation Ray-Ban Meta glasses started at $379, Meta’s latest collection drops the Ray-Ban (and Oakley) badges entirely. Instead, Meta collaborated directly with parent company EssilorLuxottica on a line officially called Meta Glasses and brought the starting price down to a more palatable $299.

The new collection doubles down on personalization, with highly adjustable frames, more style options, improved fit and an upgraded AI experience powered by Meta's latest LLM. It's a bold move that suggests Meta believes its smart glasses are now the product people recognize, not the logo stamped on the side.

That said, there's a hilarious twist: my favorite pair in the lineup is the very distinctly branded Kylie edition co-designed with none other than the "Rise and Shine"-singing, Knicks courtside-sitting icon herself, Kylie Jenner.

The entire collection is available now Meta.com, LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Best Buy, and Amazon. Let’s get into everything you can expect.

Meta Glasses: Styles and fit

The new main collection features three distinct styles: Adventurer (a timeless rectangular shape,) Fury (a thicker statement-making frame) and Meta Glasses by Kylie (chic oval frames, detailed more below.)

They come in a massive palette of colors including Classic Black, Classic Tortoise, Racing Green, Linen, Merlot, Mahogany, and Sandstone. Combined with sun, Transitions®, polarized, and clear lens options, there are 26 distinct styles available at launch.

But how a pair of glasses feel is equally as important to how they look. Smart glasses typically suffer from being rigid, clunky and even unforgiving. Meta is addressing this head-on with a three-prong approach to comfort:

1. Overextension Hinges: Designed to flex outward to accommodate wider head shapes without pinching.
2. Adjustable Nose Pads: A massive win for comfort, weight distribution, and keeping the lenses off your cheeks.
3. Adjustable Temple Tips: Armed with an internal core wire (which is actually visible inside the transparent colorways) that lets you mold the ear stems for a secure-but-comfortable fit.

Meta Glasses by Kylie

In addition to Fury and Adventurer, Meta revealed a new collaboration with Kylie Jenner. Offered in classic black and tortoise frames, I think these are the most "non-smart glasses looking" smart glasses ever made.

It’s a slim, trendy, oval cat-eye style complete with a distinct gem accent on the left eye. Meta and EssilorLuxottica clearly thought about the lifestyle details here. It features metal nose pads specifically chosen to protect makeup from smudging, and it ships with a sleek, fold-flat case that includes a mirror.

On the tech side, the collab gets its own custom "awake chime" and a dedicated Kylie-inspired AI voice, complete with a subtle hint of her signature vocal fry and a few custom "Kylie-isms."

Muse Spark: Smarter, More Contextual AI

Under the hood, these frames pack the exact same reliable platform of cameras, microphones, battery, and processing chip as the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses Gen 2. But the software ushers in the next phase of Meta AI powered by the Muse Spark LLM.

Meta Glasses are the first to launch with Muse Spark from Day 1, though the software update is also rolling out to existing Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta glasses. As part of my demo, I tried two interactions powered by Muse Spark:

• Live Translation: Muse Spark adds support for 14 new languages including Chinese (Mandarin,) Hindi, Korean, Japanese and Arabic. In my demos translating live speech and text, the execution was mostly seamless and effective.
• Social-Infused Insights: The AI now pulls local recommendations based on what real people are actually talking about on Threads and Facebook. In other words, social chatter will be factored into your location-based queries.

Pedestrian Navigation goes audio-only

Another major software port coming to this collection is pedestrian turn-by-turn navigation, a feature originally seen on Meta Display glasses.

Since these frames lack a screen or heads-up display, you won't get visual overlays superimposed on the world. Instead, Meta is utilizing its excellent open-ear audio platform to give you precise, ambient audio directions as you walk through the city.

Be sure to let me know if the comments if you’re interested in hearing from the Tom's Guide team when we test out this audio-only navigation experience on Meta Glasses.

A massive win for prescription wearers

In a huge move for those with a prescription, Meta announced the Rx Lens Swap program alongside Meta Glasses.

Meta Glasses are fully prescription-compatible, but now you can take your frames to your preferred local optician after the point of purchase to add your custom lenses without voiding the factory warranty.

Meta Glasses Outlook

Ditching the Ray-Ban and Oakley branding is a bold move, especially when Google is leaning heavily into high-end fashion collabs with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster for its own upcoming smart glasses.

But I believe Meta has established itself enough in this space that it doesn’t need to rely on logo leverage anymore. Mainstream users will probably still call these "the Meta Ray-Bans" out of habit, but this launch proves Meta can scale style beyond a single partner's catalog and make its smart glasses more wallet-friendly.

That said, I'm slightly worried Meta might have made these frames a little too discreet. It makes me wonder if it will actually hurt their reach. Half the reason the original Ray-Ban Metas took off was because people would stop you in the street to ask if they’re the camera glasses. With the new collection looking like a great pair of everyday frames, Meta might lose that word-of-mouth viral spark, even if my face already feels a whole lot better wearing them.

More from Tom's Guide

• I've reviewed all of Meta's smart glasses, and this is the pair I'd actually buy
• 7 settings to change first on your Ray Ban Meta glasses
• I wore Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses while shopping at Target

In a world of AI glasses and VR headsets, Snap Specs are an ambitious (and chunky) meeting point of the two technologies — aiming to bring a generational leap in spatial computing.

But as you well know, everybody has their own ideas of what this new form of wearable will be, and in the eyes of Even Realities CTO, Jian Ouyang, it’s a different, simpler, ambient computing platform that focuses on making sure the glasses look good first.

The company’s G2 glasses have been my daily driver for a few months now, so when I got the time to sit down with him and Developer Relations head, Raag Harshavat, I wanted to get their thoughts on Snap’s radical rethink of smart glasses and also ask how things are going with the team gearing up for Even Realities G3.

Editor's note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

“Forget the smart part of it, right?”

So I started by asking him about the biggest news coming out of AWE 2026: Evan’s big Snap Specs debut. “I think from the first look, people can tell we’re [Even Realities] a different category, right? So 132 and 136 grams are not for all-day wearing,” Ouyang commented.

“We did strong ergonomic R&D research from the beginning to see what’s the good form factor for normal glasses to be worn all day — that answer is below 40 grams.” And to be fair to him, you can see signs of this in one of the pictures I took that’s been going viral across different accounts.

You know this one, right? Where Evan's left ear looks like it's getting crushed a bit by the downward pressure of those stems. Snap's CEO has responded to this image circulating, saying "that's what my ear looks like."

With this looks-first mission, Even Realities took a very different route. “We killed the camera feature, the speaker, and we maintained the display and voice input with all the microphones to get us the right weight,” Ouyang added. “We’re not trying to replace a cell phone because we need to leverage the computational resources and services.”

This was getting interesting, so I dug a little deeper with them — asking about the differences in DNA that make up each of these devices and their companies. “So much of the DNA of Even Realities is what makes eyewear special first. Forget the smart part of it, right?” Harshavat commented. “I think so much about the session-based use vs the quiet tech philosophy that we use…being with someone in moments that they both expect and don’t expect.”

In this, he’s referring to what Ouyang will go on to call ambient computing. This is the idea that a device fades into the background — only to come to life in ways you expect and with features that surprise you in their usefulness (Conversate on Even Realities G2 for example).

It’s a huge, far more simplistic differentiator compared to Snap’s big idea, and Jian is aware of that. “They might think 'one day I’m going to replace it' [the smartphone]. I don’t think it's right or wrong. It’s just up to the user to decide — either I’m going to wear this [pointing to his G2s] all day, or I’m just going to wear this for like 30 minutes for fun. It’s a different application.”

The plan for Even Realities G3

Then we got to the future of Even Realities’ own glasses. I know they won’t spill all the beans on future hardware like the G3, but I can get a bit of a flavor as to where their heads are.

“I think the overall hardware road map for us is to maintain a good form factor and constantly push for new technologies to get into our platform,” Ouyang responded. “As battery and hardware technology evolves, everything gets smaller, and we may be able to squeeze more features in there.”

With that tantalizing opener, I moved in to ask about the possibility of a camera built-in for more multimodality in the AI, and it’s not seeming likely. Fun fact: Even Realities CTO used to be one of the camera engineers on the iPhone — he knows a thing or two about the power consumption of packing a snapper! And he cautioned that while a camera is something they are “chasing,” they cautioned that getting to the point of one without massive power consumption “might take years.”

Instead, he talked about the kind of experience he wants to bring with G3 and beyond: your own “personal Jarvis” in agentic AI. “What we foresee is a more open system based on AI with a hardware platform that everything routes through,” Ouyang contemplated.

“This [points to glasses] is the nearest to your eyes and they can hear you, but there won’t be any kind of app. You don’t have to click on something or type in the worlds — all you need to do is imagine like you have your personal Jarvis buying something online, booking tickets and more.”

Outlook

For years, I always thought that the first real goal to achieve for smart glasses will be taking the computing prowess of a VR headset and smashing it down to something the size of glasses. In reality, that goal has changed drastically over many different interpretations.

Some (like Even Realities) believe in the quiet tech revolution — ambient computing that truly fades into the background — and whoever is right will be up to you when that future comes.

More from Tom's Guide

• Tested: Xreal Aura DOES work with Nintendo Switch over USB-C — they won’t tell me how they did it, but I think Snapdragon Reality Elite and Android XR is the way
• You've got questions about Xreal Aura, and I've got answers — 5 things you need to know about these Android XR glasses
• Snapdragon Reality Elite is here, and I’ve already tested it without realizing in Xreal’s Project Aura — its a giant step towards the future of smart glasses

Augmented World Expo (AWE) has evolved rapidly into one of the biggest shows for seeing the future of virtual reality, smart glasses and spatial computing. This year's edition gave us some truly showstopping news with earth-shaking announcements from Snap, Qualcomm and many more.

It really feels like we're getting to the point where the lines of VR headset and smart glasses are starting to blur into one device that gives you all the performance of a big set of goggles — crammed into something the size of specs.

And while there were some key headline announcements, that key DNA of small innovations that will change the face of spatial computing in the future remained strong underneath. We were able to go hands-and face-on with several products here, and now it's time to pick the cream of the crop. Here are our picks for best of AWE 2026.

Best of show: Snap Specs

Snap's iPhone moment is here. The Snap Specs are official, and they're far beyond any other standalone glasses you've seen in terms of capability. This is what happens when you combine the tech of the best VR headsets with the portability of the best smart glasses.

The end result is more than just a technologically advanced set of frames, but rather a new paradigm in computing — moving it away from being a tool that takes you out of the world to a form that gets out of the way. They're a bit chunky, but the design around this hefty tech makes them look kinda stylish!

They've worked with developers for years with prototype hardware, and with over 5 million lenses ready to use from measuring things in free space to augmented guides on complex real-world tasks like fixing a car, and much more.

Will Specs stick the landing? That's the ultimate question of these $2,195/£1,995 glasses. That's a high price to pay — making them much more targeted towards the early adopters in this space. Time will tell what happens in the future of these glasses, but we did genuinely just witness a breakthrough moment in AR.

Jason England

Best chip: Snapdragon Reality Elite

Snapdragon Reality Elite is the high-end follow-up to the XR Gen 2 that powers the Galaxy XR headset. It comes with upgrades in performance and efficiency, powering the Xreal Aura compute puck.

In several eyes-on demos with the Xreal Aura, I've been impressed with the performance of the glasses and the processor. The glasses are responsive and quick, and I'm not saying it's the only thing that enables the Auras to connect to the Switch 2, but we played latency-free Breath of the Wild and the chip certainly helped make that happen.

This chip does what Qualcomm claims by bringing "spatial computing into the AI era." Snapdragon Reality Elite blurs the line AR glasses and VR headsets with hardware that makes spatial computing useful; now it's up to the software to catch up.

Scott Younker

Best AR glasses: Xreal Aura

The Samsung Galaxy XR is a good mixed reality headset, but for all the Android XR and Gemini features it has, they feel a little limited in the isolation of a chunky VR set you use at home.

Enter Xreal's Aura, and turns out a pair of AR glasses is the answer to a lot of this. Moving to optical see-through (OST - basically seeing the real world through lenses rather than a display) creates a real nice augmented layer with what you see in Android XR.

That compute puck packs Snapdragon Reality Elite to keep all your experiences running buttery smooth, and apps that were just fine on a VR headset become great on here, like the tabletop game Demeo for example!

Throw in a massive 70-degree field of view, and you've got another eal step towards squashing VR tech into glasses.

Jason England

Best AR Accessory: KiWear 2nd Gen smart ring

Kiwear's smart ring might just be the way we control smart glasses in the future. The ring utilizes intuitive gestures on your finger to navigate menus, open apps and even control the volume by twirling your finger in a circle.

We saw an early iteration at AWE 2025, but the version I tried this year was even better.

The second-generation version adds "whisper controls" which allow you to talk into the ring to prompt an AI assistant. This can be used for prompts or AI programs. In one example, we were able to ask about AWE using an on-device model

The ring doesn't come with health sensors like an Oura or Galaxy Ring, but maybe it doesn't need it when what you're really doing is using it as a controller for your other devices.

Scott Younker

Best VR accessory: bHaptics TactGlove

I've been impressed by the immersive bHaptics VR haptic vest and gloves in the past, and they didn't disappoint this year. The updates were minor: new motors in the palm of the glove and a redesigned VCM wrist motor, but all three proved to make demos a more interesting experience.

The two palm motors make it feel like actually holding things in your hand versus gripping with your fingers. Meanwhile, the redesigned wrist motor helps give some weight to lifting objects, especially in demos where the items were supposed to have different measurements, like a wooden block versus a metal one or a dumbbell compared to a drill.

Scott Younker

Best innovation: Lumus Waveguide display lenses

An obviously important part of smart glasses are the lenses you see through especially now that displays are being integrated into AI glasses and not just AR spectacles.

Lumus, which makes the lenses for the Meta Ray Ban Display glasses is interesting because the company builds lenses that utilize mirrors to refract the light for the images. I was told by David Goldman, Lumus's VP of marketing, that this enables the lens to be thinner, lighter and enables direct bonding of perscription layers as needed.

It makes for impressive tech when normal seeming glasses can display information and down the line even pictures and video at high resolution with decent color.

Scott Younker

Best budget AR glasses: X By Xreal a01

I've got a confession to make. While the X By Xreal a01 glasses are indeed being showcased right here at AWE, I've already had a pair for a while now — having flown around the world with them!

So this is equal parts an award pick and a small set of impressions on my time with them. And in short, they get rid of many things a lot of regular folks don't care about (3DoF tracking, electrochromic lenses), and focus on the fundamental experience most of us actually use them for: watching stuff and playing games on a private cinema display.

And the end result is a solid pair of $299 AR glasses — the picture is bright and colorful, and while there isn't any image tracking whatsoever, smooth follow does keep things far less jittery.

Jason England

More from Tom's Guide

• I’ve worn smart glasses for over 5 years — here’s the best AR and AI glasses in 2026
• Tested: Xreal Aura DOES work with Nintendo Switch over USB-C — they won’t tell me how they did it, but I think Snapdragon Reality Elite and Android XR is the way
• I just tested the phone everybody thinks is a preview of the iPhone Fold — God, I hope they’re wrong

Snap finally revealed a new version of its intriguing Specs AR glasses this week during AWE 2026, but kept many things from the actual release date — "expected" this fall — and the type of chips in the device to itself.

CEO Evan Spiegel called the new glasses "the beginning of a new era in computing." But what's powering this new era?

The Snap Specs are powered by two Snapdragon processors that do all the computing. One of them powers the display and visualizations while the other is responsible for the computing power.

However, Snap refused to disclose which Snapdragon chips are in the glasses. While at AWE, I asked both a Snap engineer and one of their spokespeople. Each reiterated that the Specs use Snapdragon chips.

But which one?

More information was promised closer to the actual release of the glasses "this fall."

Qualcomm, which makes the Snapdragon chips, had a presence at AWE, and I was able to ask VP of XR Ziad Asghar which of its chips were being used in the glasses. He demurred but did say that the processors are part of the company's AR family of products.

Notably, while the just-announced Snapdragon Reality Elite chip is technically the third generation of Qualcomm's XR lineup, it won't be featured in the Specs. Asghar said that the Reality Elite is for higher-end MR products like Samsung's Galaxy XR headset and the Xreal Project Aura glasses, which do feature the new SoC. Specs, apparently, are not considered part of that lineup.

"The device that Snap has is actually super exciting," Asghar told me, "I would say it's a different category of device."

But will Specs already be behind the eight-ball when it comes to processing power when they launch?

Which chip could it be?

All previous, chunkier versions of the Snap Specs have been powered by tandem Snapdragons, and given Ziad specifically said "AR Family," I'm thinking it may be the Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 (or some modified version of it), which was announced at AWE 2025. In fact, several devices utilize the AR chip, including the Meta Quest 3S, Rokid Glasses, and RayNeo X3 Pro glasses.

Unlike Qualcomm's mobile processors, which see upgrades on an annual basis, the AR and XR lineup has been slower to update.

The Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, used in the Samsung Galaxy XR, for example, was announced in 2024. It's now being replaced by the Reality Elite, which will likely find its way into the next Galaxy XR headset.

I was told that the previous versions of Specs use an "older solution," the AR chip. Presumably that means the new Specs utilize a newer chip. However, Qualcomm hasn't announced any other XR or AR chips recently beyond the AR+ and Reality Elite.

Snap would not confirm if Specs have a customized chipset, and Qualcomm deferred to Snap regarding announcing which silicon it uses.

Right now, the assumption is that Snap is using a customized version of the AR+1 Gen 1 chipset or possibly a new generation of it, though I doubt that since Qualcomm would want to announce those chips, especially considering all of its "collaborator" companies that would use said SoC.

Still, it's possible Qualcomm could reveal a new AR chip in September or October, when it holds its annual Snapdragon Summit where we typically see the new mobile SoCs such as the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 announced.

For now, Snap has left us with more questions than answers, except the Vision Pro-esque pricing, that we do know.

More from Tom's Guide

• Best of AWE 2026: The top gadgets that show us the future of XR
• Here's what the Snap Specs look like, as modelled by Jack Harlow, Imogen Heap and more
• Tested: Xreal Aura DOES work with Nintendo Switch over USB-C — they won’t tell me how they did it, but I think Snapdragon Reality Elite and Android XR is the way

So, as the smart glasses guy on the Tom’s Guide team, my main beef has always been with the Nintendo Switch just making things awkward with its video out on the USB-C connector.

With literally any other gaming handheld, it’s a seamless dream — plug your AR glasses in, and see the picture in front of your eyes. The Switch (and Switch 2) requires jumping through hoops of tricking your console into thinking it's in docked mode to bypass the complicated encryption.

Well, when I tested Xreal Aura some more here at AWE 2026, the team literally mentioned in a passing conversation that they’d cracked Switch compatibility in Android XR. Before they could say another word about local AI, I stopped the talk in its tracks and asked for a demo.

And hot dang, they did the thing! Not only is there full Switch support over USB-C, but with no real noticeable latency, and you can use Gemini to ask questions about the games you’re playing!

Fixing the problem with brute force

So the problem is one of compatibility and protocols (boring, I know). 99% of the market uses DisplayPort Alt Mode through that USB-C socket, which natively supports just plugging the glasses straight in. Meanwhile, Nintendo is using Mobility DisplayPort (MyDP) — a standard that was typically used with micro-USB ports back in the day. Why? God knows.

For years now, the fix has been something like the Viture Switch Dock: trick the Switch into thinking it’s in docked mode via a big battery pack to keep it alive at higher wattages and simulate an HDMI connection.

And now, a simple USB-C connection into the Aura’s compute puck does the trick… “HOW!?” I excitedly asked Qualcomm’s team, to which they couldn’t help but chuckle and give me cheeky grins.

Truth is, they can’t tell me exactly how they did it, so all I can do is theorize. You’ve got a strong, open, and versatile development platform like Android XR, paired with a monster spatial computing chip in Snapdragon Reality Elite. I think it’s not too much of a stretch to assume that this high-performance chip is able to transcode that signal in real-time in a well-written Android XR app.

What does it feel like to play?

One common issue with this workaround for the current Switch docks for AR glasses is latency. It’s not terrible, but it can be noticeable in faster titles. None of that exists here, and in my time playing Zelda, it all felt nicely responsive.

On top of that, given it’s a floating window within Android XR, there’s the Gemini Live edge too! Fire it up, look at your screen, and ask away — Gemini was quick to let me know where to go next in the forest.

That is a real value-unlocker vs going to GameFAQs for the answer I need to get ahead in my gameplay whenever I’m stuck.

Take that, Nintendo!

Yes, I know the Switch 2 is great and everything, but this whole USB-C compatibility issue is a pet peeve I’ve been super vocal about for a long time now! Whether it’s so that Nintendo can make its own AR glasses, I don’t know. But the fact that I can’t save myself from neck pain playing the damn thing on long-haul flights seems crazy to me when it’s literally the easier (and better) standard to support.

However, with some brute force of Snapdragon Reality Elite and some coding know-how in Android XR, that’s no longer a problem, and not only that, it’s latency-free compared to the other workarounds we’ve seen.

Low key, this is the biggest winning feature I’ve seen for Xreal Aura. I know there’s so much more to talk about here in what Android XR can do in an optical see-through (OST) environment vs a VR headset, and Gemini’s capabilities in spatial computing. But to 1-UP Nintendo’s limitations? You just love to see it.

More from Tom's Guide

• I went eyes-on with Snap Specs and saw Evan Spiegel wear them — they look way better than I feared, but there's one massive comfort flaw
• I just tested the phone everybody thinks is a preview of the iPhone Fold — God, I hope they’re wrong
• 'No one has a crystal ball': Lexar execs have a plan to reduce our RAM dependency if the AI data boom lasts 'for years'

When I first saw the design of Snap Specs during CEO Evan Spiegel’s keynote, I’ll admit I was a little nervous. For all the talk of making them “substantially smaller,” as former hardware VP Scott Myers told me, they still look pretty chunky.

But the press pictures don’t quite do them justice, and after seeing them in person (and seeing them worn by Evan himself), I must say I kind of dig the aesthetic. They’re a bold statement piece for the future of spatial computing, and a look that I believe can blend well into the public day-to-day.

Designing around the constraints

Bear in mind that Snap’s had to stuff two Snapdragon processors, optical waveguide displays with a 51-degree field of view, a ton of sensors, and enough battery for four hours of general use, and you can start to see how much of a challenge this is.

Speaking with the Snap team, they acknowledged that the task of making it all smaller was quite the challenge. But compared to the developer hardware you’ve seen me wear over the past couple of years, the difference is stark — sleeker lines on that Wayfarer-esque face, contoured stems, and a real upgrade in materials used to a polymer Snap calls “plastic titanium.”

The frame around the lenses seems to have been made thinner; the stems may be large, but they fit into the general vibe up front, and that cross sign of dots on the side is a magnetic charging connector that doubles as a USB-C video-in to plug this directly into your laptop or handheld (that’s huge).

My only real concern is when Evan came through the Snap booth wearing them. Not the look of them, but the fact that they seem to be exerting a bit more downward pressure on the tops of his ears, from the side profile.

There could be many reasons for this (the way he’s put them on and ear shape, for example), but it did give me a little pause that the 132g weight might cause some discomfort. I’m hoping I’m wrong!

“Nerd alert”

That’s not to say it has its detractors. This is a divisive look, and when I shared them for general thoughts on my team’s Slack channel, the first reaction I got was a GIF of Austin Powers saying "Nerd Alert."

I’m going to have to give these my classic “pub test” with friends in my small hometown to get a real feel for how people react to them outside the tech bubble. But to be honest, the early detractors haven’t really phased my impressions here.

Snap set out on a mission to take its super ambitious idea of mashing the capabilities of a VR headset into something the size of a pair of glasses, usher in a new, more immersive type of computing, and make it look good.

After testing the OS experience on development hardware, I’m confident they’ve nailed the first; the jury’s out on the second, as real-world testing is needed, and going eyes-on has shown me they can tick off the third.

The only real obstacle now is the $2,195/£1,995 asking price (available to preorder now), which I understand is definitely on the lower end of new spatial computing hardware (think Apple Vision Pro), but is still rather astronomical. This is definitely for early adopters, and you’ll stand out in these swish specs.

More from Tom's Guide

• Snap Specs LIVE — $2,200 augmented reality smart glasses announced, along with availability and specs
• You've got questions about Xreal Aura, and I've got answers — 5 things you need to know about these Android XR glasses
• Snapdragon Reality Elite is here, and I’ve already tested it without realizing in Xreal’s Project Aura — its a giant step towards the future of smart glasses

Nope, it’s not called Snapdragon XR Gen 3, but Qualcomm did bring something big to the smart glasses party in its Snapdragon Reality Elite chip. And yes, this is the chip that is running inside Xreal’s Project Aura that I tested back at Google I/O.

In the company’s own words, it is set to bring “spatial computing into the AI era,” but I would say its real superpower is in unlocking my dream future of blurring those lines between the best VR headsets and smart glasses into one wearable.

Qualcomm (and I) know that ever since the end of the pandemic, the amount of people buying VR headsets has dropped and the appetite for that spatial tech in something the size of a pair of specs has grown massively. People really want to take their XR on the road without looking like a glasshole.

And with huge improvements to the performance and power efficiency, alongside a 160% boost in AI performance, this is the chip that can get us there. Let me explain.

By the numbers

The first thing I noticed during the briefing is that this is much more than a generational leap — it’s a whole reinvention with a new target in mind. Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 was solid in the likes of the Meta Quest 3 and Samsung Galaxy XR, but Qualcomm came with a new mission: turboboost everything, while making it much more efficient and cooler for different, smaller form factors.

On the performance end, you’ve got the ability to render a 4.4k resolution picture per eye with ray tracing thanks to that 60% faster GPU, and a 30% zippier CPU will keep app opens lightning quick too. There’s also a 10% improvement in latency between your hand and the screen, and new enhancements to video see-through (VST) improve the speed of tracking too.

As for the AI side of things, Snapdragon Reality Elite gives it the full beans with a 160% improvement in NPU performance — making it capable of running a full-blown large visual model (asking questions about/taking action on things you see in the world around you) with around a 1.7-second latency between asking and it starting to work.

Go puck yourself

All that’s fair and good, but if I’m being real, it’s that 20% longer battery life and the ability to run a whopping 12-degrees Celsius cooler that’s the big news for me. That’s the real key to unlocking a VR experience in a pair of glasses.

I was trying to figure out how Xreal was pulling off the impressive performance and power efficiency pairing I saw in Project Aura, and turns out the answer was right under my nose the entire time — this chip was in that puck!

But talking to Qualcomm some more, it’s clear this is a “hedging their bets” moment for the company, as the chip is versatile in how it can be used. Either it can go into all-in-one XR devices (maybe a Meta Quest 4? …provided it hasn’t been canned) or what the company is calling “disaggregated XR devices.”

This is a fancy way of saying “smart glasses” with the compute puck. Of course there’s still a fan in Project Aura’s puck, so cooling challenges remain, and this is still glasses-with-a-cable coming off of them because of it.

But we’ve now got the primo piece of silicon that can start to blend the worlds of VR headsets and AR glasses together for sure.

'That sweet-spot Goldilocks product'

When I spoke to Qualcomm on the briefing, I asked if this chip puts the company on the path towards taking that VR headset experience and stuffing into a pair of glasses. And while they’re keen to emphasize that “there’s still a place” for VR headsets, the company sees an “eventual convergence” of the two.

“If you look at the things Meta, Google and Snapchat have done, there’s very much a desire to make that sweet-spot Goldilocks product,” the rep added. And given Qualcomm has yearlong agreements with all of them, as well as investing in waveguide displays for glasses heavily, it’s all coming together nicely.

It’s what I’ve wanted for years — only to see limitations in the hardware, the software, and an execution problem when it comes to spatial computing (namely that it’s not as useful as actual computing or just using your phone).

With Reality Elite, the hardware problem goes a long way towards being fixed. With a new developer platform packed with software modules, compatibility with multiple AI systems and even white label hardware to test it on (the Snapdragon START program), that’s the software problem.

And hopefully the execution problem is fixed in due course alongside this, as more and more people flock to XR. The future’s bright, and I can’t wait to see it.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tested Google’s “Intelligent Eyewear,” and found the smart glasses that will defeat Ray-Ban Meta
• Meet X By XREAL — I’m testing the MacBook Neo of AR glasses that people can actually afford
• Windows laptops are entering their MacBook Neo era, but is Windows 11 actually ready for it? 8GB of RAM has me worried

Earlier today at AWE 2026, Snap's CEO Evan Spiegel introduced the new Specs augmented reality smart glasses. Unlike most AR smart glasses, the Specs aren't tethered to a compute puck, like Xreal Auras, or have a limited feature set like the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses. These glasses are meant to have it all.

In the last couple of years, Tom's Guide writers have had a chance to actually wear and test out developer versions of the Snap Specs. The result in the run-up to the official launch was a chunky, clunky, and at times very hot device that sat on your face like a pair of poorly designed goggles.

How do the Specs look?

Part of Snap's Specs announcement included a new global campaign the company calls Specs Visionary. It involves celebrities like Jack Harlow, Imogen Heap, Kaia Gerber, Hoyeon and Jimmy Butler "exploring how Specs can unlcok new forms of creativity, expression, learning, and play." What that entails was left vague and Snap promised more information later this year.

However, it also gives us a small look at how these AR glasses look on person. Notably, compared to the developer glasses we tried, the Specs do look much slimmer, especially around the lenses.

However, I recall the arms of the glasses as thick and in some cases very squishy on the ears like this:

Notably, the arms are hidden underneath hair or by front-facing shots of the glasses. Some standalone press images reveal arms that are still quite large.

One of the sticking points with smart glasses as a whole is their lack of fashionable looks. It's quite obvious when you're wearing display glasses or AR glasses. They're not really something you want to wear day to day, though that's improving with things like Meta's Ray-Bans or the recently announced Samsung "Intelligent Eyewear" lenses that actually look like something you could snag at LensCrafters.

A "Developer reaction" video gives us a better look at how these things look on normal person, and honestly, still pretty thick.

My worry is that comfort and heat will be a problem. As mentioned, those chunky arms can squish your ears and they're definitely not as svelte as other glasses.

I found in my testing sessions that the developer specs got pretty hot especially near the temple. We won't know if that's alleviated until we get more hands-on time with the public version of Specs, but it's something I'll be keeping an eye on.

That said, we've been impressed by the Snap OS in our previews and that could be the true selling factor that makes these glasses worth a look. But eating is presentation, as they say.

Oh, there's also the astronomical $2,195 Apple Vision Pro-esque asking price.

How to snag a pair

If you're interested in Snap's Specs you can pre-order a pair now at specs.com. Be warned that they don't come for cheap. For the pre-order you need to put down a $200 refundable deposit — followed by that astronomical cost at launch.

Snap says that the Specs should start shipping "this fall" in the US, UK and France.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tried to replace my gaming monitor with Asus ROG Xreal R1 glasses — it’s not quite what I hoped for
• Kuo: Apple is scrapping Vision headsets in favor of 2 smart glasses — but there's bad news for the release dates
• Thinking of investing in A/C this summer? Here's how to keep your cool

Xreal's Project Aura is now officially called Xreal Aura! After I went hands-on with them, questions came flooding in, and I'm here to answer them all. While my initial hands-on time was brief, I headed back to see the team, to try them out some more and get more answers from Xreal.

Because let's be real — these are the next step towards AR glasses and VR headsets merging, so while I (and many other publications) have told you how they feel to use, there's plenty of curiosity around some specifics.

And now we're getting some more news on them at AWE 2026, there are a few more things I can share!

What's the resolution?

Xreal has just confirmed that these are 1920 x 1200 pixels per eye. However, from pixel peeping, they definitely seem sharper in fidelity compared to the Asus ROG Xreal R1 (1080p resolution), which I've just finished reviewing!

To my eyes, there's definitely a step-up in detail here — especially when you get close to floating app windows. So maybe this is something to do with upscaling happening in the background? I'm not sure.

Also, a quick note about the 70-degree field of view. I mentioned it in my hands-on, but it's worth talking about in more detail. This does feel like the starting point for bridging the gap between VR headsets and AR glasses, but it comes with some edge blurring.

That being said, in a field of view this wide, the edge blurring is isolated to your peripheral vision. You won't really notice it in use.

What are the specs of these...specs?

This one's going to be a mash-up of a bunch of questions I saw on Reddit:

• There's Snapdragon Reality Elite in the puck: Turns out my prediction was bang on, but the naming was a little off! Snapdragon Reality Elite is the premium sequel to the XR2 Gen 2 that you see in the Samsung Galaxy XR, and with the improved performance and (more importantly) power efficiency and cooler operation, it's ideal for a smart glasses compute puck.
• A new X1S chip powers the spatial side of things: Alongside Snapdragon in the puck, Xreal's X1 chip gets an S-tier upgrade to X1S — stabilizing some of those XR experiences beyond the display goodness it provides elsewhere.
• The compute puck is about the same size as an iPhone 15 Pro: Can't add much more to this than the beginning of the bullet point. There is a fingerprint sensor on the side for security, and a volume rocker on the other. Plus, the top side is a touchpad if you prefer to interact in this way.
• Xreal Aura glasses can work as a standard pair of AR glasses: We got shown a demo of wireless display mirroring from a Chromebook into Android XR. But for other systems, these are USB-C glasses, and they do work as a normal set of AR glasses.
• There is no microSD card slot on the compute puck. This may be just because we were shown prototype models (and I hope one gets added for all the content I'll want to add), but it looks as if you'll be relying on the internal storage.

• These feel heavier on the face than other AR glasses: A pretty even weight distribution does balance these well on your face. But they are slightly heavier than older specs at 95 grams.

What can you do on them?

Basically, anything you could do on a standard Android XR headset. The real beauty here being that their optical see-through (OST) glasses, you're not isolated in a headset viewing the world through cameras.

And developers have created over one hundred Android XR apps, and there's much more to come as Xreal has just announced.

• Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars: I love the film, so I'm definitely curious to see how it plays out navigating my ship in XR.
• Fallout Factions: Turn-based strategy game with all the gesture controls you could want to get into the world of Fallout easily.
• The Nutcracker: A Spatial Awakening: What happens when you take the legendary ballet and capture it in stereoscopic 8K with a Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive three-camera array? You get a new level of immersion into this holiday performance.

And there's more too, including Fox Sports XR, Cubism (love this game), Chess Club, three games from DB Creations (of Table Towers fame), Simply Piano XR teaching you the instrument with AI-powere real-time feedback, ShapesXR to get creative, and more in healthcare and banking.

There's even a real-time AR experiential tour of Aachen's historic city center, which is claimed to bring these historical sites back to life with animations, reconstructions and more.

How much will they cost?

Project Aura is set to launch later this year, but how much will it cost? That's the big question, but it's clear they won't be cheap. Again, Xreal kept this close to its chest. As with a lot of computing products, pricing is fluid amid the shockwaves of RAMageddon.

So all I can do is apply some of my best guesswork here and see what's happened elsewhere. The Galaxy XR is a full-blown Android XR headset that costs nearly $2,000, and while these are AR glasses, it's still that tech fueling the spatial OS crammed into that puck.

Being a betting man, I'd say the target would be somewhere in the $1,299 region. The inner hoping man would've greatly preferred under a thousand bucks (and I do hope this is possible), but I'm not blind to the fact that costs are going up.

How do I order a pair?

This one's easy enough for me to answer! Xreal Aura is now available to preorder with a $99 reservation fee, and for two weeks right now, that $99 doubles to $199 credit toward your purchase when they officially launch.

Any other questions?

Of course, I've picked the five top questions I saw asked after I posted my Aura hands-on review, but I know there'll be more, which is why I'm opening the floor to you.

I'm currently in Long Beach for AWE 2026, and it's all a bit hectic with new announcements (Snap Specs for example). So here's the deal — from June 17th at 9 am PT, I will be able to answer all your follow-ups. Sound good?

And it goes without saying, because you're all lovely folks, but the community rules are in effect: please treat everyone (including yours truly) with respect and avoid any nasty language.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tested Google’s “Intelligent Eyewear,” and found the smart glasses that will defeat Ray-Ban Meta
• Meet X By XREAL — I’m testing the MacBook Neo of AR glasses that people can actually afford
• Windows laptops are entering their MacBook Neo era, but is Windows 11 actually ready for it? 8GB of RAM has me worried

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has just revealed Specs — a new pair of AR glasses that are "the beginning of a new era in computing." As with many smart glasses or AI-forward devices, Specs are being pitched as a way to avoid looking at our smartphones all day, and the first thing you're probably noticing is the chunkier stylings to house all of that compute.

That's because they're able to do everything something like an Android XR headset is able to do, but with all two Snapdragon processors built into the glasses themselves (no puck needed).

Specs are meant to sit between the lightweight-but-limited AI glasses and the heavy but isolating VR headsets. That's the key differentiator that makes Specs "not designed to replace the world," but rather "to bring computing into it."

And for that, you'll be paying a pretty penny for them when they come out this fall! Are you sitting down? The starting price is $2,195 (that's why I warned you to sit down). Will these be the stylish breakthrough to shake up our best smart glasses list? Let's talk about them.

Specs "specs"

A head-turner

Last year, when I got to talk to Scott Myers, Snap's former hardware VP, he spoke about how this design is "substantially smaller."

While that is definitely the case (especially when you look at that weight), they're still definitely a bold aesthetic that will turn heads. From the thick-rimmed black frame and large temples to the integrated sensor placement on the front, there will be no hiding the fact you're wearing smart glasses when it comes to these.

Not to say they're bad-looking at all. I actually think Snap's pulled off what I thought would be the impossible in compressing all that tech into something that looks good to wear everywhere (no compute puck required). But I can also fully understand that this louder vibe won't be everyone's cup of tea.

They do also get a nice premium build too thanks to that Swiss TR90 Polymer construction, and the electrochromic lenses will ensure that they can be worn anywhere.

But, as I found out testing the Specs a while back, it's not about what they look like, it's about what you can do on them.

"Bring computing" into the real world

“For decades, computers have asked us to look down, sit still, or step out of the moment," Spiegel commented. "Specs bring computing into the world around us where we live, work, learn, create, and connect.”

On the face of it, that new paradigm of computing can seem like your usual pair of display smart glasses — hands-free navigation, asking an AI assistant for advice, etc.

But the real differentiator comes in when you start to make use of all that raw onboard horsepower. Like a VR headset, you can work in instant virtual workspaces, collaborate within them and more. You can measure objects in the space around you without a tape measure, and even learn and create in the virtual space around you. There's even specialized interactive tools like real-time graphic golf alignment or basketball shooting traning.

This is an incredibly versatile platform that's going to hit the ground running after years of development.

AI tools

AI will be a part of Snap OS that runs the glasses and Snap has promised that it will be useful in understanding visual context and providing information "where it's needed."

“With SPECS, AI is not intelligence trapped in a chat box,” Spiegel said. “It is intelligence that can see what you see, understand what you’re trying to do, and help you in the moment.”

The company is encouraging developers to create Snapchat Lenses using new agentic tools like Claude Code. There is also a benchmark for spatial computing to help AI models perform "real-world" spatial tasks like reasoning on coordinates, object relationships and more.

Privacy and price

Snap says that privacy was a "core design principle" from the beginning. The glasses are meant to be transparent in how they work.

In practice, that means requesting permission before accessing sensitive information, an LED light that indicates when the glasses are recording and a prioritization in on-device processing.

Pre-order now

If the price doesn't scare you away, you can pre-order the Snap Specs today at specs.com for $2,195 with a $200 refundable deposit.

Snap expects to ship the glasses in the US, UK and France starting this fall.

More from Tom's Guide

• Acer just unveiled new AI and AR smart glasses, putting more pressure on Meta — here's why
• Kuo: Apple is scrapping Vision headsets in favor of 2 smart glasses — but there's bad news for the release dates
• I tried to replace my gaming monitor with Asus ROG Xreal R1 glasses — it’s not quite what I hoped for

Picking out your favorite pair of the best smart glasses is about to get tougher as Snap is expected to unveil its next generation of AR smart glasses in California today. The company will be bringing the fight to the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel took to the stage at the Augmented World Expo (AWE) event in Long Beach today to reveal the new Snap Specs. Snap already has a developer version out in the world, but this marked the first consumer version of Snap's answer to Meta, Xreal, Viture and all the rest.

The build-up to today's reveal has been gaining momentum over the last year or so. We've already seen some key updates made to Snap OS to make it ready for today's event, and we know the hardware will be powered by a partnership with Qualcomm.

How to watch today's keynote

The biggest announcements

• The Snap Specs will cost $2,195; they're available for preorder starting today, and are expected to ship this fall
• Battery life is about 4 hours, but the Specs can be recharged while you're wearing them, and the USB cable can be used to stream content directly to the glasses.
• The Specs are powered by two Qualcomm Snapdragon chips, one for visual processing, and one to run the rest of the glasses.
• The Specs deliver a 51-degree FOV, the equivalent of a 24-inch desktop monitor or a 115-inch TV from 10 feet away

The keynote is scheduled took place today, June 16 at 9:30am PT / 12:30pm ET / 6:30pm BST.

Evan Spiegel's keynote address was titled “Making Computing More Human" and lasted for around 30 minutes on the Main Stage at the AWE Expo in Long Beach, California.

The address was live streamed on the AWE YouTube channel

LIVE — latest updates

Hello and welcome!

Welcome to our live coverage of today's Snap Specs announcement! It's just under six hours until Evan Spiegel is due to take the stage at AWE 2026. There have been a lot of rumors about what's coming, but the only official glimpse we've had so far came last week on Snap's Instagram post teasing the forthcoming hardware at today's reveal.

The competition

Snapchat was one of the first companies to experiment with smart eyewear but now the company is far from alone. The biggest competitor to Snap is its old arch-rival Facebook. Sorry, Meta. In the form of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

Meta's glasses look cool, feature a respectable camera, decent battery life and a responsive AI that lets you take full advantage of the glasses’ hardware. The second-gen Ray-Ban Meta costs $379 to start but the first-gen Ray-Ban Metas are still on sale for $299.

What exactly do we expect from Snap today?

It's not a foregone conclusion that Speigel will reveal the new Snap Specs today, but the timing would line up nicely. Last year at AWE 2025, Spiegel talked up Snap's 5th-generation standalone AR glasses and announced that the company had plans for a consumer model called "Specs" in 2026.

Spiegel promised this consumer version of the wearable would be lighter with a smaller-form-factor. He said they would have "a fraction of the weight, with a ton more capability."

If Speigel doesn't reveal any hardware today, he could spend time talking about how the company is pushing forward with what it calls "Lenses" — basically, its own take on apps for its smart glasses.

Developers have hopefully been busy

There's no point launching a new hardware product if you don't have the software to back it up. Snap currently rents its Spectacles development kit glasses out to developers for $99/month to build "Lenses" (apps) through a program called Lens Studio on Windows and macOS.

Although Snap OS is based on Android, it's restricted in the fact that you can't install APKs or use third-party engines on it. Snap is likely hoping to capture some of the benefits of Apple's visionOS approach here: a bespoke suite of consistent apps that operate without friction.

If it can have a robust set of titles ready for users at launch, it's a much easier sell. Particularly if there's a killer app it can point to.

The rumored price for the Snap Specs is *high*

One of the biggest questions around any potential Snap Specs is likely to be how much they'll cost you. And according to Alex Heath's Sources newsletter (via UploadVR) it could be a lot. Heath suggested Snap is looking at producing 100,000 Specs with a target price of $2,500 (£1,800)!

That puts that way ahead of both Meta's most expensive Ray-Ban glasses and its Quest 3 VR headset. The Viture Beast is our current pick of the best AR smart glasses you can buy, and a pair of those costs $549. Launching a gen 1 product into the smart glasses space with that high a price could be dangerous. Just ask Apple.

Expect a lot of talk about AI, too

Back in January, Evan Spiegel gave us an idea of what he may be preparing to talk about today.

"For over a decade we’ve been working to make computing more human by building a new type of eyewear called Specs that integrate your digital experience with the real world," he wrote.

If the recent keynote speeches from other tech leaders like Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella and Tim Cook are anything to go by, we can expect a lot of AI talk to accompany a hardware reveal today.

Spiegel promises a "first-of-its-kind Intelligence System" with Snap Specs that "uses its understanding of you and your world to help get things done on your behalf while protecting and respecting your privacy."

Snap will face competition from Project Aura and Android XR

The Snap Specs have an ever-increasing list of competitors to worry about, not least Xreal's Project Aura.

We got a glimpse of Aura back at Google I/O. If you didn't tune in to that particular event, let me enlighten you: These are Xreal's next serious attempt at AR glasses packed into a design hat you wouldn't be afraid to be seen in.

Xreal's glasses will run Android XR and connect to a computing “puck” that looks about the same size as a phone. That’s where most of the brains are, and it also happens to double up as a trackpad. Also, because this is Google's platform, you'll get access to all of Google's apps, like Chrome or Maps.

What's more, Project Aura is tipped to cost between $1,000 and $1,500 at launch. Which is a lot easier to swallow than the rumored $2,500 price tag of the Snap Specs.

What are some of the experiences they could offer?

At last year's AWE, Snap gave us a taste of some of the things users could do with the Specs. These included Pool Assist, which helps you make better plays on the billiards table and Super Travel which is supposed to translate signs, menus and other text while abroad.

In the months since, my colleague Darragh Murphy got to try out the glasses for himself at an event in London. During his demo, he was able to play games with virtual creatures, summon AI-created images in front of his eyes and share the virtual space with other users wearing their own pair of Spectacles.

"From creating AI-generated 3D images right on the AR glasses and drawing smiley faces in the air to dropping virtual sandwiches to Peridot creatures, everything I was doing in augmented reality could be seen in real time by others wearing Snapchat Spectacles," Darragh wrote.

How much would you pay for Snap smart glasses?

With the price of the Snap glasses rumored to be more than $2,000, we wanted to ask you how much you'd pay for the new specs.

Snap's big bet

It might be fair to say that a lot is riding on the new Snap smart glasses. The company has spent $3.5 billion on its new specs, and back in April, laid off 1,000 employees, about 16% of its staff.

Last month, Inc. magazine ran a story titled "Snap CEO Evan Spiegel Has to Go," saying that the company has never been profitable in its 15 years of existence. Its stock price has also bottomed out over the last few years; it's now trading at around $5 per share, down from a high of around $83.

Powered by Qualcomm

While we're still waiting to hear everything that Evan will reveal, we do know that the Snap glasses will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR chip, as the companies announced a partnership back in April.

Qualcomm's chips are in a lot of the best smart glasses and AR/VR glasses — including all of the Meta Ray-Ban glasses, The Xreal Project Aura, and the Rayneo X3 Pro — so it's not surprising that Snap would partner with them on its initiative.

Fused with AI

Snapchat, like all the other tech companies out there, is leaning as hard as it can into AI. Spiegel has already claimed that more than two-thirds of the new code written at Snapchat is done by AI, and the company's "Lens Studio" platform is becoming "more and more agentic", according to a report in Inc.com.

The title of Spiegel's keynote address later today is "Making Computing More Human" so I'm expecting a lot of talk about adopting AI into our fleshy human lives.

Snap's recent layoffs probably won't be mentioned

One thing that probably won't get brought up today is the recent layoffs at Snap.

Back in April, the company laid off around 1,000 employees and closed hundreds of open roles. At the time, Spiegel said in a memo (published by Business Insider) that AI meant the company could run a leaner operation.

The cuts didn't affect Specs Inc, which was spun off into a separate company back in January to focus on AR efforts.

Twenty minutes to go

We're about 20 minutes from the start of the livestream — make sure you're ready!

Our own Jason England is at the press conference, and will report back live from the event. Ori Inbar, the CEO of AWE, takes the stage ahead of Spiegel to warm up the crowd.

Evan Spiegel takes the stage, and starts off by talking about the Snap developer community, and how they kept believing and building.

"I feel so fortunate to work on what I feel is the next major leap in computing"

"Steve Jobs was my hero," Spiegel says. "He promised your life in your pocket"

"But almost 20 years later, we have to ask ourselves what happens when the device starts pulling us away from each other?"

"Augmented Reality puts computing into the world."

12 years ago we saw the opportunity for something different," Spiegel says. "Something that understands the world around you rather than pulling you out of it."

"Specs will become meaningful because of the lenses you build. We've shipped 10 OS updates with more than 40 new features and APIs. Developers have already published hundreds of lenses."

We're now seeing a few of the Lenses that developers have built, like virtual games, dinosaurs, and rockets lifting off.

Spiegel explains that it understands the room around you so that it becomes part of an interactive space. So you can use things like physical tables and incorporate that into a virtual environment. And, the Specs can talk to each other so that multiple people can play the same game together.

Next, Spiegel talks about AI. Spatial Benchmark will test how well various AIs work across the different virtual environments. In an early test, GPT 5.5 worked best overall, with Gemini 3 Flash coming in close behind.

And finally, the Specs are revealed!

Devices today force a tradeoff between capability and wearability. AI glasses are wearable but limited. Headsets are capable but shut you out of the world.

Specs - "Designed to be wearable and highly capable. No puck, no tether," Spiegel says.

A new kind of computer designed for real life and built into see-through glasses.

Made from TR90 polymer - light enough to be worn for hours.

Specs come in two sizes:

47mm frame weighs 132 grams

52mm frame is 136 grams

The Specs not only support prescription lenses, but the lenses can also be removed, so you can share them with friends.

The glass that carries light from the glasses to your eye is called a waveguide, and the Specs waveguide creates an immersive 51-degree field of view image.

That's like a 24-inch desktop display, or a 115-inch screen about 10 feet away.

It can also display 16 million colors.

Specs use the same tech as Boeing 787 Dreamliners, and can shift from clear to tinted in just 10 seconds.

The Specs have two Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, one for running the glasses themselves, and one for computer vision.

Spiegel says the Specs have a 7ms motion to photon latency, so when you move, the Specs respond virtually instantly.

Directions appear as you move throughout a city, measurements change, and translations and data appear in front of you.

Spiegel then shows some examples of Specs in the real world, like helping someone improve their golf game, or showing what drums to hit if you're sitting in front of a set.

Battery life is about 4 hours, according to Spiegel, which is less than what you get with the Ray-Ban Displays, but understandable given the more powerful processing in the Specs. Still, that's far short of a full day.

However, you can recharge them while wearing them - and you can use that same USB cable to stream video to the specs while you're recharging.

The case also gives you up to 20 hours of use.

As suspected, the Specs aren't cheap: $2,195! Somehow, people are cheering at this price.

You can preorder them starting today, and they're expected to ship this fall.

And that's a wrap! The Snap livestream has ended, and it's given us a lot to chew on.

If you want to see what the Specs look like on a supermodel, check out our story on Imogen Heap and Jack Harlow wearing the smart glasses.

We also have a complete rundown of the Snap Specs complete stats and price, so you'll want to take a look at that story for a deeper dive.

Let us know in the comments what you think!

Jason is now heading to the hands-on area to see what these specs are like up close. Stay tuned for more updates from AWE 2026. As you can see, there's a lot of people here!

Up close and personal

Seeing them on someone's face is the best way to gauge the bulkiness of the Specs. They do appear to be a little large, but not comically so. They could easily pass as a pair of chunky frames for regular glasses, which is obviously what the team at Snap is aiming for.

In case you missed it

See the embed above for the keynote if you didn't get to watch it live (or just read the posts below this, as it covers all the big news).

Are you excited?

Do you think they look good?

The Specs have now been seen up close and personal by our own Jason England. They've also been worn by celebrities to show us a bit more about the style the smart glasses offer.

Do you think they look good? Would you think anything of seeing people out in the wilderness with these?

A look at the Specs from different angles

We're still hoping to get a full hands-on later, but for now, here's what the Snap Specs look like from different angles. Their arms and frames are definitely chunkier than the Ray-Ban Displays, but then again, these glasses have to support dual displays.

Eyes-on with the Snap Specs

Our very own Jason England was able to go see the Snap Specs at AWE up close and personal, and while he's going to wait until he can wear them out in public to render a final verdict, his initial impressions were that they are "pretty chunky."

Still, he says they're a fair bit sleeker than the developer model that's been out for a while.

Snap gave the weight of the glasses as 132 grams; for those who live in the U.S., that's about 4.7 ounces, That's about twice as heavy as the Meta Ray-Ban Display, and a little more than one ounces lighter than the iPhone Air.

Yes. Wearing the Asus ROG Xreal R1 glasses does make me look like I’m about to make you choose between the blue pill and the red pill. But stick with me here, because what you’re looking at are the most ambitious AR glasses to date (for better and for worse).

Tech-wise, you’re getting something similar to the Xreal One Pros — Sony Micro-OLED displays with that smaller prism optic and the X1 chip for all your display controls and 3D capabilities handled locally on the device. And a 57-degree field of view with a little fringing at the edges, but not so much that it ruins your watching (or playing) experience.

But with Asus ROG in tow, the real secret weapon here is the dock that connects directly to your gaming PC. This enables full 240Hz gameplay at 1080p (on paper), and the frame rate is unlike anything you can get from any AR glasses today.

It’s a nice little experiment between the two companies that almost pays off, until you see the compromises made to picture quality to get to that higher refresh rate, such as cutting the resolution and a whole lot of screen tearing.

Then there’s some of the awkwardness in that tie-in — whereas Xreal products were updated easily via the company’s website, it now takes a separate app to install them (which isn’t the most reliable on the first try). Plus, the menu interactions are a little weird, as all the buttons are deactivated once you use the dock.

But the most painful part is the price: $849. This limits them to gaming pros, who would want a better picture at 240Hz. And for those gaming on the go, this becomes an unnecessary expense in the face of the One Pros (if you wanted to stay Xreal) or the superior Viture Beast for plugging into your handheld.

I’ve had complicated thoughts while testing them over 15,000 miles of travel, 30 hours of play in hotels, offices, and bars, and 20 hours docked at home. So let me take you through them.

Asus ROG Xreal R1 AR Glasses: Cheat sheet

• What is it? This is a premium pair of gaming AR glasses. Beyond the standard USB-C connectivity into your phone, tablet, laptop, or gaming handheld, you get a dock with HDMI and DisplayPort to connect to consoles and PCs easily.
• Who is it for? This is for pros who are well-versed in AR glasses and gaming enthusiasts seeking only the fastest frame rates.
• What does it cost? You can pick up a pair for $849/£749.
• What do we like? They’re the most advanced AR glasses in terms of capability (240Hz), including that dock in the box, which is a nice touch for making the glasses more usable at home, and with Xreal One Pro levels of picture quality, they still look great.
• What don’t we like? Unlocking 240Hz does expose some screen tearing and a drop in fidelity, updating or controlling them is more awkward now in an Asus x Xreal tie-up, and that price is massive.

Xreal One Pro AR glasses: Specs

Asus ROG Xreal R1 AR glasses: The ups

And so, my first long-haul flight came. I was hoping I’d have enough time before leaving to test the dock, but that’s the nature of the job sometimes! I packed them, sat myself right at the back of a fully-booked economy class, and transformed my experience into First Class at the push of a button.

Still a great screen

On the face of it, this is still the same screen tech that you find on the Xreal One Pros, and while the Viture Beast does have an advantage in color, the R1 continues to take a bit of a lead in all-around crispy detail.

These glasses can simulate a 278-inch display at 5 meters away — not that you should, because the end result is crazy. I ended up going for 171 inches so I could see the edges comfortably without any of the edge blurring causing problems.

But whatever I was doing, be it typing this review on my flight over to Computex, watching “The Boys” season finale, or playing 007 First Light on my Steam Deck, these glasses kept up handily with their 1080p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and impressive brightness.

Of course, that’s where the X1 chip comes in to make things interesting. Only this time around, the options have grown dramatically. With the Xreal 1S, I had an ultra-wide and the ability to turn my content from 2D to 3D in real time. Now, there are many other display aspect ratios to play with (even vertical if you really hate your neck), and it all comes together to make these an effective spatial extension of your portable workspace.

Oh, and shout-out to the deep electrochromic tint along the front of the lenses — making them feel like a blindfold when set to max, but also turning off if I have the picture anchored in front of me when I turn my head to talk to someone.

Also, speaking of tracking, these don’t pass the plane test (to be expected, as they don’t have the full-blown 6DoF tracking that would make it happen), so keep them on Smooth Follow mode if you’re on the go. But in static locations, that tracking is rock solid.

Bold looks, comfortable wearing

If you like The Matrix, chances are you’ll love this aesthetic. I quite enjoy it, but I can totally understand it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

Much like the super shiny RayNeo Air 4 Pros with that Batman mask, they do maximize the attention being drawn to you. I did see some odd double takes on people’s faces on the plane, so entirely your call on whether you’re comfortable with that.

But ultimately, this design makes for a comfortable pair of glasses that sit on just the right part of your nose, neither too high nor too low, and give you the full picture. Adjustable stems can reorient the picture, and the weight distribution is nice across the whole range of specs, so you can comfortably wear them for hours on end.

Button placement feels logical too, with the addition of a mappable shortcut button (I use mine to activate 32:9 when working on my laptop, for example), and the speakers are nice and loud without any distortion (or bass for that matter, but that’s just AR glasses for you).

Gunning for the gaming monitor

This was the part of the puzzle that intrigued me the most about the R1 glasses. Getting back from my press trip, I immediately set up the doc, went through an awkward update process (more on that later), plugged in my RTX 5080 gaming PC via DisplayPort, and got to playing.

The end result is surprising — buttery smooth 240Hz gameplay. This is a first for AR glasses, and it’s quite the experience. Flick on Dynamic Frame Gen, and you can stretch these to the fullest. There are some issues (I’ll go into them in a second), but I have to respect the fluidity.

As for the dock itself, while there are some awkward control transitions happening here where the glasses buttons turn off, and you have to use the dock, the dock controls are logically laid around a joystick — similar to what you’d see on the back of a gaming monitor.

Throw in the multiple inputs, and this is a great way to bring your various home devices together around this one wearable screen.

Asus ROG Xreal R1 AR glasses: The downs

As I got a couple of weeks into my stress testing, I noticed a few things that were weird with the R1S. One was obvious from the get-go, but the second took me a couple of games to really see what was going on.

No more simple firmware updates

This is a quick and easy one. With Xreal glasses, the firmware updates were almost always done via the company’s website. Just open the page, plug in your glasses, and boom.

With the Asus glasses, it’s a different kettle of fish. Download the update executable, open it on your PC, then connect the glasses and dock to complete the update. Sometimes it didn’t stick, and it took me three tries to get it done.

Why can’t they use Xreal’s website? I have no idea! Hopefully, this can be resolved quickly.

240Hz at what cost

So this is where I get a little more into that silky smooth mode. 240Hz is buttery for sure, but to get there, compromises had to be made — namely, in image resolution.

As Asus said on a recent subreddit post about the glasses, while the horizontal resolution stays at 1920, the vertical resolution is halved and then upscaled, which leads to a blurrier, more pixellated picture.

I mean, I appreciate my specs not melting on my face, but also, this is very noticeable. Even if you had the faster frame rate, you’d lose the competitive edge of having that in the first place by not being able to see your enemies in the distance.

Oh, and while the update did resolve some of the screen tearing, it’s still a bit of a persistent problem that can pull you out of whatever game you're playing.

$849 is a huge amount of money

This is a new all-time high price tag for AR glasses, so you need to be committed to what these offer before you buy. That’s because you could realistically buy a 1080p 240Hz gaming monitor for significantly cheaper than these specs.

And if it's the glasses side of things you want for the portability, there are many premium options for hundreds of dollars cheaper than this. These give you a very specific best of both worlds that will tickle a particular niche, but outside of that, they aren’t going to be worth it to everyone.

Asus ROG Xreal R1 AR glasses: Verdict

So after my many flights across the globe and my hours at home, I’m left feeling a little conflicted. I’ve definitely seen the future of gaming AR glasses, but the future can do with a little more time in the oven.

Because fundamentally, the Asus ROG Xreal R1 is a good pair of AR glasses — using the DNA of the One Pros and delivering something that may have divisive looks externally, but has a great-looking screen on the inside for the user.

But while the dock does add some nice home use cases to the formula, the resolution and screen-tearing issues are a problem, especially when you remember that these cost $849.

If you’re hellbent on replacing your gaming monitor and jumping into the future come what may, these are a solid pair to buy. But if I were you, I’d wait it out a little for the kinks to get worked out (and that price to hopefully come down).

RIP Vision Pro? It looks like Apple is ditching its mixed reality headset ambitions to focus on smart glasses.

Last year, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed a roadmap for Apple's Vision lineup that predicted the company was working on at least seven different wearables, including new smart glasses and versions of the Vision Pro. However, today, Kuo returned with an updated roadmap that majorly scales back Apple's ambitions, and apparently this slimming down was at the behest of incoming Apple CEO John Ternus.

In his latest missive, Kuo claims that Apple is only focusing on two smart glasses products now. The glasses include AI glasses like the Ray-Ban Meta and display-equipped AR glasses.

What is Apple working on?

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman dropped a major report recently that claimed Apple is seeking to disrupt the smart glasses industry.

This would be done by relying on Apple's strengths, including the brand, design, and iPhone integration. Essentially, Apple wants to its smart glasses to break into the mainstream the same way it did with Apple Watches in 2015.

The more fashionable display-less AI glasses are supposed to launch in 2027.

Kuo also claims Apple is working on a pair AR/XR glasses that would feature a display. This would be similar to the Xreal Android XR spectacles that we just tried at Google I/O in May.

We haven't seen much in the way of rumors or leaks regarding Apple's take on XR glasses. A report from February suggested Apple's version might launch in 2028 with 0.6-inch dual OLEDoS lenses. According to Kuo, they've slipped to 2029.

Deathknell of the Vision Pro?

The previous roadmap listed seven devices, including the M5 Vision Pro, which launched last year. It also included the rumored Vision Air, a lighter and cheaper version of the Vision Pro, and the second-generation Vision Pro.

Kuo's roadmap change seems to confirm previous rumors that Apple has stopped work on the Vision Pro series. However, that does seem to contradict a rumor that popped last week.

Gurman claimed that Apple is developing a slimmer and lighter Vision Pro successor. He did claim that this new headset wouldn't launch until 2028 or 2029.

“Apple needs to fix the design and pricing problems that turned the first Vision Pro into a flop, and that category will essentially be on ice until then.”

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple's foldable iPhone Ultra just leaked in new photos — and we have a release date update
• Apple and Garmin mark Global Running Day with limited edition badges — here's how to get them
• The iPhone Fold doesn’t stand a chance unless Apple includes these 3 features in iOS 27

AI has dominated the headlines this year, as it has for the last couple, but just below that the burgeoning field of smart glasses has seemingly exploded in 2026. And this is without major announcements from Meta — Connect kicks off in September — and the long-rumored Apple Glasses have yet to make their debut.

Acer is mostly known for its laptops like the Acer Swift 16 AI, but the company just announced two different smart glasses that will be available later this year. The Acer GI0 are AI glasses, while the Acer AR Vision GR0 are AR glasses that can hook up to a laptop, smartphone or gaming devices like the new Acer Predator Atlast 8, which we tested out at Computex 2026. Here's what they offer and what it means for Apple and Meta.

Acer AR Vision GR0

Acer's augmented reality glasses appear similar to display glasses like the Xreal One Pro or the Viture Beast. Though based on the press images, Acer's take looks more like a lithe version of the Samsung Galaxy XR headset.

Per Acer, the GR0 features dual micro OLED FHD displays that can show up to a 172-inch screen as if viewed from about 20 feet away. It can display both 2D and 3D content. Like other AR glasses, it is tethered and Acer says it's compatible with Android, iOS and Windows platforms.

Acer says the glasses weigh just 69 grams, a surprisingly head-friendly weight. For comparison, the Xreal One Pro glasses weigh 87 grams and the Viture Beast weigh a gram more at 88.

Acer GI0 AI glasses

When it comes to smart glasses there is a split. You either have the AR display glasses like the GR0s or you have the AI glasses which look more like normal daily spectacles.

Acer's take on the AI glasses feature integrated Google Gemini tools including voice-activated integration, real-time image analysis and "instant translation."

Like the Meta Ray-Ban glasses, Acer's features a built-in camera and microphone for photo and video capture. It can record voices for tracking meetings and conversations.

Acer says it can wirelessly sync with Android or iOS devices and operates in conjunction with the Acer AspireSync companion app.

Both glasses will launch in the US and Europe in the fourth quarter of 2026. Australians get first crack in Q3 later this year. The AR Vision GR0 will cost $499 USD/$599 EU/$999 AUD, while the GI0 starts at $299 US/$399 EU/$599 AUD.

Competition and the Apple behemoth

Smart glasses as a field is getting more crowded, which puts more pressure on Meta and its Ray-Ban lineup. No, Meta didn't have the first smart glasses but the company solidified how AI smart glasses work with the Meta Ray-Ban wearables.

But in 2026 alone, the company is facing more pressure and increased competition. At Google I/O in May, the Mountain View giant and its partners revealed new looks at three different smart glasses.

That includes new looks at the Xreal Project Aura AR glasses. We also saw Samsung's 'Intelligent Eyeware' glasses that are supposed to launch this fall. And that's before we even get to Google's own Android XR specs, which don't have a full release window yet.

Tom's Guide editor Jason England said that despite a head start, Meta could truly fall behind if it doesn't make useful AI that connects to its smart glasses. They only have five months to fix major issues like maps, photos and app support.

Meanwhile, Apple is lurking in the background with its rumored Glasses that could be a "shockwave" to the burgeoning industry. We may have to wait until 2027 to truly find out, though.

More from Tom's Guide

• I traveled 5,000 miles with Rokid Glasses — this Meta Ray-Ban Display rival impressed me
• I tested Google’s “Intelligent Eyewear,” and found the smart glasses that will defeat Ray-Ban Meta
• I just tested Xreal’s Android XR glasses, and they are an early glimpse of my dream future smart glasses

It's no secret that Apple is investing heavily in smart glasses, with rumors suggesting we'll see AI-powered spectacles in the near future and augmented-reality eyewear a little further out. But have you ever wondered what Apple hopes to accomplish with this push into a whole new segment of wearable tech?

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has a low-down on Apple's plans for smart glasses, claiming that things could follow a similar path to the Apple Watch. Back in 2015, smartwatches were still pretty niche products with minimal mainstream appeal compared to traditional wristwear — much like smart glasses are now.

Apple wants to disrupt the eyewear industry

In the same way that a huge drop in watch sales has been attributed to the Apple Watch release, Apple is apparently aiming to do something similar with the glasses industry. The idea is apparently to compete with well-known eyewear brands like RayBan and Warby Parker by leveraging everything that makes Apple products so popular in the first place.

This means relying on the strength of the Apple brand, industrial design and the fact that these glasses will support iPhone integration. It's currently unclear what they might offer that you can't get with a rival like Samsung's Intelligent Eyewear. But if the way Apple treats third-party smartwatches compared to the Apple Watch is anything to go by, I'm sure there will be plenty of ecosystem lock-in features only available for the Apple Glasses.

And while I personally can't see the appeal of smart glasses, due to the fact that I don't need regular glasses, there are many who do. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 2.2 billion people around the world currently have some kind of vision impairment. That's a big market that reportedly brings in around $200 billion each year. It makes complete sense that Apple would want a slice of that.

It all depends on whether the Apple logo will help convince people to wear mini-computers on their faces all day. More importantly, what Apple's stance on Android phones will be, considering how many more Android phones are sold globally compared to iPhones.

What to expect from Apple Glasses

According to Gurman's report, we can expect Apple's first smart glasses to arrive sometime in late 2027. However, he doesn't believe Apple's AR glasses will arrive before the end of the decade — with a slimmed-down (and cheaper) Apple Vision headset arriving in the interim. Next year's glasses will likely be a camera and AI combo, without any kind of eye-screen.

Gurman also claims that the Apple Glasses "will use design elements to stand out." That includes oval-shaped cameras, different color options and a choice of frame styles. It's also expected that the glasses will follow the same route as the Apple Watch, and morph into a health device rather than just another way to interact with your phone.

However, he notes that glasses wearers are a much broader demographic, especially in the $200-$500 segment Apple is apparently targeting. That said, Gurman believes that luxury eyewear brands, which charge thousands of dollars a pair, are unlikely to be affected.

Much like how Apple's $10k golden Apple Watches never really made an impact on the luxury watch market (Rolex is still going strong), Gurman believes that the ultra-premium eyewear market will still attract customers. But for most people used to paying out for glasses, adding some tech into the mix may seem fairly appealing.

It's just a shame we'll have to wait until next year for it to happen. But sadly, that seems to be the way with new Apple products, waits and delays are becoming the norm.

More from Tom's Guide

• I flew over 10,000 miles with Asus ROG Xreal R1 smart glasses — here are 2 things I love about them (and 3 I don’t)
• Does Google's Intelligent Eyewear have what it takes to beat Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses? Here's what we know
• Meet X By XREAL — I’m testing the MacBook Neo of AR glasses that people can actually afford

Not long after Google’s reveal of its new AI-enhanced eyewear at its I/O event, a new report has suggested that Apple’s own entry into that increasingly crowded product field is coming next year at the earliest.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, in his regular Power On newsletter, has suggested that Apple’s glasses will require an additional year of development before they’re ready for primetime.

Apple’s smart glasses reportedly delayed

“There have been some bumps on the road to Apple becoming an eyewear giant,” Gurman said.

“It had initially planned to introduce its smart glasses, code-named N50, at the end of 2026 and ship them by early 2027.

“But as is often the case with major new Apple products, there have been delays. The company is now working toward launching the glasses at the end of next year, I’m told.”

One of the big pieces yet to fall into place for Apple’s renewed AI push has been Siri. The company's voice assistant/chatbot still feels woefully outdated and outgunned compared to Gemini. Siri currently taps into ChatGPT, but is expected to leverage more of Gemini in the coming months, with Gurman confirming its overhaul is still expected in 2026.

Still, Gurman also expects that the N50 glasses will move in a similar fashion to the Apple Watch by adding health tracking features in time.

“The first Apple glasses will use design elements to stand out, with oval-shaped cameras, unique colors, and multiple frame styles,” he reports.

“Over time, Apple believes the glasses could evolve into a health device and eventually incorporate augmented reality technologies capable of improving how people see.”

Vision Air is not coming soon

Of course, the other side of Apple’s eyewear business is still wholly focused on Vision Pro at present, the expensive headset that offers “spatial computing”.

The system is $3,499, and adoption has been relatively slow, with speculation rife that a ‘Vision Air’ could offer a slimmer feature set at a lower price. Gurman, however, doesn’t think it’s coming anytime soon.

“Apple has also been working on a slimmer and lighter headset to succeed the $3,499 Vision Pro, but I don’t anticipate that to launch before late 2028 or 2029,” he suggested.

“Apple needs to fix the design and pricing problems that turned the first Vision Pro into a flop, and that category will essentially be on ice until then.”

That would also suggest that the M5-toting version of the Vision Pro is essentially as good as it’ll get until then.

More from Tom's Guide

• The 6 best curved monitors of 2026, tested and rated
• I ditched my dual-monitor setup for a single 40-inch ultrawide — and two screens aren’t better than one
• I added a portable monitor next to my main display and this inexpensive upgrade is a game changer

We’ve already seen a ton of new handheld gaming PCs here at Computex 2026 but, instead of going that route, Asus has decided to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its Republic of Gamers (ROG) subbrand with a special edition of the ROG Xbox Ally X.

Dubbed the ROG Xbox Ally X20, this new device uses (mostly) the same hardware as last year’s Xbox-themed handheld. You still get the powerful performance of AMD’s Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chip with 24GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. While not technically an entirely new device, Asus has made some fundamental changes under the hood and has also given the handheld a regal makeover with hints of gold throughout its design.

Asus definitely could have stopped there and called it a day. However, given the recent launch of its new ROG XREAL R1 AR glasses, the company decided to give them the same ROG 20th anniversary treatment too. They’re the same glasses more or less but since they’re intended to be used alongside the ROG Xbox Ally X20, they won’t ship with Asus’ ROG Control Dock.

After going hands-on with the new ROG Xbox Ally X20 and ROG Xreal R1 Edition 20 here in Taipei, I’m quite impressed by how all the little changes Asus made to its handheld make for an even better experience. However, are they enough to justify a bundle that will likely cost a hefty sum once it releases later this year? Find out in my full hands-on review.

Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 specs

Fit for an anniversary

Just like Microsoft did with its 20th anniversary Xbox Controller, Asus has also given the ROG Xbox Ally X20 a transparent front shell. It looks even better in person and when seeing it side by side with the original Xbox Ally X, this small tweak really makes the upgraded handheld stand out. If that wasn’t enough though, the View, Command Center, Menu and Library buttons now feature gold accents.

In another nod to the Xbox brand, the Xbox button to the left of ROG Xbox Ally X20’s side buttons now lights up green too. Within Asus’ Armory Crate software, you can also tweak its brightness and lighting effects as well. Seeing the Xbox button pulse green was especially cool while trying out the new handheld.

On the top edge of the ROG Xbox Ally X20, you still get two USB-C ports — one USB 4 one and one USB 3.2 one — along with a power button and a 3.5mm headphone jack. If you look closely though, you might notice an extra cooling vent between the main two on the left and right side. Asus reworked the cooling for the ROG Xbox Ally X20 to improve airflow which is why we now have four instead of three vents like on the Xbox Ally X.

Around back is where the ROG 20th Anniversary design changes are the most apparent on the Xbox Ally X20. In addition to a gold badge underneath the right fan, the diagonal line with “Republic of Gamers” written out is now gold too with the letters in a vibrant red. The top half of the back panel is transparent too which lets you see how Asus went to the extra trouble of making the ROG Xbox Ally X20’s fans and heatsink gold too.

Besides these aesthetic changes, the handheld’s grips are now wrapped in a grippy, rubber-like plastic too just like on the Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller. This is another one of those small but very noticeable differences with the Xbox Ally X20. The upgraded handheld felt even better to hold in my hands, speaking of which…..

Upgrades you can feel

As I’ve mentioned, small but noticeable improvements with a touch of gold throughout seems to be the big theme of the ROG Xbox Ally X20. This is also the case with the handheld’s bumpers and triggers.

Asus actually moved the position of the bumper buttons on the device’s motherboard to make them easier and more comfortable to press. While they used to sit on the top edge, they’re now positioned diagonally on the left and right side of the motherboard. This is a small change I know, but having tested the bumpers on both the Xbox Ally X and the ROG Xbox Ally X20 side by side, this tweak is noticeable.

The shape and feel of the ROG Xbox Ally X20’s ABXY buttons are different too and they now feature a slightly more rounded profile. As you might have guessed, this is another nod back to the Xbox controller. One area where Asus is pushing ahead of Xbox though is with the joysticks on this handheld.

Although a lot of people kept asking about Hall Effect joysticks coming to its handhelds, Asus wasn’t quite happy with the tradeoffs that would come with adopting them. So instead, the company went with TMR joysticks on the ROG Xbox Ally X20. In my testing, they were incredibly smooth and responsive which makes me hope this will become the norm with PC gaming handhelds going forward.

Now you might have realized I skipped over the microSD card slot before when discussing the ports on the back of the ROG Xbox Ally X20. Well, that was intentional. You see, this is actually a microSD Express card slot like the one found on the Nintendo Switch 2. While you can upgrade the handheld’s internal storage, if you don’t want to open it up, you can always pop in a microSD Express card to get some more storage space and thanks to its faster speeds, you shouldn’t have any trouble playing even more demanding games off of it.

Transforming with a twist

Now this next upgrade is one that both fighting game and Xbox 360 fans will instantly appreciate. While a 4-way d-pad is perfect for platformers and retro games, it isn’t ideal for 2D fighting titles like Street Fighter. With the ROG Xbox Ally X20, Asus said why not both. So just like on the wireless controller that was released quite late in the Xbox 360 era, this handheld also has a transforming d-pad.

To switch between the two modes, you just pinch both sides of the d-pad, pull up and give it a quick turn. This lets you go from a 4-way to an 8-way d-pad that feels almost identical to the one on the Xbox Series controller in the best way possible.

In case you pull up but don’t quite turn the d-pad all the way, you won’t be able to press it down at all which lets you know you did something wrong. Likewise, the d-pad spins all the way around, so you aren’t stuck going in one direction or the other.

The OLED we’ve been waiting for

Back when my colleague Jason England wrote his ROG Xbox Ally X review, one of his biggest gripes was that it didn’t have an OLED display. Well, Asus must have been listening as the ROG Xbox Ally X20 does and it’s a full-featured one at that. The handheld’s OLED features HDR 1000, comes equipped with VRR thanks to AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and can reach a max peak brightness of 1,400 Nits.

While we’ll have to get one into our testing lab to see for sure, in person, I noticed a stark difference between the brightness of the Xbox Ally X and the ROG Xbox Ally X20 with the two handhelds next to each other. When playing Control and Chronos: The New Dawn, the blacks were quite deep and the colors really popped. However, it wasn’t until I saw the driving game Assetto Corsa running on two devices side by side — one with HDR on and one with it off — that it really hit me.

Speaking of small but noticeable improvements once again, Asus actually managed to fit a larger 7.4-inch OLED screen here without increasing the overall size of the handheld. On the original Xbox Ally X, the bottom and top bezels were the same size. That isn’t the case with the ROG Xbox Ally X20 as Asus shrunk the top bezel to make room for the bigger display, making it smaller than the bezels on either side.

Personally, this was a huge improvement and quite noticeable during my hands on time with the device. For the most part when playing games on a handheld like this, you’re looking up at the top of the device and not the bottom, so the screen feels a lot larger even though the panel is still technically the same size.

Even better together

Now I know most people haven’t tried gaming while wearing a pair of the best smart glasses but if you haven’t yet, it’s an awesome experience. Instead of a 7-inch display — or 7.4-inch one here — by plugging in a single USB-C cable, you instantly get a massive, movie theater-like screen right in front of you.

Asus and I must be on the same page which is why the company plans on releasing the ROG Xbox Ally X20 in a bundle with a special edition pair of its ROG Xreal R1 smart glasses. They’re mostly the same minus the dock and like the handheld, they have some gold accents on the sides.

For those unfamiliar, using these — or any other AR glasses — with the ROG Xbox Ally X20 is about as plug and play of an experience as you can get. You just plug in the glasses on one of the top USB-C ports, put them on and you’re good to go. One cool use case a few of Asus’ staff and I discussed is wearing them while lying back in one of the best gaming chairs so you don’t run the risk of dropping a handheld on your face. I’ve played this way at home and trust me, it’s as comfortable as it is plain cool.

One neat difference here is that when you pair the ROG Xreal R1 X20 glasses with the ROG Xbox Ally X20 is that you don’t have to press the buttons on their sides to tweak picture settings. You absolutely can if you want to though. However, settings like screen size, transparency and even enabling real-time 3D conversion on the glasses are available right within Asus’ Armory Crate software.

I have to admit I stuck to making most of my adjustments on the glasses themselves as I’m quite familiar with Xreal’s AR glasses after I paired them with a portable mini PC for a truly unique setup. However, if this is your first time using them, it will probably be easier making adjustments right on the handheld itself.

This bundle won’t come cheap

Asus gave myself and the rest of the Tom’s Guide computing team a sneak peak at the ROG Xbox Ally X20 at its HQ here in Taipei, with more details likely to come at Gamescom this summer. While we don’t know the official price yet, the ROG Xbox Ally X20 and ROG Xreal R1 X20 will likely be available ahead of the holidays later this year.

The other big news we got out of Asus is that the two will come as a bundle. Given the original ROG Xbox Ally X costs $999 on its own and the ROG Xreal R1 glasses are available now for $849, I doubt this special edition bundle will cost less than $2,000. However, since you aren’t getting the ROG Control Dock with the glasses, that could bring down the price slightly.

We’ll have the full pricing and release details soon enough but after spending an afternoon with the ROG Xbox Ally X20 and the ROG Xreal R1 X20, Asus went above and beyond here for sure. Just changing the color of the handheld’s shell and some of its buttons definitely would have been enough. However, Asus’ engineers went back to the drawing board and made seemingly small but very noticeable changes to the Xbox Ally X.

Now I wouldn’t recommend rushing out to get this bundle if you already have an Xbox Ally X unless you’re a really big ROG fan. Personally though, these improvements and tweaks have me really excited for what Asus will eventually do with its followup to the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X.

More from Tom's Guide

• I used Keychron’s new split mechanical keyboard for a week and its tether-free design is a complete game changer
• Best graphics cards in 2026: I've tested every GPU to find the best bang for your buck
• I fixed my biggest gripe with the PS5 Pro with these unofficial cover plates and now it looks and feels more like a PC

Whenever anyone asks for the best AI smart glasses to buy, the Ray-Ban Metas are always a default pick. They've been around the block for a while now and have developed into a smart, stylish pair of specs.

However, as we found out at Google’s I/O, things could be about to change with its new Intelligent Eyewear — co-made with Samsung and designed by either Gentle Monster or Warby Parker.

With established design houses like these, you already know the looks are going to be on point. Add Gemini to the mix, and as we’ve already pointed out, it’s not looking great for Zuckerberg.

But is it enough to convince owners of Meta's own specs to upgrade? Let's take a look at what's new and rifle through the rumors to help answer that question.

What will they cost?

Nothing has been confirmed yet on Google's smart glasses pricing — nor do we know the specific launch date (only that they're coming this year). So instead, let's take a look at the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2s, which are currently going for $379, and offer the full gamut of 3K 60 FPS video capture, nice daylong battery in my use and a timeless design.

Now let's forget Gentle Monster, because glasses coming from a premium design house like this will carry a premium. Warby Parker has that more timeless, accessible feel and vibe, and I'm hoping they can either match or undercut this cost.

This is for the display-free glasses by the way. Google did mention the display glasses will be spoken more about "later this year," but they will come with a hefty price uplift for the Waveguide technology.

Levels to this g(ai)me

Then we turn our attention to what the glasses can do. Because on one side, you've got a respectable Meta AI experience with models that are being upgraded on a semi-consistent basis with new use cases like Live Translation and longer memory contexts to increase usefulness.

But still, while they certainly look impressive in their wayfarer-esque style, you're limited by app compatibility and not being able to talk to other services outside of Spotify and a couple others. Navigation feels a bit unreliable in many locations because of it.

Enter Android XR with Gemini being the main character here, and the difference is night and day. Conversational AI powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash, multi-modal connectivity to all your Google services, and vastly more capabilities than Meta AI at the moment.

Even as a dyed-in-the-wool Apple user, I’m keen to hear more about what the Google “intelligent eyewear” will be like since it’ll be platform agnostic and usable with iOS. Given Apple’s gone a little quiet since Vision Pro’s divisive arrival, I feel like this will be a race to the finish like this fall between Google's eyewear and Apple's own glasses.

My colleague Jason England was able to ask for Google Maps directions, and being able to refer back to Gmail to recall an address or appointment time, or ask Google Calendar to give you a daily summary, could be really useful in just about every scenario — not just the very staid lab demos they had him checking out like a cookbook in another language.

Having generative AI right in front of your eyes won’t sit well with everyone (myself included), but there’s perhaps a spark here that could ignite a broader category in a way we’ve not seen at all.

Outlook

So in my time testing both, one is clear. Google's Intelligent Eyewear has a huge lead in actually useful AI smart glasses over the Ray-Ban Meta. Not to say that the latter aren't useful at all, but it's the ease of use, connectivity to all the Google services you're probably already using and much more that gives them the edge.

Will it be enough to encourage an upgrade from your current glasses and a "jump ship" moment? Possibly, but we'll have to wait for Meta Connect 2026 to find out what new updates may be coming to the Ray-Ban Metas (maybe some OpenClaw support if you're nasty).

More from Tom’s Guide

• I switched my Ray-Ban Metas for L’Atitude 52°N for a month, and while there’s cool features for explorers, it’s no contest
• I put Viture Beast and Xreal One Pro head-to-head for a week: Here's the one pair I'm actually keeping in my bag
• I traveled 5,000 miles with Rokid Glasses — this Meta Ray-Ban Display rival impressed me

When you look at the best AR glasses you can buy, they do come with quite a hefty price tag — namely because of all the innovations in increasing picture size and quality, while also using cameras and sensors to create a spatial computing experience.

But what if you’re like most people and just want a glorified portable monitor condensed down to a pair of glasses for your laptop or Nintendo Switch? And what if you don’t want to spend many hundreds of dollars to get there?

Well, the value answer has been the RayNeo Air 4 Pro, but a new colorful competitor is coming. These are the $299 X By Xreal a01s, and I’m the only person outside of China to be showing you a pair in person right now. Let me tell you about how AR glasses are hitting their MacBook Neo era of figuring out how to give you maximum bang for your buck.

X By XREAL a01 Specs

Cost-cutting measures

So I know what the first question is — I had the same one. What has been killed off to cut the price? A few things have been cut, but nothing that compromises that core goal of being a portable monitor in a pair of glasses.

Instead of any kind of sensor-driven 3DoF tracking, there are no cameras and there’s a software-driven stabilization and anti-shake mode. That being said, you’re still getting a bright 1080p picture at 120 FPS and a 50-degree field of view.

Now, I can’t specifically tell you what they’re like (yet). There's an embargo on that. So, what I’ll do is tell you about how my flight home from Google I/O was rather packed with turbulence, which while I felt, I saw none of if it shake up my viewing experience of Spider-Man 2.

Keeping it simple (and versatile)

Three viewing modes, four audio modes, and an impressively bright, colorful display — these glasses aren’t about any specific winning feature, it's the sum of all its parts being nicely affordable for what you get.

And aesthetically, these are both some of the simplest-looking AR glasses, but also the most subtle because of it. No camera lenses on the front — just your standard Wayfarer look. There are some cutbacks in terms of materials used, but the choices of what to downgrade feels strategic, from keeping the hinge metallic to downgrading the plastic on the frame.

Oh, and for a nice added layer of fun, the front of these glasses are completely detachable. That means you can change the style in the future, and I just wish more expensive glasses would have this feature!

Outlook

Ahead of July, I think it’s fair that I can safely say if you’re looking to get your first AR glasses, going for something cheaper like these is the best option for you. Specs-wise, you’re getting something similar here to the RayNeos I mentioned earlier.

And given it’s a MacBook Neo era for AR glasses, that doesn’t mean other companies aren’t going to be jumping in too. Been hearing that Viture has plans for this price tag too, but can’t say much more than that.

All I’ll say though is I’m so glad that RayNeo has forced value for money back onto the table, and this cheaper price is going to get mightily competitive now.

More from Tom's Guide

• I flew over 10,000 miles with Asus ROG Xreal R1 smart glasses — here are 2 things I love about them (and 3 I don’t)
• I just tested Xreal’s Android XR glasses, and they are an early glimpse of my dream future smart glasses
• I tested Google’s “Intelligent Eyewear,” and found the smart glasses that will defeat Ray-Ban Meta

I don't mean to brag, but aside from a little photosensitivity, my eyesight is damn near perfect. In the 30-plus years I've been alive, I've often been grateful for the fact that I don't need any sort of corrective eyewear to function. Unfortunately, in a world increasingly interested in the best smart glasses, that poses a problem.

I imagine that if I did wear glasses, I might be more enthusiastic about smart glasses as a whole. It doesn't matter whether we're talking about specs with built-in displays, like Meta Ray-Ban Display, or something that relies on voice and audio like Intelligent Eyewear from Samsung and Google. But the fact that I generally don't wear accessories on my face means the entire prospect of smarter eyewear does not appeal to me in the slightest.

I say this following the reveal of Samsung and Google's Intelligent Eyewear at Google I/O earlier this week. The glasses may not have displays or gesture controls, but the addition of Gemini and its connection to Google apps and services has wowed some of my colleagues here at Tom's Guide. And yet, my lack of eyewear experience means I can't really see the appeal.

What do smart glasses do?

Different smart glasses offer different features, depending on who made them and on the hardware available. Typically, these frames come with an integrated camera, microphone, personal speakers, and a way to interact with an AI assistant. For Meta Ray-Bans, that assistant is Meta AI, while the new Intelligent Eyewear from Samsung and Google is linked in with Google's Gemini.

While the basic hardware allows these glasses to be used as cameras or headphones, the extra capabilities are wholly dependent on the AI you have access to. Like smartwatches, they are essentially a way of interacting with another device, usually your phone, using voice prompts and commands.

Google revealed that Intelligent Eyewear will have access to a whole host of Google services, including Google Maps, which should give it a slight edge over platforms that don't have such a robust software suite to fall back on.

More advanced smart glasses have pushed the envelope a little further, with new hardware and ways of interacting with the glasses themselves. The Meta Ray-Ban Displays include a wristband that enables gesture control, as well as a small screen in your line of sight that adds visual information and apps to the mix.

Fully-fledged AR glasses are also available, with more robust eye-level screens. A good example is the Viture Beast, which is our current pick for the best smart glasses. However, these devices are a lot larger and more obvious, on account of the AR display needing more hardware to operate.

AR glasses certainly feel more appealing to me, as a non-glasses wearer, especially if they can overlay TV or monitor-style screens directly in my line of sight. But AI-only glasses are a much harder sell.

I already don't like using wearables

So I don't wear glasses to correct my vision, that doesn't mean I can't wear smart glasses anyway, right? Sadly, there are two main problems to contend with here. The first is that I don't have much interest in wearing glasses as a fashion statement, as was the trend 10-15 years ago when hipster culture seemed to be everywhere.

Wearing frames with blank lenses, or no lenses at all, is going to make me feel almost as ridiculous as if I had a curly moustache tattooed onto my index finger. Not to mention the fact that they're going to need cleaning regularly. I have to clean my sunglasses at least once a day, and I can't imagine having to voluntarily do that more frequently. I feel your pain, glasses wearers, I really do.

I'm also very aware of the fact that I don't really like wearables either. I've used a few smartwatches and fitness trackers over the years, and without fail, I will eventually stop wearing them because of the inconvenience. I know there are benefits to having a smartwatch, but the benefits don't outweigh the hassle of wearing and charging them.

The idea of doing this for a pair of glasses, and wearing them in a position that's almost impossible to ignore, is an instant turn-off for me. Especially when I remind myself that I don't actually like talking to AI assistants or chatbots, and prefer to do all my phone activities manually.

I can see the appeal for some, but not me

I can see why some people may find smart glasses an appealing prospect. If you're already wearing glasses on a regular basis, then the prospect of throwing some smarts into the mix might be quite appealing. If you're going to be wearing glasses to see, then you might as well let them multitask and add a little more convenience to your life.

Likewise, if you wanted to be able to take advantage of Gemini Live or other AI modes that benefit from an active camera feed, then face-mounted cameras make that whole process a lot easier.

But that doesn't appeal to me. I'm not the biggest fan of using AI in the first place, and without AI, those glasses are mostly pointless — especially if you don't need corrective lenses.

Plus, I've lost count of the number of sunglasses I've lost in various dumb and unlikely circumstances. I once lost a pair of sunglasses cycling over an intersection too fast, only realizing it after they'd been run over and destroyed. I absolutely do not trust myself with expensive sunglasses, let alone a hi-tech pair with electronics and a battery inside.

So Intelligent Eyewear might have a bunch of cool and interesting features, but they are definitely not going to earn a place on my wish list.

More from Tom's Guide

• How to tell if someone is filming you wearing smart glasses — the signs to watch out for
• I just tested Xreal’s Android XR glasses, and they are an early glimpse of my dream future smart glasses
• I wore the Meta Ray-Bans to a Yankees game — here's where they excelled, and where they need work

It used to be so simple: If you wanted a VR headset, you could go for something relatively affordable, or something a little pricier for higher fidelity and more processing power.

Then Apple steamrolled in with its big ideas and started charging thousands of dollars for a new computing paradigm, and while the Apple Vision Pro never really took off with mass market appeal, it has opened the door ajar for further innovation that falls somewhere between it and something like Google Glass (remember that?).

The latest model to step through that door is Xreal’s new Project Aura, and it’s doing a few things differently to its contemporaries (I’m not even sure we can describe them all as rivals). Here’s why the Android XR stands apart from some of its more traditional rivals.

Aura Farming

This year's Google I/O showed off some audio-centric smart glasses that, in fairness, looked much more useful than many (this writer) might have expected them to be. Still, it was Project Aura, the long-gestating project from Xreal that really turned heads, literally.

From the front, they’re big ol’ sunglasses that wouldn’t look out of place on a rack at just about any store, but look closer, and you’ll find there are a trio of cameras for photo and video capture, and popping them on reveals a very respectable (given the form factor) 70-degree FOV.

It’s running Google’s Android XR, and connects to a sort of computing “puck” that looks about the same size as a phone. That’s where all the magic happens, meaning you can run apps like Google Chrome in the eyewear, while it also doubles as a trackpad, which is neat.

Ahead of the pack?

This all sounds terrific, but Project Aura doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It doesn’t have a price point yet, so we don’t know how many kidneys we’ll need to sell (and after Vision Pro, we’re running low).

Android XR is also developing nicely, but you don’t have to buy the latest device for it. In fact, the Samsung Galaxy XR is pretty solid, but it eschews the more compact form factor for something more traditional (and, if we’re being honest, similar to Vision Pro).

Still, this feels like the closest we’re going to get to the smart eyewear we envisaged watching sci-fi shows as kids, something echoed by my colleague Jason England when he went hands-on.

He called it the “missing link” between using a laptop and something much more portable, and I couldn’t be happier to hear it.

I enjoy my Meta Quest 3 for its wide range of apps, experiences, and games, but you won’t see me (or anyone else) walking down the street with it. In fact, it actually feels a little antiquated now: “What do you mean it’s mostly VR with very little AR?”

Ultimately, I’d imagine that much of the Xreal Project Aura’s appeal will come down to how integrated you are into Android. I work on a Mac and an iPad, track my fitness on an Apple Watch, and have an iPhone 15 Pro Max close to my hands at all times — so it’s probably not for me.

Still, as a proof of concept, it gives its rivals much to think about, and if Xreal can somehow nail the pricing, we could be tiptoeing to a real watershed moment for AR.

For now, though, I’m going to be waiting for an Apple equivalent while looking jealously at it.

More from Tom’s Guide

• I switched my Ray-Ban Metas for L’Atitude 52°N for a month, and while there’s cool features for explorers, it’s no contest
• I put Viture Beast and Xreal One Pro head-to-head for a week: Here's the one pair I'm actually keeping in my bag
• I traveled 5,000 miles with Rokid Glasses — this Meta Ray-Ban Display rival impressed me

The $849 Asus ROG Xreal R1 smart glasses (£749 in the UK) are finally here, and I’ve been testing them for a while. So why am I not scoring them? Well, life comes at you fast and I’ve been traveling over 10,000 miles to Google I/O and back.

That means while I am able to put these specs through their paces in a portable state, I’ve not been able to really test the biggest feature of them — the dock allowing for lightning fast 240Hz gameplay. That’s a world’s first for smart glasses…but it wasn’t available during the time I (and other tech journalists) have been testing them.

But there’s enough here that I can give you some in depth first impressions of using these for hours on end. Let’s get into it.

👎 Not quite ready for primetime

I’ll get this one sorted right off the bat. The hardware is finished, but the software isn’t quite done yet. This shouldn’t be something you face, but it is highly recommended that you get the firmware updated for both the glasses and dock before you properly try them out.

Out-of-the-box, the Frame Rate Boost mode that gives you 240Hz is not available, and with the update literally coming out mere days ago, I can’t in good conscience give you a scored review until I’ve put them properly through their paces.

Plus, it doesn’t help that I’m testing them while out here at Google I/O (far away from my gaming tower and the dock). The following is my experience of the portable setup — stand by for my time replacing my gaming monitors with this set of specs!

👍 Comfortable wearability

The aesthetic may be more Matrix than modern (it won’t be for everyone), but the end result is nice weight distribution across the glasses with pressure-absorbent nose pads that give you a nice wearability for hours on end.

It’s a larger pair of glasses on the face, but still comfortable enough for long flights, along with well-placed buttons for custom controls of the screen tweaks and the X1 chip-enabled feature set.

👍 Crispy picture, versatile customizability

It’s a 1080p picture, but with the prism display tech over bird bath, it’s an impressively sharp 1080p. That comes down to the clarity of the optics here, which does make plugging these into your phone for watching the finale of “The Boys” a nice experience.

On top of that, I’ve always said Xreal’s the way to go for a productivity focus, and these deliver when connected to a laptop — the 32:9 ultrawide panel activated entirely with the on-device chip (no software needed) is a nice touch.

For a better mix of a vivid color palette, something like the Viture Beast is a better pick here. However, Xreal is on the comeback with a customizable color palette. Still not as colorful, but getting closer!

👎 Some edge blurs and screen tearing at higher refresh rates

But while the Xreal One Pro image quality is well and truly here, that comes with some of the drawbacks I saw while testing these — namely the edge blurriness. These prisms are being stretched here by the micro OLEDs within them, and that means you’ll have to tweak the screen distance to be either smaller or further away from you.

Also, rather frustratingly, once connected to the dock, the buttons on the glasses themselves do nothing. While I can understand that in this deskbound situation, you’ll be more likely to use a dock to control them (and the joystick/button layout is easy enough to use), I did find myself often going for the glasses buttons to no avail.

And the big final part here is the screen tearing when using the dock. In all the games I played (particularly any with Nvidia’s DLSS turned on), it was a visible distraction of tears and artifacting that would pose a competitive disadvantage.

Of course, this is without the firmware update, so this could be swiftly resolved, but I’m only here to tell you the immediate experience I’ve had with them.

👎 $849 is a steep price

But that’s when I get to the big issue here — that is a hefty price tag. I know premium AR glasses will cost more, but $849 is a large chunk of change to say the least. You need to be either a serious PC player or a refresh rate purist to really want to spend this much.

Make no mistake about it. This is prime for a specific kind of audience, but even at that rate, you’re getting a crispy, colorful experience that’s more than enough at way cheaper prices. The Xreal 1S — for example — are a great pair of gaming glasses, and while they’re not 240Hz, you get more than enough of a silky frame rate for handheld play (honestly the place where you’d use the Xreal R1s most of the time anyway).

Outlook

Obviously, it’s too early to call on a lot of these features. Maybe the firmware update fixes the screen tearing and these could be the 240Hz wonder glasses that could replace your gaming monitor.

But in my first 10,000 miles, you can tell Asus and Xreal are onto something mightily interesting here, which is a bit of a diamond in the rough at the moment. Time will tell whether these issues are fixed (which you kind of hope they do for $849), and my full review once the full updates are applied will be coming early next week!

More from Tom's Guide

• I traveled 5,000 miles with Rokid Glasses — this Meta Ray-Ban Display rival impressed me
• Snap CEO dunks on Ray-Ban Metas and teases Snap Specs as his 'alien vision' for the future of computing — sounds weird, but I’m on board
• I’ve worn smart glasses for over 5 years — here’s the best AR and AI glasses

So as you well know by now, the “intelligent eyewear” from Google and Samsung is launching this fall with designs by Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. While nobody was able to go actually hands (or eyes) on with these actual glasses, I did get to test the software that will be fuelling these specs and, well, the Ray-Ban Metas are kind of cooked.

Basically, everything AI-related that Meta has brought to the table in its past couple generations has been usurped by what is set to launch on Google’s glasses. We may not know what they will be called, and we don’t know the price. But if they’re competitive to Meta’s specs, Zuckerberg has a big problem on his hands.

Judging the styles

So we’ve got Warby Parker and Gentle Monster doing the designs, and I wouldn’t be surprised if most people went for the former. We only got to look at photos (ignore publications that said they got to “wear them all,” because they didn’t), so I can only give you my eyes-on perspective.

The Warby Parker frames look less daring and more subtle on your face, whereas Gentle Monster is looking to make a statement. Nothing wrong with that at all, but the aesthetic is not going to be for everyone.

As for specifics on them, Google didn’t share much. But with these prototype specs weighing less than 50 grams, I’m quietly confident that they will also be lightweight and wearable in the very long-term. Plus, they’ll definitely be prescription-friendly, as has been confirmed extensively here at I/O.

All-round smoothness

As for using them day-to-day, you’ll get your standard interface that uses your phone as the brains of your glasses, with a little bit of local AI to run the basics. It’s a method that has a proven track record so far, and they will be compatible with both Android and iOS devices.

Gemini Live is the key to making these true Ray-Ban Meta beaters, and it frankly makes Meta AI seem feeble in comparison. Rather than having to follow rudimentary vocal steps to do certain things, a press and hold on the stem turns it on and I’m having a full conversational interaction with the AI about the world around me.

As is the case with any of these demos, I had a bunch of props to work with — figuring out a Van Gogh painting, or going through a Korean cookbook and ensuring that the recipes are safe for my peanut-allergic friends to consume. In all of these, the AI voice is extra descriptive of its determination and provides a nice helping hand in a way Meta AI has never really done so.

Throw in all the Google app integration in here too and it gets even more interesting. You can receive a summary of your latest messages or turn-by-turn directions to the nearest bar (it’s been a long day, don’t judge me). It’s clear that a real-time AI like Gemini has been the missing link that’s going to bring everything together in a way that can reduce the number of times you need to pull out your phone.

Turning on the display

This is a feature that will not be coming to this first crop of smart glasses — they are all display-free. But the monocular waveguide display in this prototype does add some fantastic visual aids to some key use cases.

You’ve probably already read a lot about this when Mark went eyes-on with this same prototype last year. But to give you my thoughts, bringing Google services into a pair of smart glasses really brings a user-friendly advantage here with the likes of Google Maps and photo taking.

Seeing a little HUD give directions or a GTA-style radar when you look down for a nice street layout is a nice touch. Then the image generation efforts with Nano Banana were frankly hilarious. I took a picture of my camera guy and asked it to turn him into a superhero…what does GL mean? Also his name is Paul Antill as clearly stated on the badge, but now he’s Paul Arnold!?

Regardless, it’s clear that you’ll have plenty of fun with the generative AI experiences of these specs.

Watch out, Meta!

And all of this exposes that while the Ray-Ban Metas may have a couple of years headstart, the usefulness updates over time have been rather minor and slow in the progress of things.

I mean, sure, there are reminders of things, but do they actually mean something when they’re not integrated into your services that matter? Or do turn-by-turn directions really help when the mapping technology doesn’t hold a candle to Google Maps?

So, I say this to Zuck. You have about five months-ish to figure out how to compete with this. I’m not sure what the answer is, but Google is about to bring actually useful AI to smart glasses, and Meta AI needs to catch up fast in both a simple Q&A fashion and in agentic use, too.

More from Tom's Guide

• I lived in the Viture Beast for 10,000 miles, and it just ruined other AR glasses for me
• I just tested Xreal’s Android XR glasses, and they are an early glimpse of my dream future smart glasses
• I switched my Ray-Ban Metas for L’Atitude 52°N for a month, and while there’s cool features for explorers, it’s no contest

I've been using the Ray-Ban Metas, the Meta Ray-Ban Display and the Oakley Meta Vanguard for the better part of a year, and they've proven to be some of the most capable and best smart glasses around. I've found them exceptionally handy for taking pictures and video on the go, listening to music, keeping tabs on conversations, and finding out general info about things that are in front of me.

However, at Google I/O 2026, Google finally revealed Google Glass 2.0 its Intelligent Eyewear, which are due out this fall. Although the introduction was brief, what I saw impressed me in a few ways — most notably, the things they offer that Meta's smart glasses do not.

Fortunately for Meta, it has a few months to improve its own products — which no doubt we'll see at Meta Connect 26 in September. Here are the three big things that Meta will need to add to keep up with Google.

Maps and directions

Apart from search, one of Google's biggest assets is Google Maps, so it's no surprise that turn-by-turn directions are one of the features included in its eyewear. Not only that, but Gemini will also be able to add stops to your route as you go.

Currently, only the Meta Ray-Ban Displays provide native navigation, and it's only recently been updated to include the entire U.S., and a few cities abroad, such as London, Paris, and Rome. And, they're only walking directions.

This is something that's going to have to get a lot more comprehensive, and also become available on all of its smart glasses.

Taking (and editing) photos

More than anything, I use Meta's smart glasses to take photos and videos, as it's so much more convenient and faster than pulling my phone out of my pocket. However, smart glasses' cameras are much less capable than those on smart phones, so I know I'm making a bit of a tradeoff.

Google's smart glasses will let you use Nano Banana to instantly edit the photos you take, to remove background objects or even do something sillier, like putting mustaches on everyone in the picture. Hilarity aside, the Nano Banana integration could help remove, or at least mitigate, one of the key disadvantages of a smart glasses' camera.

A recent update to all of Meta's cameras lets you automatically crop photos where a portion is covered by a hat or hair — a very welcome feature — but it's going to have to go a bit further. Meta does allow you to use AI tools to edit photos you take from within the app, but you can't make these changes proactively.

Greater app support

Thanks to its history of acquisitions, Meta has some pretty useful apps in its portfolio, most notably Whatsapp and Instagram. And, its smart glasses also work well with major music apps (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music) as well as Garmin and Strava. But that's not nearly enough.

At the keynote, Google announced that its glasses would work with a host of apps, such as Uber, Doordash, and more. It's not clear if the apps need to be integrated with the glasses themselves, or if you merely need to connect them via Gemini — which would save a lot of app development time.

Regardless of how it's accomplished — and this is something I noted in my Meta Ray-Ban Display review — there needs to be far greater integration with third-party apps and services.

To its credit, Meta did announce it was launching developer access, so you can start building Web apps for the glasses. But, this will need to be extended to all of its devices, not just the premium Displays, and it will need to get some major companies on board.

Outlook

There's a lot of time between now and when the Google Intelligent Eyewear makes its debut this fall, and Meta does have a strong early lead in actually producing smart glasses.

Still, Google has some real strengths where it can leverage its massive portfolio of businesses, services, and AI to its advantage. Before Thanksgiving rolls around, Zuckerberg and Co. could be playing catch-up — and by then, it may be too late.

More from Tom's Guide

• Google’s new $100 AI Ultra plan just changed the AI race — here's what you get
• Google just launched Gemini 3.5 Flash — here's all the upgrades
• Google unveils Gemini Spark — a '24/7 personal AI agent'

Alongside AI glasses made with Samsung, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, Google is also tying up with Xreal on Project Aura. We’ve been seeing small glimpses of them for the past year and finally, I was able to go fully hands-on (and eyes-on) at Google I/O. And in three words: it’s the future.

For those uninitiated, Project Aura is Xreal’s best pair of AR glasses connected to a compute puck with Qualcomm silicon inside — taking on Meta’s Project Orion from a while back and figuring out how to stuff the experience of a full-blown VR headset like the Samsung Galaxy XR or Apple Vision Pro into something the size of a slightly oversized pair of specs.

As the smart glasses guy on the team, it’s been my dream to watch the worlds of the best smart glasses and best VR headsets come together. And while they’re definitely not all the way there (you won’t be taking these outside in public without getting second looks), it’s a damn good starting point.

A new window

The field-of-view battle has been ongoing between the likes of Xreal and Viture, and so far that ceiling has been 58 degrees in the Viture Beast. When Xreal’s CEO came out and announced a 70-degree field of view for Project Aura, I was very much in the “I’ll believe it when I see it” camp…

Well, I saw it and yes, it’s a true generational leap for immersion. The prisms are massive and while you can definitely see some edge blurring, the fact that said blurring is kind of moving off to your peripheral vision masks it nicely.

It’s that missing link between just being a nice big screen for your phone or laptop on your face and becoming that stepping stone into being a VR experience to boot. On the sides, you’ve got two cameras along with a centrally-placed lens for full 6 DoF tracking, and the whole thing is tethered to a compute puck (with a strap to shoulder it) that’s roughly the same size as my iPhone 15 Pro.

We don’t know anything about what’s inside the puck except for a 4455mAh battery (probably good for 2-3 hours of heavy use), and some unnamed Snapdragon chip inside.

My guess is an XR2 Gen 2 or something maybe newer (Gen 3? Couldn’t be sure). But the end result is mostly accurate hand tracking and impressively fixed windows in place — to the point that you can walk around them a la VR headsets.

Getting to use them

So what can you do on them? Well, spatial computing stuff of course — this is Android XR after all! If you’ve used the Galaxy XR, you’ll feel right at home with the pinches and drags. But the transparency of glasses adds a new dimension of layering to the whole thing. This is not you seeing the world through cameras, it’s seeing the real world with your content laid over it.

I got to multitask without any noticeable hitches, messed around with a music creation app that merges drawing in the air with Gemini’s music creation, and even played Demeo — a D&D-style tabletop game that almost feels purpose-built for a device like this.

Ultimately, it does hit those same barriers that any spatial computing interface faces: namely that it’s slower to do things than on an actual computer. But I can’t deny that these are so much fun to use! And Gemini brings it all together nicely with voice prompts to make your way around.

Also shout-out to the auto electrochromic dimming of the lenses, which means that if someone is getting my attention, I can look away and the lenses immediately become fully transparent so I can maintain eye contact.

Outlook

OK, so how much are they going to cost and when will they come out? On the latter, they’re set for later this year but everyone’s staying super tight lipped on price. So all I can do is guess, and while I’d love for these to be sub-$1,000, I don’t see a world where this happens. I mean the Galaxy XR headset is nearly two grand, and this is a lot of compute that has been ruthlessly shrunk down into a pair of glasses.

However, doesn’t take away from one simple truth: these are a glimpse into the exciting future of AR glasses — specs that are no longer just a display on your face, but a whole platform to do things on. It’ll take time to get that compute puck outta there, to make them a true must-buy. But as they are now, these are the next generation to look forward to.

More from Tom's Guide

• I switched my Ray-Ban Metas for L’Atitude 52°N for a month, and while there’s cool features for explorers, it’s no contest
• I put Viture Beast and Xreal One Pro head-to-head for a week: Here's the one pair I'm actually keeping in my bag
• I traveled 5,000 miles with Rokid Glasses — this Meta Ray-Ban Display rival impressed me

Considering Google I/O is a developer event that mainly focuses on software, it's rare to see any big hardware announcements. But that's exactly what's happened at this year's conference, with Samsung and Google offering a sneak peek at their new smart glasses — or "intelligent eyewear," as they've both put it.

The duo has unveiled two different designs, created with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. These aren't AR Glasses that are designed to run on Android XR, though. They're more like the Meta Ray-Ban glasses, and are designed as a way to interact with your phone and AI with your voice.

Samsung describes the glasses as being "built to understand the world alongside users in real time," with the goal being to keep users connected while staying "hands-free and heads-up." In other words, it's a way of interacting with your phone without actually having to have it out of your pocket or bag — aided by Gemini.

Features mentioned by Samsung include notification summaries, the ability to add events to your calendar, navigation assistance, personalized recommendations about locations on your walking route, and even real-time translation. The translation sounds particularly interesting, because Samsung says it will be able to match the translated audio to the speaker's own voice, while also translating text on any signs or menus that you're looking at.

And yes, these glasses do have a pair of camera lenses on the front. That helps power various AI features and will offer the ability to take photos without your phone.

Samsung has made it clear that the Intelligent Eyewear isn't just about being able to sport technology on your face. It's about expanding the Galaxy device lineup in a way that merges fashion and technology. This is no doubt why Samsung is releasing multiple designs, in collaboration with other eyewear brands.

The first collections will launch this fall in "select markets," though Samsung doesn't offer any additional details beyond that. Presumably, we'll be hearing more at Galaxy Unpacked in July, ahead of a fall release date.

More from Tom’s Guide

• Google I/O 2026 LIVE — Android 17, Googlebook, Android XR Glasses, Gemini Intelligence and more
• Stop letting Google track your every move — how to clear your search history in 2026
• Apple WWDC 2026 keynote announced for June 8 — and the invite could be the new Siri

The best AI smart glasses do a lot of things right, but the biggest win for me has been finding out about new places around me. My wife and I’s tour guide in Costa Rica was terrible, but being able to ask my Ray-Ban Metas about what I was looking at gave us all the landmark details I needed in the moment.

It’s this moment that the L’Atitude 52°Ns are purpose-built for, and on paper, you’re getting a solidly stylish pair of specs from the Berlin-based outfit started by former OnePlus engineers.

Don’t get me wrong, the giant statement piece aesthetic won’t be for everyone’s face (definitely not suited to mine), but I can appreciate they look good — standing out from the crowd of Wayfarer wannabes.

On top of that, the cameras are decent, the speakers are loud and detailed, the live translation is rapid and the AI tour guide does give you a nice extra dimension to the places you go (at the right locations).

But in this economy, paying more money for worse specs with a divisive look is a tough sell, and that’s the problem here. At $399 with a Pro subscription “expected to be under $20,” and a feature set that falls shy of Meta, these already start with quite the disadvantage.

Throw in some ropey touch controls and connectivity issues, and you’re left with glasses that are strong for one very particular person, but don’t hold a candle to the biggest player in the game.

L’Atitude 52°N smart glasses: Cheat sheet

• What is it? This is a pair of display-free smart glasses with built-in camera, speakers and microphone.
• Who is it for? It's aimed towards regular travelers — well timed for vacation season.
• How much does it cost? You can pick up a pair for $399/£349. Keep in mind that all the AI features are free for first 12 months, then you’ll have to unlock them with a monthly subscription that is “expected to be under $20.”
• What is it like to use them? The look may be divisive, but I quite like the statement piece aesthetic going on here. Throw in a decent camera, nice speakers/mic and some of the fastest live translation I’ve seen in smart glasses (alongside a nifty AI tour guide), and you’ve got a solid starting point.
• Any problems? But at a higher price than the Ray-Ban Metas (and a monthly subscription on top of that), an aesthetic that’s definitely not for everyone, some ropey touch control issues and a gigantic cumbersome case, it becomes harder to recommend to anyone outside of those with millions of frequent flyer miles.

L’Atitude 52°N smart glasses: Specs

L’Atitude 52°N smart glasses: The ups

And so, I headed to Heathrow — ready for my travels. Once I was over there, the L’Atitude’s purpose-built form and function really started to make sense.

Eye-catching looks

My Dad calls them the Marmite glasses — either you love ‘em or your hate ‘em (ask your British mates), and I can see his point 100%. On a slimmer, taller face like mine, they just look a bit weirdly oversized. But that doesn’t stop me from being a fan of the look. A good rule of thumb here is if you can rock a pair of aviators, then you’ll be just fine in these too.

The build quality feels nice and premium in the hand and on the face, with strong hinges and a nice upmarket quality to it all. And regardless of this larger size and slightly heavier weight than competition like the Rokid AI Glasses Style, the components are evenly distributed so it doesn’t weigh down on your nose on ears for a nice comfortable wear.

It’s just nice to see different looks being used rather than going the safe Wayfarer direction. Not to say this will be for everyone (it absolutely won’t), and I would’ve preferred a more portable case than the gigantic container you get here (though it does protect them nicely and pack a ton of battery). But for the traveling fashionistas with a penchant for the big statement pieces, these certainly hit that marker.

Hitting the basic fundamentals

For display-free AI glasses, the simplified interface elements have to be strong. That means they need to be able to see well (have a good camera), hear well (strong microphone) and speak well (loud, clear speakers).

The 12MP Sony sensor packed into them produces some decent shots on par with the Ray-Ban Metas, alongside decent low light performance thanks to that image processing chip packed inside too. Meta has an upper hand in video fidelity with up to 3K while these can only go to 1080p — but you can choose your aspect ratio here (not locked to 9:16).

Throw in some impressive audio clarity from the built-in speakers and microphones that are impressively effective at picking up your voice even in moments of loud background noise, and its senses are working well.

Then it’s about ensuring you’ve got a good interface to see what you’re doing with the glasses, and that’s where the L’Atitude app comes in — giving you a nice clean UI for viewing your AI interaction history, import photos/footage, or get into the real unique selling point of these specs.

Your personal AI tour guide

Yes, Goya AI is general purpose and can be helpful for Q&A (though limited compared to Meta AI in its current form, but more on that later). However, outside of the rapid live translation of several languages, the real standout feature here for travelers is the the AI tour guide.

Opening up the guide in the app, you can see the many nearby landmarks it will take you on a tour of. The depth of content will vary based on the place — I got a lot of detail at the National Science Museum, whereas the mosque near Heathrow Airport gave me what amounted to “yes, it is a mosque.”

That being said, though, while it is going to be a limited feature to use on the day-to-day (unless you’re traveling a lot), I have to admit it’s helped me find out new facts about landmarks that I wouldn’t have found out usually.

L’Atitude 52°N smart glasses: The downs

Sounds good, right? Well here’s where it gets a little weird — almost as if the L’Atitudes’ shoot themselves in the foot in a few ways.

Quite a bit of awkwardness

I’m gonna call these the first-time jitters. I saw plenty of them in the first-gen Ray-Ban Meta glasses — things like unreliable touch surfaces on the stems of the glasses, Goya AI prompting being a little weird when it comes to asking for more than one thing, and Bluetooth connectivity issues.

There was a recent firmware update that did clear some of this up, but not all the way, so it’s still a bugbear that happens roughly once every 2-3 times I’ll use them. These are definitely things that can be fixed with updates, but I’ve got to review what I have in front of me.

Priced out of competition

But the real killing blow here of any chances to compete with the Ray-Ban Metas is the way these are priced. If they started at $299, we may have something of a fight on our hands (especially with this company’s attitude towards keeping data private), but offering worse tech specs in a divisive design and a limited AI for $100 more is a rough deal.

Then comes the subscription pricing — stay with me here as it’s a bit convoluted. If you buy the glasses, you get 12 months of the Goya AI Pro plan for free. Afterwards, you’re limited to the vague “100-200 minutes” of AI interactions, a simplified AI Tour Guide and some other restrictions unless you pay the premium fee. This hasn’t been fully confirmed but the company did say it will be “under $20” per month.

It’s a sticky situation financially and a big ask for what these glass offer/are set to offer in the near future. There needs to be a real killer app for the price of these, and at the moment, we don’t have it — just some nice to haves and a pretty pair of glasses.

L’Atitude 52°N smart glasses: Verdict

So I’m left feeling conflicted. In a few ways, these are good smart glasses for the frequent flyers. The aesthetic will split opinion, but these are well-put-together specs with a solid camera, audio and AI interactivity.

But it’s hard to look past the simple fact that you can get better for cheaper, and on top of that, the ground level features are still a bit unreliable. I’m sure these will come in time, but what about the features that make these a solid buy over the Ray-Ban Metas? I’m not so sure.

And while I’m always keen to be constructive and say “this is what you can do to turn these into winners,” I’m honestly struggling to figure out what that fix would be here — the ceiling is being reached in display-free hardware, and it’s onto the AI to keep throwing new features at them. However, as of right now, the glasses are fine, but you can get more bang for your buck.

The surprise Asus Republic of Gamers (ROG) and Xreal collaboration has finally arrived after being unveiled at CES 2026 earlier this year. The new ROG Xreal R1 AR glasses are high-end smart glasses built for gaming and could be some of the best smart glasses overall.

The new glasses feature a 240Hz refresh rate with micro-OLED displays that deliver a huge 171-inch virtual screen. This screen is projected at a 57 degree field of view, one of the largest we've seen in AR glasses yet. The glasses are supposed to have a near-instant 0.01ms response rate as well, so lag won't be something you'll need to worry about.

Asus says the R1 "reaches its peak potential" when paired with the ROG Ally handheld console (or the more recent ROG Xbox Ally X).

My colleague Jason England got a chance to test out the ROG Xreal R1 at CES this year and called them the best AR glasses he's ever tried. "The screen quality is super impressive, the 240Hz refresh rate is oh-so buttery smooth, and the comfortable wearability plus useful features like dynamic electrochromic lenses make them a tasty proposition for the enthusiasts," he said at the time.

Just like with other Xreal glasses such as the Xreal Ones and Xreal One Pros, when using the R1s, the glasses have an "Anchor mode" which lets you pin the display to a fixed position for stable viewing. You can adjust the brightness, screen size aspect ratio, and more even while gaming.

One big thing that sets the R1s apart from Xreal's existing AR glasses is that they're sold with a Control Dock. It acts like a separate brain for the glasses and enables their higher 240Hz refresh rate. This gives you access to the Asus DisplayWidget Center, which lets you customize the virtual screens via keyboard and mouse.

The ROG Xreal R1s also feature the Xreal X1 spatial computing chip which delivers 3DoF support. This enables spatial interactions and even on-device 2D-to-3D conversion.

Finally, like other Xreal specs, these come with Sound by Bose speakers that are supposed to deliver a three-dimensional "soundstage."

The ROG Xreal R1 is not cheap though and will set you back $849 which includes the Control Dock and the glasses. These are not sold separately. Though Xreal told us that the glasses will work with any device with USB-C and the dock should pair with other AR glasses.

Starting today (May 15), you can pre-order the specs at Best Buy. If you prefer you can pre-order via the official Xreal store on May 17 starting at Noon Pacific.

More from Tom's Guide

• Meta Connect 2026 kicks off in September — date, time and mystery new smart glasses teased
• How to tell if someone is filming you wearing smart glasses — the signs to watch out for
• 'Pull the rug out': Mark Gurman explains Apple’s plan to launch smart glasses and stop Meta’s momentum

Meta's annual consumer show for 2026 finally has a date. This year's edition is set to take place September 23 and 24, 2026.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta Connect 2026 on his Instagram page. There are several slides, which tease what we could see in September.

One of the slides shows a sunglasses emoji above "demos, special guests, AI updates, better wifi." There's also a poorly blurred word, which appears to be "performance."

The next slide shows Zuckerberg holding what are clearly glasses, colored over with a blue pen. Other devices on a table in front of him appear to be more glasses, and maybe a puck of some kind.

Based on a map slide, it looks like Meta Connect 2026 will take place in the same building that last year's edition was held in, in San Francisco.

The final slide reveals that the Keynote should kick off at 4 pm Pacific on Wednesday, September 23.

What we expect to see

Obviously, based on Zuckerberg's teaser, something with smart glasses will debut at Meta Connect. One rumor from March hinted at Ray-Ban Meta glasses finally designed for prescription lenses that could launch this year.

But what else could we see, especially with that barely blurred "performance"?

Early rumors this year suggest that Meta is looking to challenge Apple with its own smartwatch this year. That could be what performance refers to. The watch, reportedly code-named Malibu 2, will offer many of the same features found on the best smartwatches, plus a Meta AI assistant.

Additionally, Meta has insisted that the Quest 4 headset is still coming. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth confirmed the rumored headset will launch at some point in February.

A render leaked earlier this year, appearing to show a mock-up of prototype models of a lightweight VR HMD, though that device isn't supposed to launch until 2027. Since Bosworth's announcement, it's been pretty quiet even on the rumor front.

We'll know more about Meta's plans by September.

More from Tom's Guide

• I upgraded my Meta Quest with the best VR accessories in 2026
• 'We’re doing this as part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently': Meta announces layoffs of 10% of workforce amid massive AI push
• 3 best Meta Ray-Ban features that you (probably) didn't know

In the course of testing the Meta Ray-Ban Display, the Ray-Ban Meta, and the Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses for Tom's Guide, we've taken them on trains, planes, the subway, to Target, skiing, and even while running around London.

What we haven't done yet, though, was take them to a sporting event (though we did use them to watch the Super Bowl halftime show). So, on a fine spring day, I wore the Ray-Ban Metas to a Yankees/Orioles baseball game to see how well these smart glasses would serve as my ballpark companion.

They're great for trivia

There's nothing baseball fans love more than the minutiae of the game. If you know what WAR and BABIP means, Meta's AI is a veritable encyclopedia at your fingertips. And, the stats are pretty up to date. During the fourth inning, I asked Meta what Aaron Judge's OPS was, and what it told me matched the scoreboard — 1.027.

A few innings later, after he walked, struck out and singled, I asked it again, and it gave me the correct answer - 1.031.

I happened to be at the game with a long-suffering Mets fan (he wanted to see what winning baseball looked like), and we got talking about fan-favorite Mets who left or were traded away. We both got stumped thinking of one particular pitcher, so I asked Meta "what Mets knuckleballer went to Toronto?" and the glasses came back with the correct answer: R.A. Dickey.

Suitably impressed, I also threw at it the "City Slickers" trivia question: Who played third base for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960? Meta came right back with the response: Don Hoak.

You can keep your phone in your pocket

In the third inning, Aaron Judge came up to bat with a runner on second. I don't know why, but I had an inkling something might happen, so as the pitcher went into the windup, I pressed the button on the Ray-Ban's to start recording video.

Boom! Judge smashed a homer over the center-field fence, and the stadium erupted. And I caught it all on film, without having to take my phone out, or step out of the moment.

The one caveat is that video quality isn't geared for long-distance shots. I filmed at 1080p (you can boost it to 3K), and while I was able to capture the overall experience, trying to zoom in to see an actual player wasn't great. Judge looked like a little blob as he rounded the bases.

I also found that the brim of my hat curved down to the top of the video; the same thing happened when I went skiing with the Oakley Vanguards.

The speakers can't compete with the PA system

One of the drawbacks of open-ear headphones like those on the Ray-Bans is that they're extremely susceptible to ambient noise. Yankee Stadium's PA system was just too loud, so if I wanted to hear anything from the glasses, I had to cup my hands over my ears.

I was also keen to try listening to the play-by-play commentary for the game, which I could stream from iHeartRadio. Unfortunately, unlike an AM broadcast, the stream was delayed by a good 20-30 seconds. So, not only was it hard to hear, but it was super-late, too.

Bottom line

A few caveats aside, the Ray-Ban Metas proved to be pretty capable at the park. While I wish video was higher quality (or maybe I need to get better seats), I liked that the glasses allowed me to stay present, while still being able to capture important moments.

If you're using them for outdoor activities, I would recommend picking up a pair with tinted lenses, or, if you can afford them, the transition lenses, which go from clear to tinted based on the ambient light.

And, having Meta's AI at my disposal let me settle a lot of debates between my friends — or at least, gave them more ammunition when arguing who was a better player.

More from Tom's Guide

• Best smart glasses
• I swapped my Ray-Ban Metas for these $20 smart glasses just to mock them — then they actually impressed me
• Apple's AI smart glasses strategy revealed: How the iPhone maker plans to outshine Meta's Ray-Bans

This week, Samsung held its Q1 2026 earnings call, where the South Korean tech giant discussed the last three months and did some forward-looking. During the call, Samsung teased smart glasses again.

Unfortunately, it's a throwaway line in the call, and doesn't illuminate any new details about the future Android XR-based glasses. The company has “plans to deliver immersive multimodal AI experiences through diverse form factors such as AI glasses," Seong Cho, executive vice president of Samsung Mobile eXperience (MX), said during the call.

This isn't the first earnings call where the company has discussed smart glasses. In January, Seong Cho confirmed that its smart glasses would drop in 2026.

What we know about the Galaxy Glasses so far

While Samsung just released its Galaxy XR headset last October, the company is also working on a set of spectacles meant to rival the Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

Earlier this week, leaked renders based on an alleged test unit popped up online, revealing a black pair of sunglasses that features two cameras.

Obviously, these would run on the Android XR platform powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 chipset. Recent rumors suggest they will have a 155mAh battery and two 12MP Sony IMX681 lenses.

The Galaxy Glasses should have directional speakers, photochromic transition lenses and weigh around 50 grams.

What else did Samsung say

The earnings call hinted at some TV updates, but nothing major.

The majority of the call was focused on the memory crisis and how profitable it's been for the memory division at Samsung, which has tripled in valuation this year. Even Samsung's own internal divisions, like the mobile one, are facing tough decisions regarding memory prices and building devices around it.

Unfortunately, it may not be resolved anytime soon.

Samsung's Executive Vice President of Memory Jaejune Kim said that production is constrained and could go well into 2027. "currently, just based on prebooked demand alone, the supply-demand gap is looking to widen further in 2027 versus this year," Kim said.

And this is with memory fabrication plants coming online this year and into 2027.

Despite strong sales of the S26 lineup and the recently released Galaxy A57 budget models, Seong Cho noted that increased "cost pressure" for key components are "expected to intensify." Cho even said they expect a decline in shipments due to rising costs in Q2.

The company appears to want to lean into AI and flagship premium experiences to maintain profit, which seems to indicate that mid-tier and budget-friendly models of all devices from phones and tablets to TVs and laptops will really feels the RAMageddon squeeze. armageddon.

More from Tom's Guide

• Finally something different': Leaker teases Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra concept with a new camera bar design
• The Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra could ditch the 'redundant' 3x zoom for this much bigger camera upgrade
• Samsung Galaxy S26's flashlight is capable of burning through plastic — here's how you can turn it down

Apple could have a secret weapon for the new Apple Glasses, which are expected to launch in early 2027. And, if this new report is true, the feature would give Apple a key advantage over the Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

A new report from MacRumors claims the Apple glasses could feature something that Meta doesn't have: hand gesture controls. Per their article, the glasses will feature two cameras that help enable gestures.

One of the cameras would be used for capturing photo and videos. The other would be a lower-resolution lens that would be able to pick up hand gestures and work with Siri.

It would be a continuation of hand gesture capabilities available on the allegedly discontinued Vision Pro headset.

The first version of Apple's smart glasses are supposed to be similar to the Ray-Ban Meta, meaning they would lack a display. Like the Meta glasses, it would feature cameras, a speaker, and a microphone. It seems future iterations might include a screen.

A pipe dream?

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman pushed back on the MacRumors report in a social media post.

"The technology to do this reliably with a single camera, no neural band and no eye-scanning doesn’t exist today as far as I know," he wrote. He added that the first version of Apple Glasses likely won't have any "sophisticated form of gestures."

It is possible that the cameras could still be used for Siri integration, especially with the rumored AirPods Ultra that would utilize infrared versions. Gurman suggested as much in a follow-up post.

MacRumors even notes that battery life is a huge constraint for Apple as it tries to keep its glasses slim and lightweight, even as it pursues a variety of frame types. Gesture controls might be a power hog depending on how they're developed and what the chip powering the glasses can handle.

The glasses are supposed to run on an improved version of Siri that will launch with iOS 27 later this year.

Currently, rumors indicate Apple will announce the glasses this fall, possibly in September or October, but the frames won't launch until early 2027.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple has reportedly 'stopped work on the Vision Pro' — here's what we know
• Forget AirPods Pro — 'AirPods Ultra' are rumored to get these 2 big upgrades
• iPhone Fold will reportedly have 'four selling points' — here's how it will stand out

In early January, Samsung confirmed that it would launch a new pair of smart glasses at some point in 2026. Since then, the company has been mum on the wearable, but a new leak just revealed the potential design for Samsung's take on AR glasses.

Regular tipster OnLeaks teamed up with Android Headlines to showcase renders of the Samsung "Galaxy Glasses." OnLeaks claims that the renders are based on "real life pictures of a testing stage unit."

Per Android Headlines, the Glasses, codenamed Jinju, are supposed to launch without a display, making them Meta Ray-Ban competitors. This is different from the previously leaked Haean glasses, which should feature a display like the Xreal One Pro.

At first glance, the Samsung glasses look similar to the Meta glasses. They appear to have two cameras, one for each temple.

What we know about Jinju?

Like Samsung's Galaxy XR headset, the Jinju glasses will also run on the Android XR platform, which we should hear more about during the The Android Show before Google I/O in May. Utilizing Android XR would allow you to use Gemini to interact with the glasses.

Android Headlines reports the Jinju specs will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 chipset and a 155mAh battery. The cameras should be 12MP Sony IMX681 lenses.

Additionally, the glasses will have directional speakers and photochromic transition lenses and weigh around 50 grams.

Whenever the Jinju glasses do launch, the price is expected to land somewhere between $379 and $499.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tried Google's Android XR glasses — and Meta and Apple are in trouble
• iPhone 20 could see Apple resurrect curved phone screens — as if we didn't learn they were a mistake when Samsung did that
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold Wide shown side by side in new dummy unit leak

It’s been a bumpy ride for the Viture Beast since I started testing them a few months ago. But after some firmware updates, they are now the best AR glasses that money can buy. Yes, there’s a premium cost compared to the cheaper likes of the RayNeo Air 4 Pro, but for $549, you’re getting the cream of the crop.

It all starts with a solid, premium build quality with weight distributed evenly to feel comfortable on your face for hours on end. But it’s what’s happening inside that matters — an impressively sharp 1200p picture per eye via Sony’s latest Micro OLED tech, tuned with Viture’s color science (that you have the versatility to tweak to your liking), a 120Hz refresh rate, rigid head tracking and the widest field of view in the market right now at 58 degrees.

The Harman-tuned speakers produce decent spatial audio for the tiny speakers (though headphones are a must on transport), and the on-device settings and features have expanded too, with an ultra-wide monitor option, color options and nine levels of electrochromic tinting of the lenses.

When the SpaceWalker app is involved, things get very interesting with multiple monitor layouts on a laptop, 6DoF tracking and a spatial UI when using your phone, alongside real-time 2D to 3D conversion. Granted, this doesn’t happen on-device like you get with the Xreal 1S and One Pro, and it does throw up some proprietary hoops for you — like having to use the SpaceWalker browser on your iPhone for the 3D content.

But from the out-the-box experience with no apps giving you the best picture quality I’ve seen and on-device tweaks aplenty, to the software suite providing much more on top, there’s a new pair on the throne. Just make sure you update the firmware before you use them.

Viture Beast: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? These are a pair of AR glasses. Viture refers to them as XR glasses — a capability largely enabled through software. But think of them as a portable monitor directly in front of your eyes.
• Who is it for? Perfect for people who travel a lot, but also for those who want a big screen experience wherever they are.
• How much does it cost? You can pick up a pair for $549.
• What is it like to use them? That 1200p picture is a colorful stunner with a fast refresh rate, the glasses are really comfortable to wear, and they’re impressively feature-packed too.
• Any problems? Some of these features require additional software to get, and there is a small amount of edge-fringing of the picture (given its massive field of view).

Viture Beast: Specs

Viture Beast: The ups

From creating a personal workstation on long haul flights to being the best cinema screen in my bed, I’ve put these through a whole lot of intense tests, and they nailed it.

Comfortable, subtle design

There’s a significant amount of tech in here, and two chunky pieces of glass on the lenses, but still, Viture’s made the Beast nicely subtle in design and impressively comfortable to wear. To clarify, I don’t mean “subtle” as in you can go walking around in public wearing them — that’s never what I mean! But the Wayfarer-esque aesthetic does mean people don’t give you a double-take on public transport.

The weight of those optics are nicely offset by some comfortable, rounded stems that sit nicely on the bridge of your ears, and the picture coming through the screens is sensibly shown slightly lower than other glasses I’ve tried, which means you’re wearing them at a far better spot on your nose.

Frustratingly for some of you reading this, the upgraded display tech does come with a removal of those myopia dials — leading to a prescription lens replacement for them, and a greater requirement to get the right size for you, based on interpupillary distance (IPD). Word to the wise: download EyeMeasure to make sure you get the right size for you.

Amazing visuals

Viture has always been the picture quality specialist with birdbath optics (take a look at the Luma Pro for example), but the switch to the flatter prism has elevated their approach to clarity and color to a different level.

A 1200p picture provides a little more verticality than its competition (a 16:10 aspect ratio), and finer details are super sharp in your vision. Viture calls this “4K like,” which I think is a little bit of a weird marketing term, but ultimately, you won’t find anything quite as crispy as this — without any significant glare or reflections crushing that deep contrast ratio.

But it goes deeper, with a higher 1,250 nits peak brightness for easy visibility in even direct light, and (as has been the case in the Viture vs Xreal debate) supreme color science for your entertainment needs. Throw in a 120Hz refresh rate, and whether I’m gaming on my Steam Deck, binging on my iPhone or locking in on my MacBook, these are stellar across the board.

Plus, that wider field of view presents a good, wide array of your on-screen content. In comparison to the One Pro’s 57-degrees, the difference of going up to 58 is barely noticeable, but still a good step in the right direction.

However, the underrated wins here are the VisionPair 3DoF (and 6DoF with the SpaceWalker app), keeping the frame locked in front of me even in my toughest test of airplane travel, and the SGS A+ Eye Care Certification for low visual fatigue.

The latter assured I could comfortably wear these without any real fatigue for an entire 8-hour flight. For what is a giant screen right in front of your eyeballs, that’s significant.

Plenty of versatility and customization

There’s a lot of buttons on here, so there is a bit of a learning curve as you understand the settings available to tweak with the variety of presses, double presses and holds. But once you figure it out, you can tune these to be just right for just about every use case.

You can either use certain shortcuts to turn on the 32:9 ultrawide monitor, the SBS 3D mode (specific to 3D-formatted films and TV shows), alter the screen distance, size and color. Or you can do all this through the OSD settings too.

Then there’s the SpaceWalker app which fills in the rest of the gaps through software with no noticeable latency — such as giving you a range of multi-screen setups, real-time 2D to 3D content conversion, and an XR-based spatial experience when using it with your phone.

Oh, and shoutout to some of the real nice user-friendly features like adjusting the electrochromic tint as you move your head, and the spatial audio. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still too quiet for anywhere outside of a quiet room, but sound is nicely detailed with minimal distortion. Stick to earbuds, though, for the best experience.

Viture Beast: The downs

But that’s not to say they’re completely perfect. There are a couple of frustrations here worth pointing out, which being honest, will fade into the background as you use them.

Some edge fringes

How wide is too wide for a field of view? It’s a question that the AR glasses with its developing optics is finding the answer to. And it’s looking like in these current flatter prisms, we’re starting to see the limits as there is some blurring and chromatic aberrations around the far edges.

These are also present in the One Pros, but with the increased color of the Beasts, it’s a little more present here, and I find myself either reducing the screen size or increasing the virtual distance of the panel to workaround it.

It’s something that you get used to over time, just like in the Xreals, but something worth noting if complete clarity even in your slight peripheral vision is a requirement.

The Xreal differences

I already went into this in my face-off between the Xreal One Pro and Viture Beast, but just to summarize quickly the things that would move you towards Xreal glasses:

• Better color accuracy: Don’t get me wrong, I love the vividity of the Viture Beast, and there are levels of color customization to cool the shades to become more accurate. But the flatter tones that Xreal chooses does make them more true-to-life for any creative work you’re doing. So if productivity is your sole purpose, Xreal’s the way to go, but I think most of you will want to do more.
• The X1 chip: There is silicon inside the Viture Beast, but the X1 chip in Xreal glasses are able to do a little more on-device compared to Viture’s specs. For example, for the real-time 2D to 3D conversion, you need an app for the Beast whereas the chip does it all on the One pros. Not a massive dealbreaker, but worth noting if 3D is more than a gimmick for you.

What matters to you between these two is going to come down a lot to individual taste. Personally, after using both for months, I think the Viture Beast offers a similar (and in some situations, better) experience for $50 less. But if either of the above are crucial to you, then you’ll see things differently.

Viture Beast: Verdict

I had a review of these originally written back in January, but opted to simply say the Viture Beast were not ready for primetime. Oh what a few extra months in the oven have done for these — the best AR specs you can buy right now.

The fidelity is better, the anchoring is better, the color is better, and the feature set is better than anything else you can buy right now. It does fall victim to the same physics as the Xreal One Pro with some slight edge blurriness, but being sharper, smoother and more vivid does overcome this.

I hope this is a teachable moment for Viture to only unleash beasts when they’re ready for the spotlight.

Xreal just announced its top tier One Pro AR glasses have a “new forever price of $599,” which is a permanent $50 saving on one of the best premium pairs of AR glasses. Now, while everyone else is reporting the great news (and it indeed is good news), they’re missing the important question — why now?

Well, in two words: Viture Beast. As you’ve probably read already, they’re set for a launch on April 27 with all their features present (even though you could buy them already). But at $50 less than this new lower price of the One Pros, and with similar (or better) specs on paper than Xreal’s glasses, the competition is mighty.

So let’s take this battle out of the courtroom and over to the products you can buy. I have both pairs — and this seems as good a time as any to break down the differences and which one you should choose.

Xreal One Pro vs Viture Beast: Specs

Buy the Xreal One Pro if…

• Productivity is the name of the game
• You need feature tweaks on-device
• 3D is a must for you

Whenever I go on press trips and know I’m only going to be working on flights, there’s a reason why I reach for the One Pros. The flatter color science provides a more accurate canvas for Final Cut Pro and Photoshop work, and while there are some tiny hints of edge blurring, the managed vividness does eliminate a lot of the chromatic aberration.

Throw in the X1 chip and you’ve got a lot of on-device ways to mess with the screen to your liking. There are similar options on the Viture Beast, like the ultra-wide display and screen-by-screen 3D. But for more versatility, you need the SpaceWalker app, whereas the One Pros can do more on-device — alongside real-time 2D to 3D content transformation.

That’s not to say there aren’t some issues here. While the color accuracy may be better for getting stuff done on the One Pros, the cooler tones are noticeable when gaming. And this price is for the glasses without the optional Eye camera, which can impact tracking a little bit — not massively, as it’s just a step down from 6DoF anchoring to 3DoF on paper, which for context:

• 6 Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) is the spatial experience — locking a screen to a physical coordinate in your room based on what the Eye camera can see.
• 3 Degrees of Freedom (3DoF) is the swivel chair experience — pinning a screen to a specific direction and tracking head rotation only.

But without the visual aid of the Eye camera, it can get bamboozled a little bit on moving transport.

Buy the Viture Beast if…

• You want the best picture quality for gaming/streaming
• Screen tracking/anchoring really matters to you
• You want more versatility in the ways to use it

The Viture Beast had a rocky start back in January, but all of the issues I spoke about have been fixed, and all the features are now here. And after really putting them through their paces, I can confirm that they are indeed beasty. With a slightly wider 58-degree field of view, improved sharpness, better brightness and better color production for gaming/streaming, these are the best for entertainment.

Productivity takes a slight backseat, and while you can customize the color in the on-device menu to be more accurate, the One Pros do scrape slightly ahead in the work field. With this color boost comes some more noticeable chromatic aberration around the far edges, though clarity of details is better here. It’s different strokes for different folks in the screen department.

As for the versatility, there is an ultrawide monitor mode built into the glasses itself, as well as impressive 3DoF tracking. But for everything else, you’ll have to go the software route with Spacewalker for multi-screen support and 6DoF tracking, and Immersive 3D for AI driven 3D content conversion.

That does make for some potential compatibility issues, and on phones, features are locked into the app’s UI itself rather than being across different apps (if you want 3D in Netflix, you have to use Viture’s browser rather than the Netflix app for example).

But in tandem, they do add a nice added level of versatility to the ways you can use your Beasts for work and play, whereas Xreal seems to have left its own app — Nebula — in the past. Though, there are third party options to workaround that somewhat.

For the rest of you

So as someone who’s tested AR glasses for five years, I’d edge more towards the Viture Beast taking the win — that $50 saving for better display quality with a slightly wider FOV and more versatility in tuning them is crucial.

But of course, these are the cream of the crop — the answers to what happens when companies throw everything and the kitchen sink at making the best AR glasses you can wear. Both have excellent electrochromic dimming on the lenses, strong audio and comfortable wearability for hours at a time.

However most of you reading this need this much capability? Honestly, no. You can get better bang for your buck with cheaper models in this economy, and you can see companies responding to this. Xreal’s recent IPO has revealed “Project Helen,” which looks set to be the $400 entry-level model, and I would not be surprised if Viture is cooking up a lower-end pair of Lumas too.

As of right now, RayNeo is dominating this space and a lot of you can get away with the $299 Air 4 Pro. And while Viture and Xreal steam ahead with paving the way in display tech — hitting that premium tier — I hope they don’t forget about the rest of us.

More from Tom's Guide

• I traveled 5,000 miles with Rokid Glasses — this Meta Ray-Ban Display rival impressed me
• Exclusive: Viture Co-founders are planning ‘invisible’ AI glasses to rival Meta
• Snap CEO dunks on Ray-Ban Metas and teases Snap Specs as his 'alien vision' for the future of computing — sounds weird, but I’m on board

Is there a four-word phrase more terrifying than “rail replacement bus service?” I doubt it. Whatever plans you had for the day (for me, it was meetings with Nvidia and Logitech for reasons I can’t tell you about just yet) are thrown into a chaotic race against time to get to where you need to be (London for me).

In this situation, I have two choices: sit and stew with frustration while lashing out about how I’m seeing more of Market Harborough than any human should (sorry not sorry, people who live there), or get stuff done like this article.

Well, this is where the $549 Viture Beast have come in clutch — whisking me away from my predicament and into my work and play with a massive field of view, a gorgeously sharp, vivid picture quality, and some real nice usability features to create a workstation wherever you are.

So instead of getting mad about my predicament, I’m just going to talk to you about the Beasts. Because it’s only fair that while I told you that the Beasts were not ready for primetime back in January, that I come back and tell you that if you’ve been waiting, now’s the time to buy. Think of it as an early review before the actual review.

Ultimate immersion

As I found out when talking to Viture’s co-founders, the Beast are having a grand (re)launch on Best Buy, Amazon and Viture’s own website — with CMO Emily Wang calling them “a mature, refined version of the Beast.”

The glasses started on shaky ground back at the beginning of the year, missing features and lacking some of the sharpness I saw in the demo units way back at AWE 2025. But now, it’s all here, and the end result is a picture quality that’s a step above anything else I’ve seen (dethroning the Xreal One Pro in my picture hierarchy).

Wearability is real nice here, with the stems curved for a nice comfort on the ears and even weight distribution at the front with cushioned notepads giving you hours of strain-free wear. Then you throw in the on-device screen tuning methods and things get real interesting.

And no, you won’t get what Xreal offers via its on-device chipset giving you an ultra wide, view but there are a plethora of options here. On the glasses themselves, you’ve got screen sizing, anchoring options (the 3DoF tracking is so good here — the picture doesn’t even move on a couple flights I’ve taken), and refresh rate alterations.

But its when the Spacewalker app comes into play where things get interesting, as beyond that 32:9 ultra wide, you’ve got triple monitors in horizontal or vertical, the chance to color tune your display in any way you see fit and more. So far, I’ve got a warmer preset for gaming on my Steam Deck, and greater accuracy for any video work I do on my MacBook Pro.

It can quickly become a tinkerer’s paradise, and once your past it, you’ll embrace the super dark electrochromic lenses giving you a private screening wherever you are. Before I knew it, Market Harborough was a distant memory — 90 minutes felt more like nine.

A couple of frustrations

That’s not to say the Viture Beast is completely without issues — two hardware-based and one that I hope can be resolved with a firmware update.

Starting at the top, the move from Viture’s magnetic port for the display cable to USB-C can make these a little awkward to sit on the face just right. That tugging based on the cable tension can move them slightly off-angle.

Viture does offer a USB-C to magnetic connector extender (meant to make these compatible with the Neckband Pro, but can be used for display connection too. But I would’ve preferred to have this built into the stem.

Second, there isn’t built-in IPD dials in the Beasts like other Viture glasses, so picking the right size is absolutely critical here to get the perfect picture. Make sure you do measure your own pupillary distance to get it correct, but word to the wise, most of you reading this will need the Medium-sized glasses. Even with my big head, the large was too big.

And finally, the gigantic field of view of that display is quite the test of those prisms at the furthest edges, as there are some hints of chromatic aberration around the sides. The same thing happens in the One Pro, and if you want complete perfect clarity across the entire picture, reduce the screen size everso slightly.

However, at max size, while it can be noticed, it’s not a deal breaker personally at all.

My next favorite AR glasses

So there’s my review before the actual review in a few days time, and now my journey is (finally) almost over. I’m sitting here realizing that the past four hours have just melted by a mix of immersed, focused work and all-encompassing entertainment.

The Viture Beasts aren’t just great boredom busters, they’re a glimpse of where AR glasses as a whole are going — brute forcing almost VR-esque experiences with a mix of strong hardware and well-crafted software to turn even the most cramped of bus seats into a personal cinema.

More from Tom's Guide

• I traveled 5,000 miles with Rokid Glasses — this Meta Ray-Ban Display rival impressed me
• Snap CEO dunks on Ray-Ban Metas and teases Snap Specs as his 'alien vision' for the future of computing — sounds weird, but I’m on board
• I’ve worn smart glasses for over 5 years — here’s the best AR and AI glasses

At some point this year we should finally see Apple’s first pair of smart glasses. Yes, after years of rumors and speculation, Tim Cook is expected to show off Apple Glasses as soon as September. They’ll reportedly be powered by Apple silicon and the new-and-improved version of Siri.

But what will these glasses do and how will they stand out against the Meta Ray-Ban glasses and upcoming Android XR glasses from Samsung and others? There’s no better person to ask these pressing questions and more than Mark Gurman, the chief correspondent for Apple at Bloomberg.

Gurman has unearthed all sorts of details about Apple’s glasses, including how the company plans to differentiate its specs in what’s expected to be a very hot market. I sat down with Gurman to talk about the first-gen Apple glasses and what’s on the horizon, as well as other so-called “AI wearables” in the pipeline, including AirPods with cameras and an AI pendant.

Apple Glasses release date: When are they coming?

Before you get too excited about visionOS glasses that shrink the Vision Pro experience into a pair of specs, Apple reportedly plans to go the display-free route at first. But Meta has already sold millions of Ray-Ban Meta glasses without a display, so it seems Apple is going to start there.

“The plan for some time has been to introduce the smart glasses in the September / October timeframe of this year, and then roll them out early in 2027,” Gurman said. “I'd be pretty surprised if they did not introduce them before the end of the year, even if it's going to take several months for them to actually reach customers.”

The reason Gurman would be surprised is that he doesn’t believe that the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Fold is going to be enough to excite customers and investors. And then there’s the matter of stealing thunder from the competition.

“If you're Apple, you really want (Apple Glasses) to be introduced before the holiday season, because you don't want one more cycle for Meta to get momentum selling these glasses, especially given they're going to be very giftable,” Gurman shared. “And you want to pull the rug out from under Google and Warby Parker and some of the other brands who are launching their glasses at the end of the year.”

How will Apple Glasses stand out?

On the surface, Apple’s glasses will be similar to Meta’s. You’ll be able to play music, capture photos and videos, listen to notifications, take phone calls and get hands-free help from a voice assistant in Siri.

Apple’s strategy is apparently to focus on tighter integration with the iPhone and offering a higher-end build quality. In fact, Gurman reports that Apple has designed at least four different styles along with several color options, including black, ocean blue and light brown..

The glasses are apparently made using acetate, a premium material that’s more durable and luxurious than the plastic used by others. Then there’s the sheer power of the Apple brand and ecosystem factor.

“The Apple brand is so strong, so keep that as one factor. The other factor is that while the iPhone is compatible with competing wearables, no third-party product is going to play as nicely with the iPhone as smart glasses developed by Apple,” Gurman said.

“And then, of course, on top of that is branding, Apple design, Apple style, the way Apple is going to try to upsell people who buy an iPhone and try to get them to buy smart glasses to work with their iPhone at the time of purchase. They have a lot of ingredients to sell a lot of these smart glasses.”

Apple glasses use cases: What will they actually do?

Apple’s glasses will be designed to be the ultimate accessory to your iPhone. You’ll be able to capture high resolution photos and videos on the go. But things get really interesting when you add Visual Intelligence into the mix.

Gurman has reported on the idea of visual reminders. So, for example, if you’re in the store and the glasses see something on the shelf you had added to your reminders list, you’ll be prodded to add it to your cart.

Getting turn-by-turn directions should be more helpful than constantly staring down at your phone, too, thanks to the built-in cameras.

“One cool potential use case is walking down the street using the built-in speakers in the smart glasses to be told where you're going in turn-by-turn directions and Maps. And rather than just telling you to take a left in 400 feet, it says ‘make a left by the gray hotel.’ So you’re getting more context by using those cameras.

The new Siri… or bust?

Of course, Apple’s glasses won’t be worth whatever premium the company plans on charging if the new Siri isn’t a significant leap forward. Apple has promised a smarter Siri since iOS 18 and the launch of the iPhone 16, but Siri has been famously delayed.

In fact, Apple is reportedly working with Google to infuse Apple’s assistant with Gemini intelligence to help catch up to the competition.

“It's actually wild,” Gurman shared. The new Siri is likely not going to launch until September with iOS 27, which means it's going to launch over two years after it was initially supposed to launch. So definitely not a good look for Apple.”

Based on Gurman’s own reporting, iOS 27 will include a dedicated Siri app and the revamped assistant will operate more like a chatbot like Gemini. Apple is also coming out with a new feature called extensions, which will allow other AI chatbots to work within the Siri interface.

Siri is also the key for getting Apple Glasses to work seamlessly. If the assistant isn’t responsive or smart enough, the “smart” in smart glasses falls way short.

“They need to get this new Siri out the door in order to make these smart glasses functional or usable in any proper way,” Gurman said.

AirPods with cameras…and a new AI pendant

Not everyone is going to want to wear smart glasses, so Apple has two other so-called AI wearables in the works: AirPods with cameras and an AI pendant.

The AirPods with cameras won’t be for taking pictures. They’ll have IR cameras built in to measure your surroundings and better understand the world around you. So you’ll be able to do many of the things Apple Glasses promise, such as getting visual reminders and better context for turn-by-turn directions.

Gurman expects these to launch in the next year or so as a compliment or alternative to Apple Glasses. But what will these things cost?

“It will be a bit more expensive to get the cameras into the AirPods, and there may be some people who don't want AirPods with the cameras built in, Gurman said. “It would make sense to me for these to be another tier on top, maybe something like AirPods Ultra.”

The other AI wearable apparently on the horizon is an AI pendant, which will be equipped with a camera and microphones, making it another “eyes and ears” product in Gurman’s estimation.

“The pendant is designed to be worn as a necklace,” Gurman said. “So there'll be accessories to wear it around your neck. There'll be accessories to pin it on your shirt or jacket”

The pendant will be for people who don't want to wear AirPods or smart glasses, but who still want to benefit from feeding all of that contextual data to your iPhone and to the cloud for Apple intelligence and Siri. And presumably Apple will tout stronger privacy protections than the failed Humane AI Pin.

However, Gurman believes that this device won’t be nearly as successful as the AI AirPods or the smart glasses.

“They have to hit all the major wearable categories. So it seems like they knew they were running behind here, and so they're throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it.”

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple's AI smart glasses strategy revealed: How the iPhone maker plans to outshine Meta's Ray-Ban
• iPhone Fold leak may have revealed final design and MagSafe confirmation — what we know
• 3 best Meta Ray-Ban features that you (probably) didn't know

Meta Ray-Bans do more than take photos and answer basic questions. Beyond the obvious features most people use daily, these smart glasses include capabilities owners might discover — like identifying songs playing around you, scanning QR codes without pulling out your phone, and translating foreign languages in real-time.

These features work through voice commands and the Meta View app, turning your glasses into a hands-free tool for situations where using your phone would be awkward or inconvenient. Here are three Meta Ray-Ban features worth knowing about.

Did we miss your favorite feature? Let us know in the comments!

More from Tom's Guide

• This is the blink-and-you'll-miss-it sign that Meta glasses are recording
• I used Meta AI to enhance my selfies — here's how to try it
• You can live stream with your Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses — here's how

You may remember I tested an early version of the Rokid glasses last year, and quickly became enamored with the sleek looks and lightweight wearability of the frames — all while still offering a bright heads-up display, multi-modal AI and a decent 12MP camera. Of course, this was a starting point of a few minutes with the glasses, and now I’ve been daily-driving them for two months.

So after 62 days of general wear and tear, did my initial high on the glasses wear off, or is it still as strong? Well, that’s a complicated question to answer.

Because you see, a lot of what I loved at the beginning is still there (and more). The wearability of these compared to the sharper stems of the Even Realities G2 or the cumbersome frame of the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses makes these just feel like your normal stylish pair of frames. You can see the displays if you squint really hard, but chances are you won’t even notice I’m wearing smart glasses — the social acceptability scores high.

Then there’s what they can do with a customizable multi-modal AI model (you can select between Gemini and ChatGPT), navigation, live translation, conversation summaries and all the usual suspects, they’re feature packed. Throw a 12MP camera in there with surprisingly beasty speakers and a strong microphone, and interactions are a cinch. Plus, shout-out to the all-day battery life if you’re using them casually.

However, there are a couple of frustrations I had with them. Namely, that sneaky shooter doesn’t perform so well in low light conditions, and a couple of the coolest features (such as using AliPay QR codes to pay for things with your glasses) are not widely available. Plus, while that $599 price tag is a bit steep from the get go, cost can go quite a bit higher when prescription lenses are involved.

But I can’t deny the sheer convenience and usefulness of these specs far outweigh these small niggles. From actually having a viewfinder for your camera to coming in clutch with translations in foreign countries and finding my way around, this is a huge assist in a sleek package.

Rokid Glasses: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? This is a pair of AI glasses with a display.
• Who is it for? This is for those who want the assistance of something like the Ray-Ban Meta specs, but with the added aid of a heads-up display — all packed into a sleek, lightweight pair of specs.
• What does it cost? You can pick up a pair for $599.
• What do we like? The bright, sharp screen makes these all the more useful
• What don’t we like? While the glasses themselves are reasonably priced, the prescription lenses are pricey, and that 12MP camera can struggle in awkward lighting.

Rokid Glasses: Specs

Rokid Glasses: The ups

I’ve been waiting for Waveguide displays (the tiny projectors directly on the lenses rather than the big glass prisms of AR glasses) to be subtle enough in a pair of glasses. The Rokid Glasses manage to achieve that nicely, and pair that with some genuinely useful day-to-day features.

Quite the looker

Smart glasses are really starting to address that social acceptability — doing their best to hide all the tech and not get some awkward double looks on the subway. Even Realities do a good job of this, but to do so, they’ve been intentional with the use cases and taken out the camera and speakers.

The Rokid Glasses are the first fully-featured pair I’ve tried that give you all the functionality while still being a fashionably understated pair on the face. They don’t really have a stand-out aesthetic, being your normal Wayfarer style, but that’s actually a good thing here. You’ll blend in effortlessly. They passed my friend test (going to the pub and seeing whether any of my friends noticed something weird about me), and at no point did I get any double takes.

Plus, design is more than just subtlety, as the company’s managed to do this in an impressively wearable pair of specs too — the lightest I’ve tested with a nice curvature to the stems so you’re not feeling it cut into the top of your ears like the G2s.

Actually useful features

This is another field that’s quickly expanding, because it’s all fair and good to have a pair of glasses with a screen on them, but if it’s just gimmicky features, what are we even doing here? Rokid’s specs started rather limited in capabilities, but software updates have made them a genuinely useful tool for your day-to-day.

There’s definitely a learning curve to the tap/swipe interactions, and I fell victim to a couple of unintended touches when scratching my head. However, once you figure out the workflow, there’s plenty to be done here.

Navigation is a clear, understandable HUD that gets you from place to place easily. The AirPods-esque nod to accept calls has come in clutch when my hands were busy, and the multi-modal AI interactions are a cinch to get to with microphones that do a great job of picking up my voice in loud situations.

And the UI itself is nicely utilitarian while staying minimal in its invasion on your field of view — the sweet spot of where I’d like things to be for this category of product. Throw in up to 1,500 nits of brightness so I can see it clearly on a summer day (although the green display does get a bit lost against the green of grass or a tree), and speakers that are clear without any distortion at high volume, and you’ll find there aren’t really any limitations here.

Oh, and shout-out to the underrated gem of an addition in the camera framing, which allows you to get your shot just right. With so many AI glasses, you’re always guessing, and the shot always cuts off a little bit on the right as you try to line it up. With this, you’ve got the confidence in capturing the right subject.

AI smarts

Then we move over to the AI side of things, as it’s not necessarily about just stuffing it with a model and calling it a day — you need to actually provide something useful with it. Fortunately, that’s one of the Rokid Glasses’ fortes, as it starts with being able to choose your model between Gemini and ChatGPT.

That flexibility is a real win here, as you can overcome the limitations of one depending on what you’re doing (Gemini being better at location/image recognition for example). This meant that some day-to-day logic-based questioning, I could go to GPT’s speedy responses, but move to Gemini for figuring out what to cook with ingredients or ask about a historic building on a walking tour.

You do get some of the more generic features you see across a lot of AI glasses now — like super zippy live translation of text and voice, audio transcription and intelligent captioning. All works impressively speedily thanks to that Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 chip inside the glasses. It all comes together for a helpful suite that you can prompt with your voice (or with swipes) and get answers about the world around you.

And impressively, the battery stays rather strong throughout. Don’t get me wrong, if you hardcore use them for a long meeting of captioning, you can drain them in just under two hours. But for casual stuff, you can get a full day easily.

Rokid Glasses: The downs

That’s not to say there aren’t any downsides to the Rokid Glasses. A couple of frustrations stick out here.

Camera challenges

So most of the time, you won’t see this. In the day, that 12MP shooter captures some nice detail with color science skewing more towards warmer tones — no bad thing but that comes down to individual taste.

Where you’ll see the problems is in more challenging lighting conditions. You can see the baseplate of my sim racing pedals just vanish into the black void of the metal plate below, for example:

And it’s a challenge I can understand, as you try to find that balance between camera quality (size of sensor) and not making it super noticeable.

App connectivity frustrations

Let me be clear — if you’re on Android, this is not a problem. If you’re on iOS, there’s some hoops to jump through with a whole lot of privacy settings to tweak, and the app is required to be open in the background for it all to work (since it’s not on an OS level).

If you’re OK with that, cool! But on my limping iPhone 15 Pro with a bad battery, always-on location does take its toll to make the experience work.

Pricey prescription lenses

The good news is that Rokid has prescription requirements covered nicely here. The clip on lenses are subtle enough to get away with, and the titanium frame is nice and rigid here. Plus prescription ranges from 0-1600 degrees, so all ground is covered.

The bad news? You’ll be paying a pretty penny for it — at least $120 for the lenses, but fiddling with the customization system can see that cost go up to nearly $200. It’s an annoying extra cost.

Rokid Glasses: Verdict

So, where does this leave the Rokid Glasses? As you can tell by the score, I rather love them for their subtle design, bright, sharp display, strong audio system and feature set. And frustrations aside, I quickly adapted and they’ve become an essential part of my portable tech setup for finding my way around, taking notes from meetings, and getting multimodal help.

Do I wish the iOS connectivity experience was cleaner? Yep. I also hope for a better camera in the future. But for a first real stab at AI display glasses for $599, Rokid has pulled off something rather great here.

For nearly three decades, my mornings have started the same way: running shoes on, out the door before sunrise, miles logged before most people finish their first cup of coffee. But the hardest part of staying fit was never the run, it was everything that came after.

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, train for a race or simply eat healthier, you know the routine: scan barcodes, log ingredients, weigh portions, repeat. What starts as motivation quickly turns into tedious admin, and the burnout is real.

That’s why the idea of using AI glasses to track calories for me instantly caught my attention. If they could remove the most annoying part of healthy eating, I wanted to know.

But with Meta’s April 2026 update, the frustration just vanished for me. By integrating the Muse Spark multimodal model, my Ray Ban Meta Smart Display glasses have once again proven useful — even beyond translating the Superbowl Half Time show or shopping at Target.

Here’s what it’s actually like to let your eyewear audit your plate.

Less counting, more enjoyment

Standing in my kitchen with a pre-run snack, usually involves a "stop and scan" moment. Now, I simply put on my Ray Ban Meta smart display glasses and ask:

"Hey Meta, tell me approximately the calories in what I’m eating,"

Through the display, I saw the glasses instantly outline the banana and a handful of almonds using Muse Spark’s multimodal segmentation. A small overlay appeared in my line of sight: 105 calories for the banana, 160 for the almonds.

The glasses estimated the calories far more accurately than a standard flat photo ever could. I now do this throughout the day with whatever I eat, whether it's a salad, apple or even a cheeseburger.

Beyond the label

The real test happened at the local coffee shop. As I looked at my cup, the glasses identified the "Starbucks" logo and the size of the container. Because I had previously synced my preferences in the Meta View app, it knew I opted for oat milk.

It estimated the sugar content and I was able to immediately add it to my food log before I even took the first sip. This is what I think is one of the coolest features of AI. It's essentially data that quietly exists in the periphery of your life, but AI has the ability to spot patterns and provide details based on its training data.

Can AI really 'see' a recipe?

Of course, this experiment wouldn't be a true test without an accuracy challenge. It's not hard to identify a whole apple with fairly accurate data. However, it's much harder to identify a home-cooked chili. To stress-test the model, I used a "context hack." While sautéing onions, I looked at the pan and said, "Meta, I’m adding two tablespoons of olive oil and a pound of lean ground turkey."

Later, when I sat down to eat, the glasses didn’t just see "chili." It utilized recall to remember the ingredients from thirty minutes prior. This local processing solves the biggest hurdle in AI nutrition for me — where the hidden fats and sugars exist but a camera alone can’t see. Although the numbers are estimates, for me, that's better than not knowing at all (or trying to manually do the math myself — not my strong suit).

Social stealth with the Neural Band

I have to say that the most futuristic moment happened at a recent party. While I don't usually wear the Meta display glasses around people (talking to my glasses while your friends are passing the salad is a social non-starter), the Meta Neural Band changed the game.

When a notification appeared in my view asking to confirm a "Large Garden Salad," I used a subtle "pinch" gesture with my hand under the table. The band’s sensors picked up the motor intent and confirmed the image. It was the first time calorie tracking felt truly invisible.

Bottom line

Using Ray-Ban Meta glasses to help me eat healthier was not something I had on my 2026 bingo card. But after trying it firsthand, it feels like an early glimpse at how AI could reshape personal wellness.

With tools like Muse Spark and the Ray-Ban Meta Display, we may be moving toward a future of ambient health tracking, where nutrition is monitored with the same low-effort convenience as steps, sleep or heart rate. Instead of manually logging every bite, the process starts to happen in the background.

The calorie estimates are still approximate, but for me, that’s enough. As a runner, it could mean the end of post-workout data-entry burnout after a long training run. As a parent, it offers one less mental task while trying to keep an eye on how much sugar my kids consume. And as someone who covers AI for a living, it feels like one of the clearest real-world examples yet of wearable AI becoming genuinely useful.

I’m still experimenting, but one thing is clear: smart glasses are starting to do a lot more than just take photos.

More from Tom's Guide

• ChatGPT’s new ‘Thinking’ mode just hit a 94% reasoning score — 7 prompts it can solve that standard AI can’t
• I tested Anthropic’s new Claude Opus 4.7 — and it’s the first AI that actually ‘reasons’ through tasks
• Google just unlocked 'Agent Mode' for Gemini 3.1 — here are 7 things it can now do for you

The war for your face is heating up. Meta and Snap are betting big on cameras and bulky frames, but Viture is preparing to take a very different path. As the No. 1 ranked company in XR glasses shipments in the U.S., the company is taking its talents to a whole new category — laying a path to merge the worlds of AR and AI glasses in the future.

In an exclusive interview with Tom’s Guide, Viture’s CMO and co-founder Emily Wang revealed that the company is officially stepping into the "connected lifestyle" category — named Vonder, and set to launch in Q4 of this year.

But unlike the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, VITURE is prioritizing two things the current market lacks: true fashion and absolute privacy.

Viture’s taking on Ray-Ban Meta with something Vonderful

This is the biggest takeaway from my conversation with Viture, so let’s start here. We all know that the future of smart glasses is going to be when AR and AI collides (more on that later in our chat), so it pays to be developing on both sides of this specs chasm now.

I brought up this gap in Viture’s lineup — the daily carry AI wearable like the Ray-Ban Metas, and following a couple of potential leaks and the company’s Series B funding announcement mentioning a “new category of connected lifestyle technology,” I asked whether Viture had plans to fill it?

Well, I had asked the right question, because Emily had an ever increasing smile on her face. “I think you’re picking up on exactly what we’ve been hinting at,” Wang commented. “With all the display technology, software and AI integration we’ve built over the years, we’re in a unique position to bring that philosophy to a new category — where the glasses are not only smart and capable, but something you’re genuinely proud to wear.”

So to have Viture enter the AI glasses space with Vonder is incredibly exciting. With this category ever-expanding, I asked what were the key pain points they see in the industry today that the company plans to tackle.

“The most obvious one is privacy — current AI glasses have cameras pointing at the world, and people around you know it,” Wang responded. “We believe smart glasses should feel invisible, not intrusive, and that technology should disappear into a timeless design, not the other way around."

And this conversation went exactly in the direction I was hoping for. In all the smart glasses I’ve tested, it always feels like there’s an awkward battle between tech and fashion. For something so present on your face, making them look good almost has to come first followed by the tech.

“There’s a deeper issue we’ve cared about since day one at Viture: the tension between technology and fashion,” Wang continued. “With AI glasses, you have the freedom to make them as fashionable and personal as you want. That’s a huge unlock because at the end of the day, glasses live on your face — if people don’t want to wear them, none of the technology matters.”

The Beast is (almost) ready for primetime

Moving to the here and now, you may know that I’ve been testing the Viture Beast for a while now, but also elected to not review them. Simply put, the hardware was sound, but all the features were not present.

However, as you may have seen on Viture’s subreddit, it’s a very different story now — several rapidfire updates have brought them to the level where I will be reviewing them very soon. The only feature that’s left is a 1200p picture, which the company confirms will be released “this month.”

“Our philosophy has always been to build hardware that’s future-ready, delivering a polished experience than rush it,” Wang explained. “The recent firmware updates for image stability, color tuning and 3DoF tracking have been a huge leap forward in the everyday experience.”

And I have to say I agree. It’s a night-and-day difference in the experience using these glasses now compared to the drifting images I saw back in January. Viture’s bought my AWE awards winners back to the primetime, and they’re lining up for a big launch.

“On April 27, the Beast will be fully available on Best Buy, Amazon and our own website simultaneously,” Wang confirmed. “Stay tuned, because what you’ll see is a mature, refined version of the beast, and for the first time, everyone will be able to easily grab what we believe is the best on the market.”

Those words — “mature” and “refined” — are signaling that the early-adopter era for these XR glasses is over, and the confidence to put them into Best Buy is a positive sign (one that I can vouch for after testing them the past few weeks).

The gaming monitor killer

As someone with one eye on the future, I wanted to see where this vision for the Beast goes. This turned my attention to the Asus ROG Xreal R1 glasses I tried back at CES 2026: seemingly a prototype (unless they do become a reality — I only say that because the companies have gone real quiet about them ever since January), which brought a 240Hz refresh rate to take on the gaming monitor.

And then I thought about Viture’s partnership with Nvidia, which is in the AI space at the moment (more on that in a minute), but gearing up with the gaming side of Team Green to provide the kind of glasses that could replace a bulky gaming screen would be hype.

“We believe AR glasses can and should be a viable gaming monitor alternative — high refresh rate, immersive and private,” Wang elaborated. “It’s definitely a space we’re exploring, and I think you’ll see some exciting developments from us on this front.”

But, this is the part where the company dropped an incredibly intriguing nugget — saying that “the Beast’s display engine was designed with headroom for exactly this kind of use case.” No, that doesn’t mean you’ll see 240Hz in these current gen Beast specs, but it shows a mighty promising future for these glasses if you’re a PC gamer.

The future of ‘seeing’

So for context, Viture teamed up with Nvidia and Stanford medicine for a “truly meaningful” partnership — bringing XR together with AI in healthcare to streamline lab workflows, make it agentic and provide hands-free data.

“As Professor Cong (of Stanford University School of Medicine) shared, years of research work can be compressed into months, and millions of dollars in costs can be reduced to thousands,” Wang explained.

I asked further as to whether this is an agentic sign of the consumer direction for AI glasses. “The next evolution is exactly what you described: glasses that don’t just show you things, but understand what you’re seeing and act on it,” she responded. “The glasses become the interface layer between the user and an AI that’s always contextually aware.”

Where this all goes in the next few years

So let’s go back to what I wrote about at the beginning: the merging of AR and AI glasses into one product. Tech like waveguide displays and the AI to make it possible are developing at a rapid rate where we could see this become a reality over the next few years (pending the compression of said tech into something fashionable).

In my mind, the first real test of whether they are ready for primetime will be Snap Specs — set to launch this year. Emily agrees, but acknowledges the challenges of jumping straight in.

“The convergence is inevitable, but I want to be thoughtful here — the path to that all-in-one form factor isn’t as straightforward as it might seem,” Wang continued, bringing up how Waveguide tech is advancing, but field of view, brightness and power demands are challenges. “What you see with products like Snap Specs is exciting, but they're still limited in display capability and daily wearability.”

My take after seeing every company’s innovation at AWE last year is that this challenge won’t be solved by one mega product from one company, but rather lots of small ingredients from companies coming together into one eventual dominant pair of specs. And Emily is on the same track here.

“Our view is that this won't be a single leap — it will be a journey. And the companies that will lead aren't necessarily the ones who rush to cram everything into one device first,” Wang explained. She mentioned the real secret ingredient will be making “the right ecosystem, user base and software foundation” along the way. This means that when the optical tech is ready for the all-in-one form factor, Viture is “not starting from zero.”

“The biggest challenges between now and then? Optical efficiency in a lightweight frame, thermal management, battery life, and — coming back to what I said earlier — making sure the design is something people actually want to wear every day,” she continued. “Technology alone won't win. It has to be beautiful, it has to be comfortable, and it has to feel like you. That's the bar we're setting for ourselves.”

It’s going to be an interesting 2026 for smart glasses, as Viture makes its first big foray into AI glasses, and marks a path towards that final form every company’s been hunting for! And with Apple rumored to be introducing its own glasses too, competition could get fierce.

More from Tom's Guide

• Snap and Qualcomm team up for 'the future of Specs' — aiming to make smart glasses 'more human and grounded in the real world'
• I fed my Tamagotchi, looked like a D1 athlete and fact-checked my boss — my time with Even G2's secret smart glasses app store
• I went on a sightseeing run in London with the Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses — here’s 5 things I like and 2 I disliked

In a sit-down interview with David Senra, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel shared some more details about the vision of Snap Specs ahead of their consumer release later this year. Besides taking a swing at Meta in the chat, it’s fair to say the conversation got weird…in an interesting way.

"What if aliens are…sending these glasses to save people from their lives that I think have become so oriented around screens,” Spiegel posed. My immediate thought was to email Snap and ask for whatever Spiegel’s smoking, because it sounds awesome.

But as someone who is already high on the idea of smart glasses being the next generation of portable computing, it started to click as he defined the smartphone as a “biological disaster” and talked about computers pulling us all “away from one another” and into a “single player experience.” Let’s go into what he said and map that with my time testing Specs.

Not just a gadget, but a rescue mission

It’s fair to say that the devices we use around us disconnect us from our surroundings, so Spiegel sees Specs as a “prison break” from the 7-hour-a-day screen habit that has been over 12 years in the making.

“The biggest problem I see today is that people are spending seven or eight hours a day on their computer. We have to change that,” Spiegel commented. He calls it a “single player” experience that is a “disaster for our society” in pulling us away from one another.

And it’s this that drove the philosophy that AR is the only human path. “Holding this tiny little screen in your hands was not the future of computers,” Spiegel proclaimed. Neither does he think it’s VR, as he bluntly critiqued this as “insane” and like “wearing a TV on your face.”

In my time testing the developer versions of Specs, you can start to see this vision of taking that isolating layer of computing out and allowing us to reconnect. The Waveguide displays overlay your world with information and AI-driven context in ways that are actually useful, such as recipes and cooking steps, labeling items in front of you, or live subtitling people speaking around you.

But how much are we actually reconnecting? This is something I found while testing the Even Realities G2 — finding that I may have looked physically present in the moment, but not really at the same time. My abilities to think critically and listen actively were being replaced by AI features like Conversate.

Don’t get me wrong. This hands-off and eyes-on approach is definitely a step forward from always looking down at a screen, but real attention needs to be paid to software and app design to ensure that this isn’t all just for show.

Meta’s “camouflage” critique

Spiegel also offered a sharp take on Meta’s partnership with Luxottica (the company behind Ray-Ban) — saying that Meta had to partner with a fashion brand to remove the liability of its own brand name.

"I think Meta really needed to partner with Luxottica because the Meta brand I think is not something that people want to put anywhere near their face,” Spiegel commented. “"What's challenging for Luxottica is they took like the most iconic, crazy high-margin product and they destroyed the margin and then they associated it with Meta.”

It’s an interesting point, and one that after seeing Meta filing a patent to digitally resurrect its users, and getting warned by organizations to not turn on facial recognition in smart glasses, I can kind of see the sense in. A lot of my friends and family have a love/hate relationship with Meta in its connected platforms vs invasion of privacy, so to put Luxottica names on its camera-equipped hardware is a smart move.

But the Snap Specs will be in a different direction — built and designed in house. “Control of the hardware is necessary to deliver an extraordinary customer experience,” Spiegel added.

When speaking to the former VP of hardware, Scott Myers, it’s clear that form factor is a priority for the company, as he emphasized that “the social acceptability element is so critically important.”

Quite how the company manages to pull this off with the vast amounts of compute and sensor tech required to pull off the Specs without a puck is going to be a monumental challenge. But I’m curious to see!

More from Tom's Guide

• I’ve worn smart glasses for over 5 years — here’s the best AR and AI glasses
• Apple's AI smart glasses strategy revealed: How the iPhone maker plans to outshine Meta's Ray-Bans
• Snap and Qualcomm team up for 'the future of Specs' — aiming to make smart glasses 'more human and grounded in the real world'

Meta is already miles ahead of the competition when it comes to the best smart glasses, but Apple is coming for its crown with a pair of display-less smart glasses to directly rival Meta's Ray-Bans, according to a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, he said the product is on track to hit store shelves in 2027 following a late 2026/early 2027 debut.

To stand out from competitors, Apple's leaning into its industry-leading design taste with a "higher-end build" that uses acetate, a more a “durable” and “luxurious” material than plastic, for the main body.

"As with AirPods and the Apple Watch, the goal is to create a design that is instantly recognizable. Apple refers to this as the 'icon' internally," Gurman said.

The smart glasses will come in at least four different styles in a range of finishes and colors, according to employees working on the project that spoke with Bloomberg. Gurman said the four designs currently in testing are:

• A large rectangular frame, reminiscent of Ray-Ban Wayfarers
• A slimmer rectangular design, similar to the glasses worn by Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook
• Larger oval or circular frames
• A smaller, more refined oval or circular option

As for finishes, potential color options include black, ocean blue, and light brown. The camera will differ slightly from Meta's smart glasses as well, with Apple opting for a vertically-oriented oval lenses with surrounding indicator lights.

Keep in mind, there's no built-in display, so these aren't augmented reality glasses like the 2nd-gen Ray-Ban Meta or the RayNeo Air 4 Pro. Rather, Apple's cooking up wearable spectacles with integrated cameras, microphones, and sensors to do things like capture photo and video, handle phone calls, relay notifications, and enable hands-free interactions with AI features like upgraded Siri and visual intelligence capabilities. Think of it as a cross between the Apple Watch and AirPods in terms of functionality.

It's part of the iPhone maker's larger three-pronged AI wearable strategy that also includes new AirPods and a camera-equipped pendent. Each is designed to work together to "leverage computer vision to interpret the user’s surroundings and feed contextual awareness into Siri and Apple Intelligence" for features like turn-by-turn directions and visual reminders, according to Bloomberg.

Apple is still believed to be working on advanced augmented reality glasses with integrated displays, but it's still several years away, Gurman said. In the meantime, Apple's expected to launch a slew of AI-centric devices in the coming years, including the aforementioned wearable pendant and a smart home display.

More from Tom's Guide

• I wore Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses while shopping at Target — 7 things that were surprisingly useful
• Meta is finally building Ray-Ban smart glasses designed for prescription lenses
• Apple Glasses: everything we know so far

Later this year, Snap is expected to finally release its next-generation Specs. The smart glasses feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR chipset platform.

This week, Snap and Qualcomm announced that the two companies are continuing their partnership. “We believe the future of computing will be more human and grounded in the real world," said co-founder and CEO of Snap, Evan Spiegel, in a press release.

Both companies seem to believe the future of smart glasses is making them more socially acceptable and merging AI and AR glasses.

Social acceptability

Snap went all out promoting Specs AR glasses at last year's Augmented World Expo (AWE). At the time, CEO Evan Spiegel promised that the new Specs would be smaller, lighter and much more wearable.

We've seen the Specs over several hands-on sessions — cramming XR smarts in a pair of glasses, but these aren't the sleek Meta Ray-Bans or even second monitors like the RayNeo Air 4 Pros. Right now, the Specs feature two Snapdragon chips that power everything the glasses do.

The directed demos we've seen have been fairly impressive and a hint at future where you see the world without a smartphone.

Former VP of hardware Scott Myers was pretty open about the design during a conversation at AWE last year.

"The form factor obviously matters, but it's also the fit and finish of these things that matter when you make that jump. They need to be robust, but all of those are pulling the product in different directions," Myers said.

He went on to say that the company's strategy of slowly developing the Specs with input from the community and developers is the balance the company was seeking.

It should be noted that Myers left Snap in February 2026. Reportedly, the departure was over an alleged "blow up" with CEO Evan Spiegel over the direction of Specs and the company. Snap disputed the characterization but did not elaborate on why Myers left in a statement to TechCrunch.

Long term roadmap

The press release from Snap and Qualcomm notes that the partnership agreement is a five-year extension.

“The next era of computing will be defined by devices that understand what you see, hear and say as well as context and respond instantly to the world around you,” Qualcomm CEO and President Cristiano Amon said in the release.

Qualcomm is creating AI-forward chips that take up less space and are more power-efficient for any number of devices, from the Galaxy S26 Ultra to its Windows laptop CPUs. The company also has partnerships with Google and Samsung for the Android XR platform.

The chips will get better, and Snap presumably will condense its glasses over time.

The question is whether Snap will be able to find its footing with the glasses. As one commenter said when Myers left Snap, "Those enormous things are not ready for release. Leaving the company seems like a good idea."

More from Tom's Guide

• I switched to the RayNeo Air 4 Pro for 3 months: the best way to binge watch HDR10 video and game right on your face
• I’ve tested every pair of AR glasses since 2022 — most are junk, but these five actually replaced my monitor
• Smart glasses vs. regular glasses — here's how to tell if you're being filmed

Ever had that moment with any of the best AR glasses where you try to watch HDR content, and your computer violently kicks you out with a warning saying the display is “not supported”? I have, and it sucks.

HDR10 support in specs has been one of my biggest asks for the past couple of years. I expected this to come at a hefty price premium, but color me shocked to find out that this important display standard has actually arrived in some of the cheapest AR glasses you can find. Meet the RayNeo Air 4 Pros — my new favorite value pair for long haul travel.

TCL could’ve just given us HDR, dropped the mic and walked away at $299. But the team’s gone a little harder than that: improved audio quality with B&O tuned speakers, an included light blocker in the box (finally), and a 120Hz refresh rate.

Of course, given these are the cheaper glasses you can buy, there are some corners cut here and there. There is no adjustable lens tint here, and the build quality feels cheaper (on both the glasses and the case). And while you can go for a massive screen, I’d opt for more medium as to not see the edge blurring.

Still, I can’t deny that what you get for $299 is mighty impressive, and no other company has been able to match this price (yet).

Oh, and if you really want to go all out on your DC Comics obsession, there’s a Batman or Joker edition for $20 more. The amount of times I said “swear to me” while wearing these and watching my fiancee roll her eyes is countless.

RayNeo Air 4 Pro: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? This is a pair of AR glasses — plug them into any device with USB-C video out and you’ve got an external monitor right in front of your eyes.
• Who is it for? These are an ideal pair for those looking to buy their first pair of AR glasses — coming in at a nice low price.
• What does it cost? You can snag a pair for $299.
• What do we like? Price-to-performance is off the charts with improved brightness, color and contrast, HDR10 support (a first for AR glasses) and upgraded audio.
• What don’t we like? The materials used to build them are on the cheaper side; there’s no lens tint options; and the screen edges can blur.

RayNeo Air 4 Pro: Specs

RayNeo Air 4 Pro: The ups

Time for my first flight. I have a bunch of Apple TV+ content lined up, and usually I wouldn’t be able to watch this through my AR glasses because of that pesky lack of HDR. But not anymore…

HDR is here, but that’s not all

Make sure you dip into settings with the hardware menu button and select HDR10. But once you’ve done that, there’s no more barriers as to what you can watch. You don’t realize how freeing this is until you break that subconscious habit of having to keep yourself locked to SDR content. It’s massive.

But it’s not the only thing RayNeo’s done here. You see, instead of going for a standard image controller, there is now a purpose-built display chip named Vision4000, which is driving a lot of the color and brightness gains in here too. The screen is vivid and can be seen out even in bright sunlight thanks to this.

This chip drives a couple other cool features too, such as AI-driven SDR-to-HDR upscaling (works really well) and 2D-to-3D content conversion. The latter one isn’t so reliable, but the former does a good job of adding depth to flatter SDR content across all your consumption.

And the audio has seen a nice improvement too with B&O-tunes speakers for a nice deep bass quality with spatial qualities too. Plus, if you want to take things to the next level, you can attach RayNeo’s SoundTubes (sold separately) to deliver audio directly into your ears.

Strong wearability

While the materials are cheap and the aesthetic definitely stands out more than the subtle Wayfarer-esque presence of Viture or Xreal glasses, these continue to be comfortable to wear for long periods of time at 2.7 ounces. That weight alongside nice cushioned nose pads mean these sit nicely on your nose and there isn’t any real strain on your ears holding them up.

But shout-out to the underrated big move here — including the light blocker in the box! I know that electrochromic lenses are more of a premium feature, and RayNeo’s cutting costs here. So to include a physical way to just snap on a block and get completely immersed in your content is a great move.

Value for your money

All of this is under $300 (code for $299). I know a lot of the industry at the moment is chasing this spatial computing goal, and with that comes higher prices. But for the rest of us who just want a display on our face to play the Steam Deck and not get neck pain, this is the right price.

Then as the rest of the great ways to use them are revealed to you (plugging into your MacBook, using a HDMI adaptor to connect to your PS5 at home, etc), that is long-term value for money right there.

RayNeo Air 4 Pro: The downs

Of course, these are the value darlings of the AR glasses space, so there had to be some cut corners here and there.

Cheap feels

The biggest casualty is the material quality. That's not to say this impacts the comfort of wearing them, but to the touch, you can tell this is a cheaper plastic. Same with the fabric of the case.

It's not the end of the world, but it does mean you’ve got to treat the RayNeo Air 4 Pro a lot more carefully. Unlike other glasses that come with more durable cases and stronger metallic hinges, these could be a little more sensitive.

Edge blurriness and no IPD adjustment

As for the displays, make sure you don’t blow that screen up to its biggest possible size. Those edges are quite prone to blurring and chromatic aberration, so keep it more at the medium setting so you get the sharpness across the entire 1080p picture.

Plus, there’s no IPD adjustment. RayNeo tries to workaround this with multiple-level nose pad adjustment, temple (arm) adjustment and adding elasticity to said temples. For most of my friends I gave these too, this was fine. But just a heads up if you have any specific IPD measurements — there’s no image shifting here.

RayNeo Air 4 Pro: Verdict

So as we head into a new year of AR glasses launches (trust me, there’s a lot of cool stuff coming), RayNeo reasserts its place as a fantastic value option.

Are they without fault? Of course not — they’re cheap AR glasses. But once you look past the marketing bluster, you’ve got a solid pair of HDR10 specs that are great for gaming and streaming.

Meta is already miles ahead of the competition when it comes to the best smart glasses, but now the company's reportedly gearing up to debut a pair of Ray-Ban smart glasses aimed at users who actually wear glasses everyday. Codenamed Scriber and Blazer, the prescription-focused versions could launch as soon as next week, Bloomberg reports.

Meta and its AI glasses hardware partner EssilorLuxottica are working on two pairs of AI smart glasses designed for people who require prescription lenses. Granted, you can already get prescription lenses fitted into existing Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, but these new models are being built specifically with that in mind.

Exactly how they’ll differ isn’t immediately clear, though I'd guess factors like battery life, design, and weight would be comparable to Meta's existing line. For now, though, that’s just speculation.

The Verge first spotted evidence of these new products in a series of FCC filings published by the agency earlier this month. The filings note Scriber and Blazer as production models, which suggests we'll see them on store shelves sooner rather than later. Since the filings are heavily redacted per usual, there's precious few details about the design or features we can expect. One interesting tidbit to note: The new models will use the Wi-Fi 6 UNII-4 band, a handy feature for reliable high-speed data transfers used for livestreaming and AI features that use live video transmission. Sources that spoke with Bloomberg on condition of anonymity said the models will come in "rectangular and rounded styles" and will be sold through "traditional prescription eyewear channels."

Meta's emerging new focus

All of this marks part of a broader push toward prescription users that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg teased in an earnings call earlier this year. “Billions of people wear glasses or contacts for vision correction. And I think that we’re at a moment similar to when smartphones arrived, and it was clearly only a matter of time until all those flip phones became smartphones," he said. “It’s hard to imagine a world in several years where most glasses that people wear aren’t AI glasses.”

For those of us who have spent years navigating the world through prescription lenses, smart glasses have always felt like a gadget designed for someone else. But Meta’s upcoming launch of the ‘Scriber’ and ‘Blazer’ Ray-Ban AI glasses feels like the first time the tech giant is actually speaking our language. Unlike previous models that felt like tech first and eyewear second, these new frames seem built from the ground up with four-eyes like me in mind. With sleek new rectangular and rounded styles—and rumored Wi-Fi 6 support for faster Meta AI response times—this might finally be the moment I trade my traditional frames for a pair that can actually talk back.

More from Tom's Guide

• I’ve been wearing the Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses for a week — they’re great, but they could be so much more
• I wore Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses while shopping at Target — 7 things that were surprisingly useful
• I've reviewed all of Meta's smart glasses, and this is the pair I'd actually buy

I’ve been obsessed with my Even Realities G2 for the past few months, mostly because they don’t look like a piece of “spatial computing” hardware glued to my face. But there’s a problem — CEO Will Wang’s mission is to make these the “most useful thing you will ever wear.” Namely, he wants them to be an all-day “personal companion,” but they’re not.

The feature set, while useful in saving me in clutch moments when I drift off and stop listening to my Fiancée, is limited. These become a “wear every once in a while” kind of thing that can make that $599 price tag sting.

But now, Even Realities has just had its iPhone App Store moment by introducing the Even Hub. On top of that, the conversational cheat code known as Conversate just got a huge update with Prep notes. Both of these combined have turned these into the personal companion I always wanted the glasses to be.

For a few days, when I was testing these new features, it all felt a bit sporadic as I got lost in the apps and couldn’t figure out how to seamlessly string them all together in my day-to-day life. But then, it clicked. In just one day, I managed to:

• Gaslight my boss into thinking I’m a high-functioning human being
• Feed my Tamagotchi and play chess while a stranger on the bus chats some nonsense
• Actually look like I have a gym routine
• Genuinely multitask in a way that feels effortless

So let me take you through this day where it all came together for me.

9 AM — the productive deep work

Working remotely with a multi-monitor situation can be overwhelming with multiple tasks flying at you. I’m also lucky to be in a position where I can blast music to focus. I’m starting with a blank Google Doc (this doc, actually) and feeling spaced out on ideas.

Normally, I’d be wasting a few minutes skipping tracks on Spotify — followed swiftly by the ultimate distraction of TikTok doomscrolling. Now, I have the DisplayMusicPlus plugin, which lets me use the R1 ring to skip tracks as I work and even get scrolling lyrics on my HUD if I want to sing the classics (don’t judge me).

As for every other service (like Slack and Gmail) desperately clamoring for my attention, that’s where G2 Bridge comes in. Instead of having to flip my attention between screens so sharply, I use this to capture my voice, transcribe it accurately through Whisper AI and route what I say directly in response to whoever’s trying to get my attention. All while my eyes never leave the screen.

12 PM — the D1 athlete gym session

By 12 PM, I’m walking to the gym, and confession: I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve had the same routine for over a year, and there’s never been any material change to my composition in any way that I do. Stuck with this, I opened up the Gym app and prompted it to generate a new lifting routine using AI.

Up on the HUD, I got a step-by-step guide through all my sets and rests. I actually looked like a man with a plan, even though I have the fitness IQ of a sourdough starter. And none of this involved me getting my sweaty mitts all over my phone. Plus, nobody noticed I was wearing smart glasses — shout-out to the subtle design for that!

2 PM — the meeting overload

Then comes the afternoon when the U.S. team clocks on. Given the time difference, this usually means I get the morning to lock in and do stuff — followed swiftly by an avalanche of meetings.

My main issue with back-to-backs is that there’s usually never room to breathe and prepare for the next meeting. On top of that, there are a fair few meetings on the calendar where I come out thinking “this could’ve been an email” (sorry, boss). So I have two missions here:

• Look like I actually prepared for the meetings I’m in
• Use the meetings where nothing really happens as a chance to take a break

That’s where Conversate 2.0 comes in. As you know, I’m already a fan of this feature (to a point — I don’t want to replace my ability to actually listen with AI all the time), but the second iteration gives you the chance to upload prep notes.

Adding quick reference points in text form and important documents for each meeting means I walk in ready. AI cues are much more accurate because of it; the real-time contextual support is faster, and the summaries feel more detailed with this combination of information. I even managed to fact-check my boss on some key details because of it!

And second, in the throes of a 4 PM meeting where I hear the word “synergy” for the fourth time, I can be guilty of clocking out mentally. This is the perfect time to look like I’m paying attention while playing Even Chess, which engages my mind. Either that or I’m feeding my Tamagotchi, and nobody realizes!

Opting out of reality?

Is there a chance this goes too far? Absolutely. I absolutely did just stress-test it in this scenario, and you will absolutely have to find your balance in using these, because as we move from “gadgets” to “companions,” it’s very easy for these to become a second memory, doing the work for you.

That’s not the fault of Even Realities, as the CEO’s mission is to make these “human-first.” Self-restraint will be key here, because the more you rely on AI summaries and prep notes, you may start feeling what psychologists call digital amnesia — where finding your first memory just feels a bit foggy. And distracting yourself extensively with games in key situations isn’t going to be great for your attention span either.

One thing is clear, though — Even G2s have just had a bit of an iPhone moment, as the company opens the floodgates to truly make them “the most useful thing you will ever wear.” It’ll be a fun Wild West at first, while coders figure out what to make with it, and people find their right balance of how much to use it.

But ultimately, this is a bit of a breakthrough for smart glasses, and something I expect you’ll see the likes of Meta quickly start doing.

More from Tom's Guide

• I’ve worn smart glasses for over 4 years — here’s the best AR and AI glasses
• 2026 is the year smart glasses will finally stop being cringe, but has their moment come too late?
• I tested the MemoMind One AI smart glasses — and I think I’m seeing double

I’ve lived in London for over 10 years, and yet I’ve probably done less sightseeing in the city than the average tourist does in a week. When you live somewhere, it’s always too easy to put off visiting landmarks for another day.

When the Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses arrived for testing, it seemed the perfect incentive to go and take in some sights, because I could do it on my lunch run while filming with the glasses.

I’m used to using one of the best action cameras or my phone to record my activities, but I was greatly impressed by the Vanguard glasses on my run.

You can check out the highlights of my run in this Instagram post, and I’ve dived into what I liked and disliked about using the Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses on the run below.

Like #1: They’re more convenient than a phone or action camera

I’ve been on plenty of runs where I’ve had to take sunglasses, headphones, and an action camera with me, and the Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses cover all those bases.

They’re particularly convenient for filming clips. You can just press the button or give a voice command and film away, as opposed to having to get my phone or camera out of a running belt.

It meant I could take clips of the London landmarks I passed easily without having to pause my run, and in general, I find the simplicity of using the glasses means I take more clips and photos on my runs.

Like #2: The stabilization works well for running

Videos you film while running with the glasses are not as buttery-smooth as when cycling or skiing; the stabilization is still impressive, with just a little bit of bouncing.

I’ve also been impressed by the quality of the videos taken on the glasses — they really can replace a phone or camera without worrying you’re getting sub-standard clips.

Like #3: The sound quality is surprisingly good

I mostly use open- or bone-conduction headphones when running, and the Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses sound just as good when playing music or podcasts on the go.

The speakers are also loud — louder than on bone conduction headphones — so I could still hear my audio clearly even when running in busy areas in the center of London.

Like #4: You can link them to your Garmin watch

The Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses link easily to the best Garmin watches, which means you can overlay your stats from the run directly onto the videos you film in the Meta app.

You can also ask the glasses for live stats like your pace and heart rate during the run, though I don’t find this that useful myself — glancing at my watch is still quicker and easier than asking my glasses.

To link your Garmin watch, you need to install the metadata field from the Garmin Connect IQ app store, then select which activities you want to sync with the glasses.

Like #5: It’s simple to get the clips onto your phone

One thing that always puts me off using any new filming equipment is if it’s hard to access the clips afterwards. I like using my phone for that reason, because it’s so simple to send the clips to other apps and edit them.

The Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses make things very easy on this front. You open the Meta app, and the clips quickly sync to your phone. Then it’s easy to use those clips in apps like Capcut or Edits to make videos for social media.

Dislike #1: You can’t shoot in landscape mode

I make YouTube videos covering new running gear and tech, and I hoped the Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses would be useful for this, but the lack of a landscape filming mode means that they’re really only useful for social media, where portrait video reigns supreme.

The lack of a landscape mode also means it’s sometimes difficult to capture everything you want to in one shot, especially when taking in an epic view.

Dislike #2: It takes time to get used to the field of view

The field of view on the Oakley Meta Vanguard is tall and narrow, and I often accidentally had my running cap in frame, or didn’t tilt my head forward enough to film things like my watch on my wrist.

I also found that I didn’t get close enough to some landmarks to film them well — Marble Arch is absent from my reel as a result — even though it felt like I was near enough to get a good video.

It takes a little while to get used to what you film with the Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses, so you might miss out on some highlights you thought you’d filmed in your first few attempts to use them.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just tried the Meta Ray-Ban Display — and it feels like the future
• 7 settings to change first on your Ray Ban Meta glasses
• I just tried Ray-Ban Meta's latest AI updates

It's been a minute since we last saw Google's prototype smart glasses in action but the tech giant recently held demos for them during MWC 2026.

Google's Dieter Bohn showcased a number of features including the ability to use the camera and Nano Banana in combination to take a photo and edit it on the fly. In Dieter's example, he took a photo of a group of people and used Banana to "reimagine" it in front La Sagrada Familia, a famous church in Barcelona — also an excellent board game.

To be fair, Meta's Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses and the newer Ray-Ban Display specs can sort of do this. You can ask the glasses to "re-style" an image into something more hyper stylized like cartoons or oil paintings, but it doesn't do photorealistic work like what Google showed off. Think of it like AI slop versus deep fakes.

Most of the features Bohn showed off are par for the course for the current generation of AI-powered glasses. The Google-Xreal collaboration Project Aura glasses, for example, have many of the same features that we previewed at the end of last year.

When we last saw the Google prototypes in December, we were able to use Live Translation to transcribe and translate Chinese to English. Bohn's demo showcased a similar example.

Additionally, he showed the ability to identify real world objects and use Gemini to prompt off of those items. For example, in one case the glasses identified a Queen album and then played a song. In another example, a poster with an address was used to find walking directions and displayed a map.

He was also able to take a live Google Meet call that involved sharing video and live chatting with a coworker.

The future of Google glasses

Dieter Bohn made sure to emphasize that these glasses are still prototypes and not what "the final versions will look and feel like." He noted that the MWC versions had clip-on prescriptions that won't be in the final versions, though he did not elaborate on whether prescription lenses would be possible.

He also promised more information about display-free AI glasses, Project Aura, and Samsung's Galaxy XR in the coming months. Samsung has promised its Android XR glasses will launch this year and will probably feature many of the same Gemini-based tools.

Most likely the next time Google says anything about the future of Android XR and smart glasses will be at Google I/O 2026 which will take place starting on May 19. Tom's Guide will be on hand for any news Google drops that week, so keep us in your tabs.

More from Tom's Guide

• Google Maps just got 'biggest navigation upgrade in over a decade' — meet Ask Maps and Immersive Navigation
• I've been using the Pixel 10a for a week — here's what I like and don't like about Google's new budget phone
• Google caves, lets people search Google Photos without AI — here's how to use it