So at the Snapdragon Summit, I got to talk to Ziad Asghar, Qualcomm’s SVP and GM of XR about it, and he mounted a passionate defense of the smart glasses category.

But the issue is clear: while Qualcomm’s hardware-level privacy tools are genuinely impressive, they rely on a big leap of faith regarding consumer behavior and corporate accountability.

“It’s just a phone”

When I pressed him about the public backlash against face-mounted cameras, Asghar brushed off the anxiety as a generational growing pain.

“Today, you carry devices that have multiple cameras on them. All of you do. It’s called a phone, right?” Asghar commented. “I think different age groups are thinking about it in a very, very different way, because the younger people are so used to people blogging and vlogging and carrying their cameras in public spaces and all. So I think some of the concern honestly, in my opinion, is just because it's a new form factor.”

Fair answer, and I’ll give props to the silicon-level tools Qualcomm is building in a minute. But here’s where I have an issue with that — a smartphone and smart glasses are not socially equivalent. Lifting a rectangular slab and aiming it at someone is an overt, highly visible social cue.

However, wearing sunglasses that look near-identical to Ray-Bans while recording is inherently covert. The “new form factor” isn’t just a novelty; the physical invisibility of the camera is the privacy threat.

The genuine breakthrough

If there is a saving grace in this debate, it is the actual silicon Qualcomm has built. Asghar detailed how Snapdragon chips are engineered to process privacy on-device, completely bypassing the cloud. The most critical tool is hardware-level face obfuscation.

"On our always-sensing capability on our chips, it can detect a face — not recognize, but just detect a face,” Asghar highlighted. “For multimodal AI, I don't really need to send all these faces for AI processing. What I really need to do is to be able to send the context: 'Oh, I'm sitting in a conference room over here, it's a work-like setting, it's not my home.' For that, I can detect the face and I can cover it up. That technology is something that we have integrated into our products and we are sharing with our partners."

This is the exact technical safeguard the industry needs. By using the NPU to censor faces before the video frame is handed off to an AI agent, Qualcomm can guarantee that bystanders’ biometric likenesses are never processed or sent to remote servers.

The OEM loophole: Qualcomm suggests, Meta decides

But the fatal flaw in Qualcomm’s privacy shield is that they do not control the final product. Qualcomm builds the safety net, but device manufacturers (OEMs) hold the keys.

"We provide the enabling technologies," Asghar explained. "But the end device experience is developed by our end customer. So far across the board, all of my glass customers today have LEDs. You take a picture, the LED comes on, tells the person in front of you, 'Oh, you just took a picture.'"

Qualcomm can build chip-level face blurring and tamper-resistant camera pipes, but it’s tricky to force companies to turn them on. If a hardware partner decides that local obfuscation slows down their visual search latency, or if they actively want raw visual data to train their own models, there’s nothing stopping them from bypassing the local protections.

Will consumers punish bad actors?

To wave away the OEM loophole, Asghar argued that brutal market economics will force hardware makers to prioritize privacy.

"If they launch a product and there are doubts about it, the product may not do very well, right? So it is in the interest of our customer to actually work with us,” Asghar responded.

However, history has proved otherwise. Sleek design, low friction and convenience has always won out over stringent data privacy in the eyes of many. And that’s where the problem lies.

I’ll give kudos to Qualcomm here. The company is absolutely building the right tools for a privacy-first spatial computing era. But providing the hammer doesn’t mean the carpenter will build a safe house.

Until these hardware-level privacy protections are mandatory, un-bypassable requirements for using these Snapdragon chips, the privacy of the public is always going to be questioned.

More from Tom's Guide

• I wore the new Snap Specs — the design is wildly polarizing, but the instinctual computing is a genuine breakthrough
• Snap’s CEO told me he hates getting AI-drafted texts from his wife — so what’s the plan to fight brain fry with Specs?
• I tested Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 — 16% faster CPU and huge AI-infused gaming upgrades, but Apple’s A20 Pro pulls ahead in some areas

Today (Sept. 23) marks the day of Meta Connect 2026, the social media/virtual reality company's annual keynote where CEO Mark Zuckerberg will reveal what it's been working on. Over the past few years, that's meant new smart glasses, and we expect more of the same this year — including a pair that doesn't have a camera, which should help address some of the privacy concerns that have dogged the company recently.

We might also hear about a new set of mixed-reality glasses, though nothing on a new set of VR goggles, even though it's been a few years since the company released its last pair, the Meta Quest 3S. And, on the software side, we expect to hear more about Muse, Meta's recently announced AI, as well as something about holographic avatars.

Meta Connect 2026: time, date, and how to watch

The Meta Connect keynote is scheduled for 4 p.m. PT (7 p.m. ET / 12 a.m. BST) and will be livestreamed via Meta.com. It will also be available to stream on YouTube.

Of course, you can also follow along right here at Tom's Guide, where we'll provide instant analysis with our two intrepid reporters on the ground at Meta's headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

What we expect to see

Heading into Meta Connect, the rumors point to six possible products being launched, only some of which are hardware:

• Audio-only smart glasses: no cameras here
• Ray-Ban Meta gen 3: an update to Meta's most popular specs
• Project Phoenix: A new set of mixed-reality glasses
• Muse AI: more updates to Meta's artificial assistant
• Hologram avatars: these were teased two years ago, and we might finally see them.

Live: Latest updates

Vonder, a company launching a new collection of smart glasses, thinks that its eyewear not only addresses the creepiness factor, but also delivers a set of smart specs that are more useful than anything from Meta or Google.

That’s because, rather than focusing on helping you with discrete tasks — playing music, looking up recipes, translations, getting directions — they’re designed to work quietly in the background, observing everything you do during the day, in order to provide more holistic advice and guidance based on your past decisions and preferences — and, do it more stylishly than anyone else.

I had a chance to check out Vonder's glasses, and while I'll need to test them out more throughly, they do offer a unique angle that could help distinguish them from better known competitors.

To be clear, Vonder’s glasses can play music, provide turn-by-turn navigation (using audio routed from a phone mapping app), make calls, and set calendar appointments using nothing but your voice. But using the glasses for just those activities would be missing the point.

Vonder takes everything it knows about you and creates a map of your mind, which it calls a Personal Memory Graph, and attempts to draw connections between everything. The founders showed me a visualization of his Memory Graph, which looked like a constellation of stars with lines interlinking everything. Some of the points, which represented ideas or things more central to his life, had far more lines extending from them.

That way, when you do ask the glasses for something, it will look through everything it knows about you, and then route it through what it thinks is the most appropriate LLM (at the moment, Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini) to make a more personalized recommendation.

For example, if you ask for a coffee shop nearby, it may filter your request through Gemini, but provide Google’s AI with personalized information on the type of coffee you prefer, so that the results are more tailored.

Vonder is being launched by the folks behind Viture, which has to this point been focused on making XR and AR glasses, such as the Viture Beast and Viture Pro. However, the Vonder take a much different tack.

The Vonder glasses use bone-conducting microphones to filter out other voices, and capture only what you’re saying throughout the day. If you want to record a conversation with someone else, you can press a button on the side of the glasses; a small white LED on the left temple will light up to let them know.

Similar to what Apple is doing with Siri on the Apple Watch, Vonder’s glasses don’t record transcripts; rather, it summarizes what you and others say.

Because the glasses are relatively tech-lite — there’s no display or camera — they’re also quite light when compared to other smart glasses. All of the gadgetry is housed in the temples, so that it’s a lot easier for the company to develop different styles for the face of the glasses.

I briefly tried on a pair of the Vonder glasses, and was impressed at how light they were. At 30 grams, they’re about 40% lighter than the Ray-Ban Metas. However, the battery life of both pairs of specs are about the same — 8 hours.

At launch, the Vonder glasses will come in six frame styles (chicly named Antwerp, Paris, Basel, Oslo, Palermo, and Tribeca) and can also be outfitted with a variety of lenses, including prescription, transition, and other tints.

Pricing starts at $299 for the Basel model in basic black. All six styles are available with acetate frames in Smoke and Whiskey for $399. Transitions lenses and other lens options may add to the price. You’ll be able to order the glasses from Vonder’s site, as well as Bestbuy.com.

However, to get the most out of Vonder’s glasses, you’ll need to pay for a subscription, which starts at $9.99 per month. With that, you get all-day memory capture, the ability to connect to multiple apps, up to five insights per day, and Vonder’s “Medium” level AI. A $99/month subscription gets you its highest-tier AI and unlimited voice requests.

Vonder’s cofounder, David Jiang, told me that the company would like to eventually include a waveguide display, but the technology isn’t miniaturized enough yet. Also coming, but in the nearer future, is a beta feature that will let you use Vonder’s voice control alongside Claude Code and Codex, so that you can collaborate with the coding agent by speaking to it.

Every company that makes smart glasses — or any wearable AI assistant — is having to grapple anew with the balance between an always-on, always-listening device and the importance of respecting other people’s privacy. Vonder’s approach of only recording what you say by deafult could be a possible path forward.

But beyond privacy issues, Vonder’s approach to AI in its smart glasses is one where other companies, like Meta with its Muse AI, are headed. They’re no longer about helping you with individual asks, but rather, getting to know you better. Is that creepy or ingenious?

More from Tom's Guide

• I swapped my Ray-Ban Metas for these $20 smart glasses just to mock them — then they actually impressed me
• I just went hands-on with the new Samsung smart glasses — here’s why I’d pick them over Meta
• I’ve traveled over 50,000 miles testing smart glasses in 2026 — here are my 3 favorites that have launched this year so far

As with the last few Connects, smart glasses should take up a bulk up of the presentation. However, this year, Meta is rolling into this event on a privacy backlash and the neverending RAM crisis.

Below, I've looked into rumors and leaks to see 6 major things that could get announced at Meta Connect 2026.

Three different smart glasses

Right now, Meta is facing serious concerns over privacy and it's "pervert glasses." One way the company is rumored to allay those concerns is by launching a new pair of camera-free smart glasses.

These glasses will reportedly have the audio features of current Meta Glasses. This means the glasses will have at least six microphones that let you ask for directions and do other AI-based tasks without taking your phone out of your pocket.

As for other glasses, we expect to see a gen 2 version of the Oakley Meta glasses and Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3. We know more about the Gen 3 Ray-Bans thanks to rumors. It should feature the latest Snapdragon AR chipset and new designs. New chips should mean longer battery life.

Both will probably get smart AI and improved audio.

A privacy interlude

Before we look at more devices and services, it will be interesting to see if Zuckerberg and co. address privacy during Connect.

In August, Meta strengthened tamper detection on its AI glasses to prevent people from blocking the LED recording light that indicates when the camera is working. The update makes the camera stop working if it discovers that the small white LED on the front of the glasses is covered.

"We're going to keep rolling out updates like this to make sure the capture LED can reliably alert bystanders when photos or videos are being captured for someone's gallery," Alex Himel, vice president of wearables at Meta, wrote on Threads at the time.

In the same month, Meta filed an AI facial recognition patent that would let its smart glasses recognize faces, detect laughter and record automatically.

One step forward, 15 back.

Project Phoenix

Meta has been coasting on the Meta Quest 3 and 3S headsets for a few years, but a VR leaker who goes by Luna on X found evidence of a mixed reality headset dubbed Project Phoenix in Meta code this month.

Luna's new images seem to confirm mock-ups that leaked in February of this year. At the time, it was rumored that the new headset wouldn't debut until early 2027, but Meta could still announce them at Connect.

Interestingly, based on the images that Luna dug up, the new headset looks somewhere in between a pair of AR glasses and VR headsets. The images of the Phoenix show an ear cable à la the Xreal Project Aura, which suggests the battery and silicon are probably on an external device.

It's rumored the headset will support hand and eye tracking. Otherwise, we don't have many specs, but it will likely feature the Snapdragon Reality Elite chip that Qualcomm announced at AWE 2026 earlier this year. That chip is specifically designed to support XR devices.

Muse, HorizonOS and "avatars"

Meta just launched Muse, its new Muse AI that can send emails, spend money and work when you aren't looking, two weeks ago. We expect Meta will spend some time highlighting the AI during Connect and how it works across devices.

As for its headset and VR operating system, Horizon, if Phoenix is announced, we should see some major updates to HorizonOS. Our friendly VR leaker Luna hinted that Meta could soon reveal its Hologram avatars that were teased with the announcement of the Project Orion AR glasses in 2024.

Last week, The Information reported that an avatar of Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth will make an appearance during Connect. It'll be interesting to see how Meta views its metaverse since its VR platform Horizon Worlds was shut down this summer.

How to watch Meta Connect

Tom's Guide will be attending Meta Connect, so keep us in your tabs to follow along with all the new announcements. The keynote speech starts at 4 pm Pacific (7pm ET) on Wednesday, September 23.

Meta will likely livestream the keynote on Instagram, Threads and Facebook. The company also shares it on YouTube if you prefer that platform.

More from Tom's Guide

• I bought Instagram's new Meta One subscription — here's what $7.99 actually gets you
• Meta just launched an AI that can actually run your life online — here's what Muse can do
• Meta agrees to pay $17.1 billion to settle claims Facebook and Instagram harm children — here's what you need to know

There was a small but healthy industry of individuals who would modify Meta’s glasses to remove or disable the recording light so you could video someone surreptitiously. And the ease with which wearers could capture content and then post it to Instagram — another Meta-owned property — has led to a rash of harassing videos being posted to social media.

In late August, Meta finally addressed some of these issues. It issued firmware updates to its glasses that prevent recording if the light is damaged, disabled, or blocked, and it banned a few creators and blocked several hashtags on Instagram that were widely used to disseminate the harassing videos.

But is this enough, or has Meta’s reputation been tarnished irreparably? To find out how we got here, and to see what Zuckerberg & Co. could do to revive the brand, I spoke to three analysts to hear their thoughts.

How we got here

Meta has been called out more than other smart glasses makers for the simple reason that it has sold more devices than anyone else — as much as 80%, according to one report. And those glasses lacked the privacy protections they needed.

“Meta is treading a fine line between those who abuse their glasses and those who do not,” Ramon Llamos, a wearables analyst for IDC, said. “Safeguards like the recording light haven't proven effective, and the stream of harassing videos has gone unabated even as several cases around unwanted recording have resulted in jail time.”

“The reason why Meta has been targeted is that they made the most popular glasses,” Carolina Milanesi, of The Heart of Tech, said. “People do not trust them, and they have not taken accountability. By doing so, they have made it much harder for everyone else.”

It’s not just Meta.

“There has definitely been a backlash against AI-enabled cameras, whether that is Flock used by law enforcement or smart glasses used to record people in public,” Avi Greengart of Techsponential said.

“However, Ray-Ban Meta sales have increased, so the challenge for Meta is to keep its momentum up heading into the holiday season: you want people to be delighted when they receive smart glasses as a gift, not horrified. To that end, Meta has several challenges: core use case, security architecture, and brand reputation.”

What Meta has to do

“No matter what additional steps Meta puts in place to improve privacy, Meta does need to fully explain its architecture and ensure that its glasses cannot record when they aren't worn, can't record without notification, and that captured footage can't be viewed by Meta or its contractors,” Greengart said.

Llamos said that Meta could make it more obvious that its glasses are recording someone. “I've heard of possibilities like playing back a sound to alert that the glasses are recording,” he said, “but those could penalize people who have been using the camera responsibly.”

Milanesi said that Meta “needs to go beyond just talking and show some progress on the hardware side, either with the light, making it even harder for people to disable, and investing in bringing solutions like a shutter to market.”

What other brands have to do — and are doing

Of course, the backlash against Meta’s glasses has other companies rethinking their strategies. At the launch of the Apple Watch 12, for instance, John Ternus was careful to highlight the safeguards his company put in place with all the new Siri recording capabilities.

“One way to avoid people being upset that you're recording video is to not record in a way that humans can ever view the footage, just use that data as context for AI, and ensure that the data is not used to train AI,” Greengart said.

“This is the approach Apple takes with its new Apple Watch summary tools. Meta can't do this — at least not fully — because taking hands-free, in-the-moment photos and videos is a core part of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses value proposition. However, Meta could adopt this approach for images and video captured when you ask Meta AI to comment on what you're seeing.

Llamos asked if AI could shoulder some of the burden. “Here's an interesting solution: can AI tell the difference between an innocent interaction and one with ill intent?” Ramos said. “I don't know, and right now I don't think it can. That would require much training and learning, and the possibility for something to go wrong, like a false positive or not flagging an incident, is high.”

Brands are already thinking about how to address privacy issues, which is more about disclosure than anything else,” Milanesi said. “I say this because it is the people around you that need to be aware, not the person who is recording.”

What comes next?

The problem with smart glasses is as much behavioral as it is technical, argues Milanesi. “People just blaming the technology vs. the person are just thinking about poor use cases,” she said. “That is a human issue vs. a tech issue. What the brands must do is make sure the bad humans cannot do these things.”

It’s a point that Llamos agrees with. “Meta has repeatedly pointed to its suggestion to users to be more responsible in their use habits, but those have not proven effective,” he said.

Ultimately, Meta needs to prove it can be trusted — a tall order given its past indiscretions, but not impossible, especially if it can leverage the reputation of its other brands.

“People do trust some of Meta's properties — WhatsApp has had end-to-end encryption integrated by default for a decade,” Greengart said. “The combination of bad behavior by users and Meta's own lapses creates reputational debt that the company needs to tackle head-on.”

More from Tom's Guide

• Snap CEO Evan Spiegel says smart glasses disguised as normal eyewear are 'creepy' — why Specs look bold on purpose
• 'Pervert glasses' antidote? Meta reportedly launching camera-free smart glasses next week
• 'I find it very uncomfortable talking to people with a camera and a light': OpenAI's Sam Altman weighs in on smart glasses and privacy

It was one of those small moments of raw honesty during the course of a wide-ranging discussion with Snap CEO Evan Spiegel about the plans for Snap Specs. And specifically, to not risk inducing “AI brain fry” — a state where users passively outsource their own critical thinking, active listening and social presence to an algorithm whispering in their ear.

The problem of AI Brain Fry

Silicon Valley’s dominant vision for AI over the past two years has been aggressively generative. Tech giants have raced to build chatbots that write your emails, draft your replies, summarize your friends’ life updates and synthesize artificial personalities.

And after the past couple of years testing some of the best smart glasses, I must admit that, even though I’m ready for the generative AI bubble to burst, I’ve ironically had a few situations of bypassing key skills.

For example, I told Spiegel about my late-night phone call with my wife in New York — using the Even Realities G2's Conversate function to replace my need for active listening at 2am.

It presented an existential question that I had to take the chance to ask Evan on the precipice of launching this leapfrog product: Am I in a relationship with my wife, or are my glasses? With Specs Intelligence becoming an all-in-one proactive AI service for Specs, where is that line between them being genuinely useful and replacing critical skills that make us human.

“I don't think there's one right answer. I think it's really going to depend on what makes sense in each person's relationship,” Spiegel said.

“For me, for example, it drives me a little crazy when my wife sends me AI-written text messages. But she's like, 'You know, honey, it's really helpful for me to gather my thoughts and think through it, helps me communicate ideas more clearly, and something that I really like as a useful tool.' Personally, for me, I like to write my own messages.”

That small marital friction captures the profound philosophical divide that I’ve been trying to wrap my head around. When communication becomes synthetic, it could rob human relationships of the very friction, vulnerability and effort that give them meaning.

What’s the counter attack?

The collateral damage of AI brain fry has been a slow degradation of active listening and independent thought. I’ve seen it in some friends, and especially in the folks who actively have to @ mention Grok to dictate their opinions — if an algorithm acts for you, your brain is no longer engaged; it is merely an output conduit for a language model.

Spiegel’s counter-thesis for Snap Specs is that glasses should be an antidote to digital complacency, and not its ultimate vehicle.

“There is a really valuable change from AI being something you use as a chatbot where you're constantly asking for stuff all the time, to AI being something that really understands who you are, what your priorities are, and then can offer suggestions,” Spiegel explained.

“You don't have to accept them, you certainly don't need to act on them, but I think that for us is an opportunity to make AI something that helps you spend more time in the moment, instead of again, taking your attention into a chatbot interface.”

This philosophy forms the foundation of Specs Intelligence — the cross-platform context engine connecting iPhone, Mac and Specs. Rather than function as a chatty conversational companion, it’s engineered as an ambient logistical filter — organizing life into what Snap calls “Corners” (work, family, health) and tracks overarching “Goals.”

These interventions are supposed to be operational, not emotional, and eliminate administrative noise so your mind remains free to focus on the human beings in front of you. Of course, I’m keen to test it for myself to see whether it finds this right balance Spiegel mentions.

Analog skills in a digital world

The most compelling evidence of Spiegel’s resistance to cognitive outsourcing lies in how Snap curated the launch software for Specs.

Where rival headsets like the Apple Vision Pro lean heavily into virtual multi-window workstations and synthetic escapism, Specs’ flagship AR experiences are rooted in analog, real-world competencies:

• Kaia Gerber’s Library Science Lens does not summarize a novel with an LLM; it is calibrated to track and enhance the experience of reading a physical, paper book, allowing readers to pin definitions and annotate passages without losing their place on the physical page.
• Interactive NBA and WNBA Training Lenses do not let you play a video game; they use computer vision to track a physical basketball, projecting shooting arcs and dribbling drills onto a real-world court.
• Jimmy Butler’s Dominoes Lens turns any flat surface into a multiplayer table, forcing wearers to sit across from friends in the same physical room and read their body language.

“For me, that's something that's so important to the real vision of Specs,” Spiegel emphasized.

“Specs can help you become more creative, help you develop skills, rather than being something that outsources your creativity to a computer. And I think that's really where the difference is. And that's why so much of what we do is oriented around helping you build skills in the real world, right? Whether that's learning to play basketball or learning how to draw. These are all things that you're doing, not something that the computer's doing.”

One clear standout lens is the one created for Imogen Heap to create music live. As a musician myself, this looked so cool, and I can imagine how freeing it feels to get creative in an open space like this.

For Spiegel, spatial computing is only defensible if it preserves human agency. A computer that practices free throws for you or reads a book on your behalf is a net negative; a device that trains your eye to shoot better or encourages you to sit down with a paperback is an enhancement of human capability.

The danger of the transparent screen

Spiegel’s distinction between assertive logistics and replacing key human thinking is a sharp one. But whether that line holds up in the messy reality of consumer adoption remains an open question. I struggled with it for a hot minute there — and Evan’s figuring it out.

The big paradox of smart glasses is that by putting a display directly between your pupils and the real world, the potential for distraction is way higher than it ever was on a smartphone.

An Apple Watch telling you to stand up every hour is a minor bugbear. But having an ambient AI flashing reminders, suggestions and real-time social telemetry across your retinas during a private chat risks destroying human connection entirely.

If an ambient system misjudges its proactivity by even a fraction, it doesn’t keep you “in the moment,” it turns real-world interactions into a surreal heads-up display where you’re half-listening to a companion and half-scanning your digital surroundings.

Yet, in my time sitting across from Spiegel, his core conviction feels authentic. In an era where most execs view human relationships as data pools to be automated by chatbots, Spiegel’s own personal red lines are clear.

Tech can map our world, streamline our schedules and track our physical progress. But the moment it begins telling us what to say to the people we love, we aren’t using a tool anymore — we are letting the machine live our lives for us.

More from Tom's Guide

• EXCLUSIVE: Snap CEO Evan Spiegel says smart glasses disguised as normal eyewear are 'creepy' — why Specs look bold on purpose
• Snapchat launches its own AI — and says Specs Intelligence will 'anticipate your needs'
• 'Pervert glasses' antidote? Meta reportedly launching camera-free smart glasses next week

With a starting price of $2,195, Specs are a hard sell for a device that is only rated to last for four hours on battery life. Even if the "instinctual" computing is genuinely interesting, Specs are for early adopters.

However, one performance has me intrigued by Specs and the future of the technology packed into these AR glasses.

And it's all thanks to the artist Imogen Heap.

Improvised creation

If you didn't stick around for the entire Specs presentation, you missed Spiegel introducing Imogen Heap as a Specs partner and her improvised performance. Check out the YouTube video above to see her act.

She is one of several celebrities including Hoyeon, Jimmy Butler and Jack Harlow who partnered with Snap to create bespoke apps (or Lenses as Snap calls them) for the smart glasses.

If you didn't know, Heap is well-versed in the tech world, having created a music-based blockchain and a pair of musical gloves, and has praised generative AI in art and music. Her stances are, to put it mildly, controversial.

For the last 10 minutes or so of the hour-long presentation, Heap took to the stage and detailed her Lens and then improvised a song using it. Her performance is the first time I took Specs seriously.

An intriguing future

Snap's glasses are impressive, but a lot of the tools it has we've seen in other products or will be coming in glasses that we expect to launch in the coming months, like the Xreal Aura and whatever Meta debuts at Connect 2026. That includes turn-by-turn navigation, digital overlays, and voice-controlled AI.

Snap does wrap it up in an interesting package, but at that price and with this design, I'm not sure it's that much better than anything else that already exists.

However, watching Imogen Heap creatively use the tools to loop sounds, create beats, and gesture to raise the volume or reverb was the sci-fi moment I've been waiting for.

AI-obsessed companies keep promising the revolution that it will bring to our lives, but watching Heap seemingly wave at the air and create music out of nothing was the window opening for me.

Yes, gesture controls already exist, and plenty of VR headsets have you pinching for menu buttons, but on a relatively small pair of glasses, this felt like a step forward for AR and VR and not just a lateral move or the promise of immersion while looking like a Lobot cosplay.

This is, as I said, early adopter technology, but I hope it lands just enough that the tools Snap is playing with get more expansive and reachable for more than the idly curious rich that haunted Beverly Hills this week.

More from Tom's Guide

• 'Pervert glasses' antidote? Meta reportedly launching camera-free smart glasses next week
• I tried the RayNeo GT Max, and they're easily the most comfortable AR glasses I've worn yet
• People are using custom apps and $30 gadgets to hunt for smart glasses that may be filming them—here's how

From when Specs debuted to trying them on for myself, it’s clear that the bold, thick-framed silhouette has split opinions. But during my exclusive interview, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel made it clear that this aesthetic isn’t just overcoming engineering physics — it’s a philosophical stance.

“I think a lot of companies have made the mistake of trying to make smart glasses look like normal glasses, which really just ends up being kind of creepy,” Spiegel commented. “People feel like, ‘oh, are you spying on me? Why are you wearing those spy glasses that are disguised as regular glasses?'"

Designer wearables you see coming

Rather than apologizing, Snap made Specs unapologetically conspicuous. Of course, in terms of whether you like the look, there’s going to be some detractors. But by doing this, making the hardware unmistakable makes visual transparency a norm.

"So with Specs, you can really see them coming. They've got iridescent lenses, a very distinct style, and hopefully that invites some real conversation,” Spiegel added.

“Because the thing I think that's so surprising about Specs is that someone might think, 'Oh, are you recording me?' and it's like, 'No, I'm watching a video on YouTube.' You're like, 'What, you're watching a video on YouTube with a pair of see-through glasses?'"

By going hard on this big, bold aesthetic, Snap’s intention is to reframe those bystander assumptions with an obvious computer on your face, and defuse any tension that may come from wearing them.

And I gotta be real, it’s refreshing to see. While the look has drawn some chuckles from the team when I showed them (one said I looked like the front of a pickup truck), making it abundantly visually clear — not just with an LED but also with the size and shape of the glasses themselves — is going to be a lot less “pervert glasses,” and more “what do they do?”

The engineering reality of ditching the tether

While Spiegel framed the aesthetic as a social design choice, it is equally a compromise dictated by the laws of physics in 2026. Unlike tethered headsets that offload their compute and battery into a pocket puck, Specs house their entire computing architecture directly within the frame.

“We thought that was important because people don't want to lug around another puck or something like that just to use Specs,” Spiegel stated. “So in terms of real wearability and portability, that was something that was really important to us."

And as you can read during my hands-on time, they have managed to work around some of those physics challenges — effective vapor chambers to combat the heat generated by two Snapdragon chips and keep those temperatures at a comfortable level. After a few bigger, bulkier generations, I had to ask Evan what the “Eureka moment” was that had him realizing now was the time to go to the consumer.

"I think the reason why this generation of Specs is ready for primetime is that we finally fit all of this extraordinary capability into a lightweight pair of see-through glasses. They're about 130 grams, so they're very wearable,” Spiegel said. “The last developer version weighed like 200 grams, just way too heavy to really be wearable for these sorts of experiences."

That’s not to say these aren’t still definitely an early-adopter package. There’s a huge $2,195 price tag attached to them, after all. But trying them on myself, it’s clear the comfort has been figured out.

Can loud design win public trust?

Snap’s refusal — or inability — to build stealth eyewear is a candid acknowledgment of what AR hardware actually requires today. By choosing high-visibility industrial design over covert disguise, Specs are attempting to solve the societal etiquette problem before it starts. They are visibly loud by design so you physically cannot be sneaky.

However, the real battle ahead won’t just be the whole “stealth glasses are creepy” thing, it will be convincing consumers to wear a chunky, two-thousand-dollar face computer out in the real world.

More from Tom's Guide

• Snapchat launches its own AI — and says Snap Intelligence will 'anticipate your needs'
• I’ve played for 100 hours on a VR headset lighter than my iPhone — Pimax Dream Air is an expensive breakthrough
• I tested DLSS 5 in NBA 2K27 on a mid-range gaming laptop — it's the future of photorealistic graphics, but there's a catch

But then, I put them on and the reality check hit me like a brick in the courtyard of Snap’s Santa Monica HQ: they are shockingly wearable. The weight balance across the bridge and temples avoids the front-heavy lever effect that plagues tethered setups, which makes them much more comfortable for the extended session I had than their bold silhouette suggests.

And while the tech world has been obsessed over either making simple AI glasses or bulky mixed-reality ski goggles, Snap has quietly built the perfect middle ground — a fully standalone spatial computer with zero cables and zero pocket pucks that actually works in the real world.

Snap Specs: Specs

Pure standalone freedom

No wires, no tether, no pocket pack. Every single bit of compute, sensor fusion and battery architecture is housed directly inside the frame. And through that lens, their size becomes more understandable, but whether this look is your cup of tea or not, one thing I can confirm is they’re surprisingly comfortable to wear.

I had them on for roughly an hour, and I didn’t feel any serious downward pressure on the tops of my ears. As the guy who took that side profile picture of CEO Evan Spiegel wearing them at AWE (you know the one), I was pleasantly shocked at this weight distribution.

On top of that, the dual vapor chambers do a great job at keeping things cool on your temples — with only a small bit of warming up when you really put them under pressure. And those two-step electrochromic lenses do a great job of blocking out the LA sun.

One thing worth noting about those lenses with the built-in waveguide displays is that they do add a little chromatic aberration to the real world around you. Nothing too dramatic, but the iridescence does have a definitely noticeable effect on visibility.

And of course, the design itself is certainly polarizing. Speaking to Spiegel, this is by design to make them stand out, and go against the grain of making glasses that blend in a little too well (sparking the privacy concerns we’ve all seen around the Ray-Ban Metas).

In that vein, I kinda get it. Everybody will know you’re wearing smart glasses, but as the most visible piece of wearable tech on you, I can appreciate these will split opinions and cause some insecurity wearing them in public.

Opinions in the office ranged from appreciating that brutalist aesthetic to comparisons made to the 3D glasses you got at the cinema. But I’d love to know what you think!

The “palmtastic” UI

Yes, Snap has a buzz word for this — calling it “Instinctual computing” — tech that adapts to you, replaces traditional input devices with gestures and voice commands, and keeps people present and connected in their surroundings.

Rather than trying to teach a new dynamic of gesture control, Specs go the instinctual route and let you reach out and touch things, with opening your palm summoning the quick settings right on your skin.

I won’t delve too far into this, as you’ve already seen my impressions of Specs OS over the last 12 months leading up to this debut moment for consumers. But the extra layers of polish to get this ready for consumer launch really show in the UI, the rigid tracking of objects (even in travel mode) and the Specs Intelligence AI taking action rapidly on my requests.

Daily utility over gimmicks

And that’s because the main thing I do want to focus on here is the just what these many hundreds of thousands of Lenses unlock. It creates a massive ecosystem that can be immensely helpful and impactful.

The utility can come in the form of live-captioning across 60 languages that’s overlaid directly onto speakers in front of you — turning foreign travel into a foreign language movie with subtitles.

You can also measure things in the real world with your hands, TripAdvisor integration gives you spatial reviews, landmark histories and currency conversions on storefronts, and connecting a bluetooth keyboard can take you into a multi-screen UI to get work done.

And then there’s the entertainment and sports side of things. As you’ve probably already seen, Snap’s partnered up with the HBO remake of "Harry Potter" to make an AR experience that is almost pitch perfect for my millennial-coded self. I put on the sorting hat with my hands and was put into Gryffindor (apologies to the reviewer before me who got put in Hufflepuff).

Then for sports, being taught proper form for my golf swings, running soccer dribbling drills and practicing my basketball jumpshot revealed just how much of a comfortable revolution this is for those who use VR headsets for fitness.

And of course, if you remember all those visionaries from the Specs global campaign (Jack Harlow, Imogen Heap, Hoyeon, etc), they all have their own purpose-built lenses based on their own interests.

For example, Hoyeon’s is a full blown meditation garden to bring guided breathing into AR, Jimmy Butler’s love for dominoes comes to life in a connected AR experience between two Specs owners playing the game, and Imogen Heap’s Sound Space translates your body and your natural physical movements into music.

All-in-all, this is turning out to be a vast, but also curated suite of tools that will make these feel like a really useful addition to pop on and use. But hopefully the ambient part of instinctual computing remains — the last thing you want to see is the use of those screens and AR start to overtake the real-life surroundings too drastically.

The real breakthrough

One thing that I haven’t fully tested yet is going to be the glue between all your personal context called Specs Intelligence. Essentially this is a proactive move beyond a simple chatbot into an anticipatory engine that works across Mac, iPhone and Specs.

It works by building an architecture of your personal context:

• Portrait: Getting a deep understanding of your routines, contacts and working patterns.
• Corners: Partitioning your life into work, family, fitness and travel.
• Goals: Keeping long-term objectives at the center of it all as a filter to the noise — keeping you locked in.

And the idea is to manifest proactive actions in real life: gate changes and terminal directions as you hop out of an airport taxi, pulling up meeting notes before you sit down, even cancelling unused subscriptions — all while staying within strict on-device privacy guardrails.

And Snap is committing to not use any of this data to train generative AI or run ads. I’m definitely very intrigued to see how effective this is without becoming a nudge monster (like your Apple Watch stand notifications) and how seamless it can be taking your context between devices.

My verdict: an expensive paradigm shift

Now I have to acknowledge the friction points that are definitely here. The battery isn’t going to last so long under full AR load (the claim is four hours), at $2,195 it’s a very expensive first-gen device (though with that cellular case and partnerships with Verizon in U.S. and EE in U.K., that cost can be spread out as part of a data plan).

And then, there’s definitely going to be the social hurdle of wearing bold, geometric frames in everyday coffee shops.

But I can’t deny that they are damn cool to use. Snap has accomplished what Apple and Meta are still striving for: a self-contained, truly standalone pair of AR glasses that deliver genuine everyday utility. And that utility comes combined with robust developer buy-in, and an anticipatory AI layer that doesn’t feel like a toy.

It might look divisive, but the experience is the closest thing to real spatial computing that I have seen yet.

More from Tom's Guide

• I’ve played for 100 hours on a VR headset lighter than my iPhone — Pimax Dream Air is an expensive breakthrough
• Nvidia’s RTX Spark N1X launches this October: My price predictions for the potential MacBook Pro killer
• I’ve worn smart glasses for over 5 years — here’s the best AR and AI glasses in 2026

At the time, an official launch date was not released, but now they're here.

As a reminder, Specs are something of a mashup between Meta's Ray-Ban AI glasses and a VR headset. They feature two Snapdragon processors built into the glasses. They do come with a hefty starting price of $2,195.

“We’ve seen these different shifts in computing happen, and we see a shift is coming,” Russell Patton product manager for Specs at Snap told Tom's Guide in an interview. “Going forward, it’s going to be that shift from phones to glasses, and I think it’s not just taking the apps that are on our phones and putting them into glasses.”

Specs "specs"

Alongside the Specs, Snap also announced a charging case that has cellular connectivity. The company is partnering with Verizon on the cellular connection, meaning you'll need a data plan with Verizon to access the feature.

What do Specs do

Like a VR headset, Specs lets you work (and play) in virtual spaces from using shared whiteboards to watching YouTube and shopping in 3D spaces that let you place objects in the real world. Or you can put navigation cues on the displays that map to the world as you explore.

At the same time, they're akin to AI glasses in that you can take Bluetooth calls, control your music and utilize live translation.

Snap promoted the glasses as a learning tool with apps built in collaboration with the NBA and WNBA that help you learn how to shoot a basketball, or apps that analyze your golf swing. These features and apps Snap calls Lenses. Other learning experiences include 3D exploration of the solar system or constellations.

These glasses do have cameras and Snap spokespeople claimed that an LED light will show when the glasses are recording. A burgeoning privacy concern for smart glasses and recording clearly has Snap worried about getting the pervert glasses label.

" SPECS do not use facial recognition to identify people. SPECS do not record the world to understand it, and don't continuously record or save audio, video, or photos," Snap said in a press release.

And like everything, AI is a big part of what Snap is producing.

Snap Intelligence

Snap OS, which runs the glasses, already features AI. Like most AI promises, its supposed to see what you're looking at, understand the context and help you "in the moment."

But, Snap also has what it calls an "anticipatory AI service" dubbed Snap Intelligence, which takes that AI makes it accessible across multiple devices from your iPhone and MacBook back to the Specs. It's designed to carry "personal context" across your devices.

In some cases, it is supposed to anticipate your needs and act without a prompt. Snap promises that security is paramount and Snap personnel can't see your personal information or content.

You can choose what apps connect to Snap Intelligence like your calendar, email and notes. And it is supposed to ask before it does anything, prompting you to confirm a choice.

You don't need Specs to try out Snap Intelligence.

Price and availability

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.

There is a bundle with the cellular charging case that costs $2,395. To get the cellular, you'll need a Verizon plan that starts at $10 per month for Verizon customers and $20 per month for non-Verizon customers.

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

If you live or are visiting Los Angeles, you can check out the glasses at Westfield Century City mall at a Snap popup starting October 1. We were told that some Verizon locations will have hands-on experiences but not which ones or when.

More from Tom's Guide

• Tom's Guide to smart glasses: 13 terms you need to know
• I tried the RayNeo GT Max, and they're easily the most comfortable AR glasses I've worn yet
• People are using custom apps and $30 gadgets to hunt for smart glasses that may be filming them—here's how

Snap officially unveiled its Specs AR glasses at AWE 2026 in June, but the official launch was delayed until now. "It’s going to be that shift from phones to glasses," Snap said at the time.

Today, Snap is holding an official launch event with even more to share about its chunky smart glasses.

We expect to learn more details about the glasses alongside new Lenses, features and more!

Stay with Tom's Guide as we attend Snap's event and go hands on with the Specs.

Here's the latest news:

• I wore the new Snap Specs — the design is wildly polarizing, but the instinctual computing is a genuine breakthrough
• 'New type of computer': Snap Specs reveals how its new smart glasses fit into your daily life alongside new AR experiences
• Snapchat launches its own AI — and says Snap Intelligence will 'anticipate your needs'

How to watch

You can follow along at the Experience Specs website where there is a video player.

Check it out here.

September 16, 2026 – 8:00 PM

Improvised music in action

Sure, the glasses have a light that shows when they're capturing, but some users have modified them to hide the light.

Meta has attempted to stem the backlash by rolling out updates, including one that disables the camera if the LED has been covered or tampered with. And now it appears it has a plan B in mind.

According to a report from The Information, Mark Zuckerberg and company could launch a pair of Meta glasses without cameras as soon as next week at Meta Connect.

Does anyone actually want smart glasses without cameras? Personally, my main use case for my Meta Glasses is recording videos and taking photos while golfing, so taking that away would render the glasses all but useless to me.

Meta Glasses without cameras

Meta is currently calling the glasses-free smart glasses Luna internally. According to the The Information report, it's expected to announce them at Meta Connect on Sept. 23, so we won't have to wait.

Apparently, the glasses will launch in Clubmaster and Burbank styles. They'll still have the audio features offered by current Meta Glasses. They'll reportedly have six microphones, which means you can ask them for directions and do all other kinds of AI-based tasks without taking your phone out of your pocket.

The practicality of these new glasses will depend heavily on how useful you find those audio features (I do listen to music on my Meta Glasses, but I almost never use any of the "Hey Meta" features).

If the report is accurate, Meta will ship the camera-free glasses in October. It'll be interesting to see whether these are popular, or whether they're strictly an attempt by Meta to show it's taking steps to prevent people from using the glasses inappropriately.

This feels like a move Meta needs to make to keep its smart glasses business moving forward, as some jurisdictions are starting to ban the current camera-toting models in public places.

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• ChatGPT can learn your repetitive tasks by watching you — here are 7 prompts to try
• The best way to use ChatGPT for writing isn't writing — 7 prompts I use to make it my creative partner

Some early unboxing and tutorial videos leaked last month, suggesting the headset was on the way. Major tech site Linus Tech Tips appeared to break the embargo with his own video that popped up over the weekend.

But it's here now with Valve's official announcement revealing two versions of the headset: one with 256GB of storage and a 1TB version starting at $1,059 and $1,299, respectively.

Tom's Guide is hard at work on our review of the Steam Frame, but some early reviews have started to crop up. Here's the early buzz on Valve's headset.

"An experiment in progress" - CNET

CNET's Scott Stein praised the Frame's lightweight build and ability to stream games from your PC but said that it won't replace his Steam Deck, nor is it the best VR headset he's used.

What excited Stein was a more modular future with features like detachable headsets and battery packs that hint at a possible evolution.

"The Frame isn’t necessarily the future of XR, as much as it’s a framework for evolving beyond the present. I got that feeling over and over again as I kept dipping back in. Maybe someday I’ll be blending all my worlds in one, all devices melting together."

A gaming monitor - IGN

IGN's Jacqueline Thomas described the Frame as one of the most comfortable VR headsets they've ever worn thanks to its lightweight design and vents that push hot air away from your face.

Though they played VR games, the review seems to describe the Frame as a gaming monitor for your face as much as a VR headset. But at $1,059, it's unlikely to knock the best AR glasses off their perch or the Meta Quest 3.

God, I wish this were £600 - Rock Paper Shotgun

The price is the bugaboo when it comes to the Frame for Rock Paper Shotgun's James Archer.

"These, importantly, include remedies for VR pain points that have existed for ages. Unreliable wireless connections: fixed. Tricky setups: simplified. Weird controllers: normalized. Needing a Meta account: not needing a Meta account. When the Frame can do this much, this well, I’m practically forced at inside-out sensorpoint to conclude that if I was buying a VR kit for myself, it’d be this one," Archer said.

But then, the price is such a drawback, especially at nearly double the cost of Meta's Quest 3.

Good looks, good performance, and a debilitating price - Tom's Hardware

Our colleagues at Tom's Hardware put together a thorough review of the Steam Frame that you should check out if you truly want the nitty-gritty.

Like most reviews we've found, Brandon Hill found a lot to like about the Frame, from the foam padding to excellent performance, even if standalone gaming struggles a bit. However, again, the price is a real pain point here.

"That’s a tall order in this economic climate, when gamers are already being assaulted from multiple fronts with rising memory, storage, and GPU prices," Hill said.

More from Tom's Guide

• These are the 5 best VR headsets to buy in 2026 after spending hundreds of hours in virtual reality
• I’ve played for 100 hours on a VR headset lighter than my iPhone — Pimax Dream Air is an expensive breakthrough
• I tried the RayNeo GT Max, and they're easily the most comfortable AR glasses I've worn yet

It gets doubly problematic when I’m hoping to take part in an endurance sim race, which as you may know, I prefer the VR experience for being able to look into apexes and corner exits more effectively than on a flat screen. It more closely mirrors my real-life racing experience.

But the pain has been well and truly remedied by the Pimax Dream Air. You may have seen that I got to have my mind blown by this headset back at CES. Now, I’ve been using it for the past three months, and can happily say that it is one of the best PC VR headsets I’ve ever used…provided you’ve got the money for it.

This is a pricey system to get. But if you are properly invested into VR gaming, it’s a no-brainer for its stellar picture quality, versatility and pure comfort even in the most intense of movements.

Pimax Dream Air: Cheat sheet

• What is it? This is a premium PC VR headset.
• Who is it for? It's perfect for sim experience perfectionists and serious VR enthusiasts.
• What does it cost? Prices for the Dream Air start at $1,999 with Lighthouse tracking. To get this SLAM version, it'll set you back $2,299.
• What's good about it? That small, lightweight design just can't be beat
• What's not so good? There's no getting around that high price and a couple of odd software quirks

Pimax Dream Air: Specs

Pimax Dream Air: The ups

It’s a VR headset that was actually comfortable to wear for a 12-hour race. The Dream Air transcends the stereotype of enthusiast VR headsets being humongous and unwieldy to become something that is wearable for long periods of time.

Supreme PC VR ergonomics

The visor of the headweight weighs less than 6 ounces, with the total weight fully assembled coming in at 10.6 ounces. Now if you’re aware of the monster enthusiast headsets Pimax has made in the past, you’ll know just how much of a big deal this is — not just to the company but for PC VR gaming as a whole.

It’s a game-changer for comfort and wearability, all while still giving you the same gorgeous display and optics that you get in the bigger headsets (more on that later). Cramming everything into such a small headset feels like unlocking quicker, more human levels of head turning, and a deeper immersion because of it.

And that cushioned front gasket is more than comfortable enough to handle even the longest sessions, such as the aforementioned endurance race or another playthrough of Hitman VR and Half-Life: Alyx.

I’ve seen some of the criticisms — namely about the thinness of the straps and the cabling being fed through the back rather than the side. The first one I can understand, but don’t believe it’s as big of a problem as people say (given the lightweight nature makes it super comfortable).

But the second one I’d disagree with, as having them feed out the back does ensure a nice even weight distribution across the headset, rather than having your head dragged down a little with it.

Gorgeous clarity

But in my mind, while the size is the most visible win, it’s not the main star of the show. That belongs to those gorgeous Sony Micro-OLED panels pushing an 8K picture at a 90Hz refresh rate with a 110-degree field of view.

Whether it’s blazing through the streets of Japan in a VR-modded version of Forza Horizon 6 and witnessing the flash flood of color, or stretching the deep contrast ratio of those panels with the darker, scarier parts of Half-Life: Alyx, these displays are incredible.

Throw in high-quality pancake lenses that ensure no distortion or reflections, alongside the prescription inserts and you’re onto a winner for escaping to faraway places right in your gaming den.

Really smart features

Then there’s the other nice-to-haves that really enrich the experience and make this one of the best ways to play (needed because that price is steep). First is the audio, which these tiny speakers are really impressive with strong bass production and spatial sound adding to the immersion.

The controllers have a nice ergonomic feel to them and I had no problem with tracking them. And shout-out to the gesture tracking, which may not be the best in gaming, but unlocks a more intuitive user interface experience when I was working or just watching videos.

And then, there’s full 120Hz eye tracking — following your line of sight 120 times per second. This enables something called dynamic foveated rendering, which cuts the amount your GPU has to work to render a massive virtual space around you by keeping things in your distant peripheral vision at a lower rendered quality.

In the games that support it, it’s an effect you don’t really see, and it means you can get away with higher resolution settings in these titles too.

Of course with this vast amount of tech inside, the headset visor itself can get hot, as well as the cable box attached to it. Luckily, these are a decent distance away from your face and with the dual integrated fans for active cooling, I never found myself feeling uncomfortable — neither was there any thermal throttling over the entire race.

Pimax Dream Air: The downs

So I hit the checkered flag in my race, played a few more games and started to really think about my experience using it. The rose-tinted spectacles started to come off a little when I remembered two key things.

Janky software at times

Now don’t get me wrong — the Pimax Play app does the job. The issue is it doesn’t do the job all the time.

Some of the UI decisions are a bit weird (such as having two different windows for headset settings from two different locations), and when you do alter particular settings (like stopping the PC from defaulting the audio source to the headset rather than speakers), there’s a 50/50 chance that checkbox actually does the job.

There were some frustrations and moments where I had to close the app through the task manager and reopen it or restart the headset service multiple times. Those kinks are smoothed out eventually, but the persistence requirement of it all did start to bug me.

Very expensive

And then we get to the big one. The Pimax Dream Air starts at $1,999 for the model with Lighthouse tracking (sensors on poles you set up to track around you), and to get this SLAM model (cameras built into the headset tracking from the inside out) that takes the cost up to $2,299.

Make no mistake about it, this one is definitely for the serious enthusiasts. The quality of the experience and the build of the headset itself is going to be really enticing to those who chase that next-level of absorption into their sim games or VR titles.

But if you’re the kind of person who only casually flirts with VR every now and again, the Quest 3 + Link cable is definitely good enough.

Pimax Dream Air: Verdict

I’ve tested my fair share of big, bulky PC VR headsets, and the Dream Air is the breath of fresh…well, air, needed to make this niche enjoyment of mine make sense. Sim racing is a pure joy on something so lightweight, and when you are up and moving around, those dimensions make gaming so much more accessible.

Throw in gorgeous display tech and surprisingly strong audio and things are looking good, but do watch out for the janky software and be prepared to pay a pretty price for it.

I’ve been wearing a pair of the best smart glasses from both Xreal and Viture while traveling and at home for almost a year now. Doing so has made a huge difference, as I no longer need to haul a portable monitor around when I want a larger display. However, after wearing them for hours at a time, comfort always becomes an issue.

After trying RayNeo’s new GT Max AR glasses at IFA 2026, I was completely taken aback by just how comfortable they were. At 78 grams, they’re not the lightest on paper — the Viture Pro 2 at 63 grams still wins there — but by ditching the traditional birdbath optical design, they don’t feel front-heavy on your face at all.

Here’s what it was like trying out the RayNeo GT Max, and why they might be the perfect display glasses for long sessions.

Curved in all the right places

With a launch price of $399, the RayNeo GT Max are somewhat more expensive than budget options like the $299 Viture Pro 2 or the $299 Xreal XBX a01, but you’re getting a lot of premium features you often have to pay extra for.

For instance, you get built-in three Degrees of Freedom thanks to their dedicated Zone 360 3DoF Chip. As such, the glasses track rotational movement like pitch (tilting up and down), yaw (swiveling left and right), and roll (tilting side to side). This lets you pin the GT Max’s screen in place or set it to follow your line of sight as you move around. There’s also a Steady mode that follows you with a slight delay, which I found to be much more comfortable — especially if you’re prone to motion sickness while wearing one of the best VR headsets.

Just like with other AR glasses, you get built-in audio on the GT Max. Tuned by Bang & Olufsen, the four-speaker system delivered great sound during my time wearing them. However, RayNeo also includes Whisper Mode 2.0 for low-volume private listening. There’s even an optional accessory called Sound Tubes that clip onto the frame to focus the audio straight toward your ears for a more private, headphone-like experience.

While you have dedicated volume and brightness controls on the left temple arm, there’s an orange Mode Button on the right to toggle between spatial tracking modes. Switching between them was fast, and I really liked how clean all of the on-screen menus looked.

One major element that sets the RayNeo GT Max apart from the competition is its wider field of view. While the Viture Pro 2 and Xreal XBX cap out at 50 degrees, the GT Max pushes all the way up to 59 degrees. Just like their balanced weight distribution, this comes down to their prism architecture. While birdbath optics beam light down off an angled mirror into your eye, prism optics pass light through a solid, thin piece of glass that sits flush against the frame.

I’ll admit that the optics on the GT Max looked a bit different to me at first, given that all the AR glasses I’ve tried up until now use birdbath setups. However, once I had them on my face and was watching a movie, everything clicked. I didn’t feel the frame weighing down on the bridge of my nose, and they were light enough that I could easily see myself wearing them for long stretches. Of course, I’ll need to get a pair in for testing at home to see how they perform beyond a brief run on the IFA show floor.

Peering through a prism

When it comes to AR glasses — or more accurately, display glasses — we’re still very early on in their evolution. In fact, this current wave of consumer-focused glasses didn’t really start hitting the mainstream until around 2022. In the brief time since, we’ve seen dramatically thinner and lighter designs, wider fields of view, and more recently, onboard spatial tracking powered by dedicated chips inside their frames.

The RayNeo GT Max feels like a standout entry point for anyone looking to get into display glasses. While they are a bit more expensive than some of the other recent budget options, you’re getting a stack of premium features that genuinely elevate the day-to-day experience.

At the end of the day, if you want to use a pair of glasses like these for more than just watching a movie on a long flight, comfort is king. Having used both the original Viture Pro glasses and the upgraded Pro 2s, shaving off extra weight makes a world of difference. Yet compared to the GT Max, I was genuinely impressed by how RayNeo’s glasses managed to feel lighter on my face despite technically being heavier on paper.

If you haven't tried a pair of AR glasses yet, there’s never been a better time to dive in now that we have both solid budget choices and feature-packed premium models to pick from. The RayNeo GT Max hits that sweet spot between capability and everyday wearability, and I can’t wait to spend more time testing them out beyond the show floor.

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• I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses — here’s what happened
• I wore Virtue and Xreal's new budget-friendly AR glasses for a week and this is the pair I'd buy
• I tested the world's first mobile game controller with AR glasses support and it completely transformed my 16-hour flight

However, that's just the beginning, and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman just released a massive report that highlights 41 devices that could be released in the next three years and beyond.

That includes new devices like the foldable iPhone Ultra and Apple's first foray into smart glasses.

Later 2026 and Early 2027

Most every device meant to launch in the next six months should arrive during one of two events: the September 9 iPhone soiree and an announcement in October or early November.

Mostly, the difference here is that new MacBooks are usually announced in mid-fall, usually with a new chipset.

The key devices to be aware of in the next few months include Apple's first foldable iPhone Ultra and the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models, all of which are expected to launch next week. There's also the first iPad mini with an OLED screen and the rumored HomePad with a screen, which should be Apple's next steps into smart home devices.

There's also the rumored MacBook Ultra, a high-end version of Apple's Pro laptop with a touch display and OLED panel. Personally, I'm interested in the refreshed Apple TV 4K with a faster chip and more Siri features. Though that has been rumored for years now and has yet to actually be released.

• iPhone Ultra
• iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max
• Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4
• AirPods 5
• Apple TV 4K set-top box
• HomePod mini
• HomePad
• iPad mini with OLED screen
• M6 iMac refresh
• M6 14-inch MacBook Pro refresh
• MacBook Ultra

In development for 2027

Next year is when we could start seeing some truly updated designs for Apple's products from the all-glass iPhone 20 to redesigned Apple Watches and even more smart home products.

Some devices will be a simple chip refresh, like the M6 MacBook Air or the A19 Pro MacBook Neo, which proved so popular the first go-round that Apple couldn't keep it in stock.

A slew of iPads, from a refreshed iPad 12 to an iPad Air OLED are also expected next year.

iPhones will get weird next year starting in the spring where Apple splits the launch of the iPhone 18 series. We should see the vanilla iPhone 18, alongside the iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2.

In the back half of the year, the 20th anniversary iPhone could feature one of the largest design changes in years. The biggest is a curvy all-glass wraparound design that seamlessly covers the entire phone. An analyst claimed this design was canceled in August, but Mark Gurman pushed back, saying that it's still on track. There are more potential changes, but the glass look will be immediately noticeable.

We were expecting to see camera-laden AirPods this year after leaked code and videos appeared, but Gurman claims these have been delayed until 2027. The cameras would enable Siri AI to "see" the world around you and respond to queries. People are voicing privacy concerns already, but presumably the cameras would not record photos or video.

Finally, Tim Cook was allegedly obsessed with Apple Glasses, but it's not clear if Ternus shares that same excitement. Apple's take on the form should arrive next year and be similar to the Meta Ray-Ban allowing you to take calls, pictures and videos but lacking a display. Rumors had slated the glasses for 2028 but a summer report claimed Apple was rethinking its roadmap after Vision head Paul Meade left for OpenAI.

• M6 MacBook Air
• A19 Pro MacBook Neo
• Entry-level iPad refresh
• iPad Air OLED
• iPad Pro
• New Apple Pencils.
• iPhone 18 and 18e
• iPhone Air 2
• M7 14-inch MacBook Pro
• AirPods with cameras
• In-home security sensor and system.
• Apple Glasses
• iPhone 20 (XX)
• iPhone Ultra 2
• Redesigned Apple Watches
• M7 Pro and M7 Max MacBooks

2028, 2029 and beyond

The next batch of potential Apple devices could be released any time between 2028 and 2030. Some are chip and OLED updates, but a couple are new devices that we haven't seen from Apple before.

The HomePod on a robot arm was rumored two years ago and apparently will actually debut in the next couple of years. Per Gurman, this version will have a 9-inch display and advanced AI features.

Before the rumor mill settled on the foldable iPhone, Apple's first foldable device was actually supposed to be a giant foldable 18-inch iPad or MacBook. Apparently, this is still in the works and could launch in 2028. Gurman claims manufacturing issues pushed a potential launch back.

Apple allegedly wants to release its own AR glasses à la the Meta Ray-Ban Display. The glasses would superimpose data on your real-world view. There's no specific release year for these, but they could arrive before 2030.

Apple is apparently working on an AI pendant as well. The Apple version would work with your iPhone and use AI and the camera for tasks.

• HomePad with a robot arm
• M7 Max and M7 Ultra Mac Studio
• Apple Vision Pro revamp
• AI Pendant
• Larger foldable iPhone
• Foldable iPad
• MacBook Air OLED
• Higher-end iMac OLED
• Augmented reality glasses

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple HomePad rumored release date, price and all the latest leaks
• iPhone Ultra price rumors — here's how much you can expect to pay for Apple’s first foldable
• Nvidia’s RTX Spark N1X launches this October: My price predictions for the potential MacBook Pro killer

That stat comes as no surprise, thanks to the growing popularity of certain models of smart glasses, such as the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2), Meta Oakley HSTN, Rokid AI Glasses, and the many, many more options.But with that surge in purchases and recognizability comes several cases of their video-filming feature being used to violate someone’s privacy.

A story from Ars Technica has made the rounds regarding smart glasses being used to secretly film people in bathrooms, record someone changing in/out of their clothes and capture footage of a couple’s most intimate moments. Futurism even reported that young boys are getting their hands on smart glasses and using them to harass & bully the young girls in their middle & high schools. Public perception of smart glasses has reached an all-time low, especially with Meta trying to wipe away the title of “pervert glasses” for its product by instituting safer privacy settings.

Even so, people are looking for ways to avoid being filmed by people with smart glasses. And they’re finding the sort of methods that aren’t costly at all. Here’s a list of the apps and gadgets that people are using to be aware of smart glasses in their vicinity and protect themselves from being filmed by them.

The apps and gadgets that make users aware of smart glasses in their presence

There are four apps I came across on the App Store: Antizuck Smart Glasses Scanner, Nearby Glasses (Original), Zuckoff and NoGlasshole: Glasses Detector. The Nearby Glasses app is also available on Android devices.

All of them have one thing in common: they’re used to make users cognizant of the presence of smart glasses in their vicinity by scanning for the Bluetooth signals they give off when powered on. Plus, these apps let users know when a recording-capable device is nearby. Smart glasses aren’t just detected by their Bluetooth activity—they can also be detected through their Wi-Fi signal and easily visible LED indicator lights on the front frame that blink or glow when the camera is recording video or taking pictures. It’s worth noting that some smart glasses modifiers are finding ways to make them harder to spot (such as disabling their LED indicators).

The Zuckoff app is a prime example of an app that makes the practice of steering clear of people using smart glasses to film you without consent so much easier. “Camera glasses announce themselves over Bluetooth,” the app’s official site explains. “Zuckoff listens for those announcements and tells you when Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta, Snap Spectacles or similar hardware turns up nearby. It also logs every other Bluetooth device it hears along the way. No account, no server, no analytics.

The app’s site also offered an explainer as to what the app can’t do, however: “Glasses advertise loudest while powering on, pairing or leaving the case. Once paired to their owner's phone they can go quiet, so silence is not proof that nobody is recording, and a detection is not proof that anyone is. Signal strength gives a rough distance and no direction at all.”

There are also relatively inexpensive counter-surveillance tools sold on Amazon that people can use to detect smart glasses. Those gadgets include RF Signal Detectors and Optical Lens Finders. RF Signal Detectors measure radio frequency bursts when smart glasses stream audio or video over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, but only trigger when smart glasses are actively transmitting data, not while they’re offline or idle. It’s worth noting that a Bluetooth scan only reveals that smart glasses are powered on and in your area—it cannot confirm whether the camera is actively recording, but at least you’ll know one’s nearby.

As for Optical Lens Finders, these devices emit flashing red LEDs—the reflection off the tiny smart glasses’ camera lens in the frame shines back through a viewfinder. Keep in mind that they require a manual line-of-sight visual sweep by the user. This guide on how to tell if someone is wearing smart glasses also includes a bunch of telltale signs that will make you more likely to spot them in public.

The takeaway

Smart glasses certainly have beneficial uses, such as listening to hands-free media, relying on AI-powered voice assistants to handle everyday tasks, utilizing augmented reality displays for walking/cycling directions and using them as virtual monitors to watch movies in the privacy of your own home. Their filming and photo-taking capabilities are also impressive, but judging by the privacy-breaching ways they’re used nowadays, those features are untrustworthy for many.

With apps and gadgets being relied upon to go on the hunt for smart glasses, people are finding unique ways to stay out of their camera frame and keep their privacy intact.

More from Tom’s Guide

• Humanoid robot fights back after man pushes it in store — is this the beginning of the uprising?
• 'I find it very uncomfortable talking to people with a camera and a light': OpenAI's Sam Altman weighs in on smart glasses and privacy
• 'This isn’t a Turing test scenario — I’m not trying to convince you of anything': AI agents are now emailing researchers to talk about their consciousness

In an interview with Alex Heath, which was released on Tuesday, the CEO of OpenAI said: "I find it very uncomfortable talking to people with a camera and a light."

Altman's comments come at at time when Meta's Ray-Bans and other smart glasses have been given the moniker of "pervert glasses," the subject of a lot of public backlash, following reports of the devices being used to record and harass women, and then post the videos on Instagram and other social media without their consent.

Meta's glasses have also come under fire for lax security; specifically, owners destroying or disabling the small recording light, so as not to alert others they were capturing video. Meta has since released firmware updates that prevent its smart glasses from recording video if the light is removed or blocked.

Still, the perception remains, and it's something that other companies, such as Google and Samsung, will have to reckon with, as the launch of Intelligent Eyewear is imminent.

It's not the first time the OpenAI CEO has weighed in on wearables. Last year, according to Business Insider, he was quick to correct a journalist who asked him if he was wearing smart glasses. "Absolutely not," he said. "I don't like smart glasses."

Altman's comments on smart glasses in his interview with Heath came in the context of OpenAI's hardware, which he's developing with Jony Ive, Apple's former head of design.

At the core of OpenAI's philosophy is a so-called ambient computer that's always listening, which "seems very helpful but also a privacy nightmare," Heath noted in the interview.

Altman acknowledged as much. "As we get closer to launching this device, we'll be talking about kind of the new privacy controls and technology we're building for a device that's like kind of ambiently computing," he said.

Altman also said that OpenAI was looking at releasing not just one, but "a small handful of form factors."

"There's something that belongs on a table, there is something that belongs in your pocket, and there is something that like belongs on your body," he said. However, given his statements on smart glasses, it would seem that the device is more likely to be a pendant, akin to the Plaud pin.

Altman gave no timeline as to when OpenAI's devices would arrive, only that we could see the first consumer device "soonish."

More from Tom's Guide

• Less pervert-y? Meta AI glasses will now stop recording if you cover the lens
• ICE just banned Ray-Ban Meta glasses for agents — here's why
• I'm worried 'pervert glasses' are going to ruin all smart glasses

From grappling with privacy concerns and the general stigma around wearables, I sidestepped pretty fast from the 'ooh, fun new tech' camp to 'yeah nah' territory, but that didn't stop me from remaining curious about smart glasses.

When Rokid invited me to a media briefing for its new AI + AR glasses, I tried to put my scepticism aside. This was largely because this wasn't the Chinese brand's first entry into smart wearables, having produced 11 generations of AI glasses since 2018.

Aside from the clunky name, Rokid's glasses claimed to allow wearers to capture hands-free 12MP photos and videos, receive real-time translations across 89 languages with live subtitles, and offer navigational guidance. Beyond these features, Rokid's glasses have dual Micro-LED displays that project its AI assistant's responses. As a 2000s kid who grew up obsessed with the Spy Kids movies, my heart skipped a beat.

The glasses are super lightweight, weighing just 49g, and as a full-time glasses wearer, I had the opportunity to order my prescription with the pair. My prescription came in the form of magnetic lenses secured inside the frame and are easily removable. That said, Rokid's glasses cost a pretty penny — AU$999 to be exact — making them a much more expensive wearable option than the likes of Meta, which can be found for around $469.

I put Rokid's AI + AR glasses to the test to see if they are actually worth it when it comes to its supposedly superior LED displays, how it handles photos and coming to grips with its privacy policy. Did Rokid's wearables change my perspective on smart glasses? Read on to find out.

Any privacy concerns?

Before we jump into the meat of testing, it was rather important to dig through Rokid's privacy policy before taking them out on my day-to-day routine. And for the most part, it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, however, it's worth a mention in the off chance you don't read (and digest) the lengthy T&Cs.

For starters, Rokid's app, Hi Rokid, requires you to be at least 18 or older to create an account and access the glasses. It also explicitly mentions the device is not for children. Alongside this, the personal data to be aware of that Rokid captures is your location and voice content when using the device. This means it collects and stores your queries and interactions for as long as the company sees fit.

When it comes to voice content, Rokid's privacy policy does not explicitly state that what you say is used for review or AI model training, which was a large part of Meta's privacy issues. However, that does not mean your data could be used for those purposes.

I hit accept in the app, knowing full well what I was getting myself into, but do keep this in mind if you're conscious of your personal data being collected.

If you're concerned about misuse of your data or don't want it to be stored away, you can always email the company to request deletion of your data or delete your account.

Micro-LED displays are not a gimmick

One of the most intriguing features of Rokid's AI glasses is the Micro-LED screens, which emit a green light display. This display provides a visual depiction of Rokid's AI assistant and features on-screen navigational advice, a teleprompter, live translation and more, so you don't need to keep your phone unlocked to use the glasses (you'll need to keep it running in the background, though).

What I enjoyed about the LED screens was the constant display of the weather and time, which would pop up anytime I interacted with the smart assistant or touchpad. It meant no more looking at my watch or phone screen — I could simply swipe the touchpad on the frames, and I was good to go.

That said, there are plenty more use cases for the screens, especially if you're on the go or often make presentations. I'm talking about navigational directions and the teleprompter here, as both are key drivers for the Rokid glasses.

The Rokid app syncs with Google Maps, so I could easily type in the address, select whether I was walking, cycling or driving and hit start navigation. The displays show an estimated time of arrival, as well as a mini route map or directions to follow.

Navigational directions were pretty seamless and spot-on — it's basically Google Maps in AR form after all. When navigating my local park, I had no issue checking the green text or listening to the assistant as it told me where to turn. The only niggle is using common sense and watching where you may be walking so you don't unintentionally walk into someone (it only happened once, okay!).

While navigation was my most used feature, I was also pretty impressed by the teleprompter and live translation. I didn't have to make any presentations over my review period, but if I did, it was as simple as pasting my chosen text into the app and pressing start. The teleprompter can scroll automatically, or you can adjust the speed using the touchpad as you're reading. As for live translation, you can set it up again in the app, hit start and it'll project subtitles via the display in real time.

Image quality could be improved

While my time with the Rokid AI + AR glasses has been largely positive, there were a few downsides worth mentioning — namely the image quality.

There's only one 12MP camera on the device in the left corner, so most images I took were slightly lopsided and positioned towards the left. This is not the worst thing ever, but the Rokid glasses pale in comparison to Meta's great camera capabilities.

Videos were pretty similar too, only reaching 1680p resolution, which is rather wide and again, a bit off-centre. There was a lot to be desired from the video and photo quality, and especially for the price, I had hoped the camera would be a whole lot better.

In many instances, those interested in smart wearables want to capture moments handsfree while remaining "present", which is just a copout for not wanting to have a smartphone or digital camera interrupt a core memory. However, in Rokid's case, you're better off using your smartphone to capture images, as the quality will be indisputably and dramatically better. That said, if you want to take photos or videos hands-free, Rokid's glasses will do the trick, but just don't expect to get the right angle on the first go.

Final thoughts

At the end of the day, I'm still not sure how I feel about smart wearables overall, but Rokid's entry doesn't disappoint.

The AI + AR glasses are the definition of a fun tech gizmo, and I'm keen to get more use out of them… but only in the few circumstances that I'll allow. Pricing is a touch exorbitant if you're looking at them solely from a camera angle; however, the handy navigation features, live translation and teleprompter have me sold.

While I can safely move myself out of the 'yeah nah' camp, we're still in the 'be aware' territory of smart wearables, so I'll be taking them with a grain of salt for the foreseeable future.

Many of these glasses are pitched as being perfect for gamers. Even the cheapest of the best smart glasses still cost $299, which could get you a decent gaming monitor. For comparison, one of the best gaming monitors costs $349.

With that in mind, I wondered whether a pair of virtual display glasses could actually replace my monitor. For a week, I ditched my monitor and my TV in favor of smart glasses. Here's what happened.

What I used

For this experiment, I tried a couple of different pairs of smart glasses: the Viture Pro 2 and RayNeo Air 4 Pro. I also briefly tested the X by Xreal A01+ glasses, but mostly as a comparison.

Despite being something of a tech nerd, I’m also cheap. So my current monitor and TV setup isn’t the newest, top-of-the-line gear. I have an older 24-inch Asus VG2491A gaming monitor that doubles as my work monitor and PC gaming screen. For my TV, I have an even older 55-inch Sony XBR-X900F — still an excellent TV even if it's not as up-to-date as the best TVs — that I use for streaming and gaming on my PS5.

Ostensibly, you could also connect your smartphone and use your phone via the smart glasses, but you gotta take breaks sometimes, like when you walk your dog.

Toiling away at work

I primarily use the Air 4 Pro for work because I find the display easier to see when connected to a PC than Viture or Xreal’s glasses. It doesn’t have the blurry corners those two have and has a more rectangular display, whereas the other two feel more square on desktop.

Right away, I’m certain it’s not good to stare at a monitor for 8 hours a day, but it’s probably not good to have one in your face for as long either. This is especially true because these glasses block out light, even without any lens caps. You’re not getting as much diffused indirect light to break up the direct light from the displays in the glasses.

I found that toward the end of the day, I was getting weary of the glasses, especially as the week wore on. It’s not a weight thing, even though the RayNeo are a bit heavier than the Viture Pro 2. Mostly, I got tired of having something on my face for that long.

Additionally, even if you can see around the displays in the glasses, it’s harder to transition to other activities. I like to write in a notebook on my desk throughout the day, and I found the smart glasses cumbersome when trying to actually do that, even if that just meant taking them off. The flaw here is the connecting wire, which on many smart glasses is on the right arm. However, I’m a lefty and tend to put everything on my left.

Finally, you can’t really take Zoom meetings with smart glasses, especially ones where you’re expected to be on camera. This may or may not be a flaw for you.

In shorter two- to three-hour runs, it was comfortable. And I ended up taking more screen breaks during the day to work around this. I also wasn’t adjusting my body position throughout the day like I would when gaming or watching movies; more on that momentarily.

Make the swap? Yes and no. Again, for shorter sessions like at a coffee shop or for a quick project, I think you’ll find that smart glasses do the job. However, I wouldn’t recommend it for a full workday or a longer project.

Game on

At press events, I’ve tested smart glasses with the Steam Deck and found them awesome. However, at home I have a PS5 and Switch 2, neither of which work nicely with smart glasses.

I did not play my Switch 2 during the week. I do have a Viture Pro Mobile Dock, but I don’t like using it because it’s heavy and the cables are short, and I want my handheld console to feel relatively light.

I ended up purchasing a $27 10-foot Fairikabe HDMI-to-USB-C cord (with USB-A to power the glasses) to connect to the PlayStation. The length was mostly so I could lie down on my couch when I wanted to game. I’ll note that the cable ends got surprisingly hot when I disconnected it from the console at the end of the night.

I’ve been plowing through the Path of Exile 2 early access beta, and with the glasses, I found the details much sharper with no real lag. I only game at night for a couple of hours after my kids go to bed, so I wasn’t spending multiple hours gaming.

On my PC, I snuck a few sessions of Valorant in alongside some nostalgic Age of Empires 4. Valorant played smoothly, and I never felt like the glasses lost track during intense battles.

Make the swap? Yes. Unless you’re looking for OLED gaming and need precise calibrations, you could easily swap your gaming monitor for a pair of smart glasses. The extra wire to connect to my PlayStation was an annoyance, but it’s also part of my living room setup right now. Having the glasses could free up where I place the console, which is theoretically nice.

At the cinema

I mostly watched movies by connecting the glasses to my Galaxy S26 Ultra and using streaming apps. Honestly, this may have been my favorite way to use the glasses during the week. You do need to make sure your phone is charged.

It was easy to plug in my phone, open the app, and find the movie or show I wanted to watch. Plus, I could lie in bed and watch the movie or set up a pillow nest on the couch.

The RayNeo Air 4 Pro is one of the few virtual display glasses that actually offers HDR10, meaning that any content like Apple TV shows can take advantage of the improved resolution. The screen is vivid with no grain as far as I can tell.

Make the swap? Watching movies and TV shows is probably the best way to enjoy virtual display glasses. They’re fairly comfortable, and the portability allows you to take your media wherever you want. Plus, you don’t have to crane your neck or get extra accessories to make it work; it just does. It’s definitely cheaper than even the best TVs under $500.

Conclusion

After a week of using smart glasses exclusively for all my screens, I’m not sure I have a satisfactory answer. I won’t be replacing my monitor or TV anytime soon, but I don’t know that you’d be out of line if you did.

For work, the glasses are at their best if you’re not at your desk. Take them out to a coffee shop, use them on the plane, etc. There’s a freedom to not being chained to a desk and a monitor all day when you don’t have to be. But wearing tech on your face all day gets tiresome, and I don’t think it's for everyone, and that goes no matter what you’re using smart glasses to do.

As I said, these glasses are mostly pitched as tools for gamers and media watching. They’re great for that, even despite some necessary accessories depending on your console of choice. They’re cheaper than most gaming monitors and decent TVs and still provide excellent displays. They’re still best for handheld devices like the Steam Deck and even the Switch 2 (looking at you, Project Aura). But it could actually make your PS5 or Xbox a little more mobile since you just need a power plug and maybe some internet (plus that extra cord).

If you’ll excuse me, I have the next episode of Lanterns to watch on my glasses.

More from Tom's Guide

• PlayStation’s 27-inch gaming monitor is perfect for PS5 and PC gamers — here’s why
• I just played Elden Ring on Nintendo Switch 2 — and I’ll never touch the Steam Deck OLED version again
• I tested the $1,299 ROG Xbox Ally X20 — with that OLED display, the $300 price hike is surprisingly palatable

However, in the last few months, rivals Xreal and Viture have both thrown their hats into the ring with new wallet-friendly options in the X by Xreal a01+ and the Viture Pro 2 smart glasses. Like the RayNeo Air 4 Pro, both the a01+ and Pro 2 start at $299.

The two companies make the best smart glasses you can buy when it comes to high-end options, but what happens when they try to pare things back? The competition is tight, and just looking at the specs, they’re nearly identical. If you’re looking for a decent pair of virtual screen glasses while on a budget, either the Xreal a01+ or the Viture Pro 2 will be worth your time.

Some slight differences could sway your decision on which to pick and I’ll explain why below.

Viture Pro 2 vs X by Xreal a01+: Specs

Buy the X by Xreal a01+ if...

• You care about style
• Ease of use
• Desire HDR10 support

Most AR glasses are, at best, beefy Wayfarers on your face and only seem to come in black. The xbx actually brings some style to the form with a bright yellow USB-C cord, blue lens, bright logo emblazoned on the inside and a swappable faceplate.

Currently, Xreal doesn’t sell any faceplate accessories, but the company does promote 3D printing if you want to make a version for yourself.

Simply, the a01+ just looks more fun than other smart glasses. They’re also lighter and more comfortable than the RayNeo offerings. Xreal's xbx glasses are one of the few that offer HDR support, with its AI SDR-to-HDR converter, making Apple TV+ content viable.

There are some flaws, like a cheap, plastic-y finish and no IPD adjustments. That isn't unusual for cheaper AR glasses, but you should know that a01+ comes with a stock pupillary distance window between 54.5mm and 74.5mm.

If you’re just binge-watching or gaming, you should be fine; you may notice edge blurriness in the 50-degree FOV, but it shouldn’t break your immersion when gaming. However, it’s not great for productivity tasks.

On one personal note, the a01+ tethers out of the left arm of the glasses, while most smart glasses tether from the right side. I tend to set my devices on my left side and love the left-side connection. My personal plea is for smart glasses makers to allow you to connect from both ears and not just one side. This won’t make or break the glasses, but I appreciate it.

Buy the Viture Pro 2 if…

• You value comfort and adjustability
• Sharp display
• Want a more premium feel

Swapping between the Viture Pro 2 and a01+, the Xreal glasses actually feel more comfortable and lighter out of the box, even if it is just 0.1 ounces. However, I was able to make the Pro 2s more comfortable thanks to a variety of available adjustment features.

Viture offers three different-sized nose pads, same as Xreal, but the Pro 2 comes with seven different adjustment spots for the pads. The XBX are locked to one, beyond pushing out the pads a bit.

My favorite comfort adjustment is in the arms, which can be pushed individually up or down at the temples to make the glasses fit better. There are also two diopter wheels to adjust the focus in each lens, something neither the xbx nor RayNeo glasses offer.

While the brightness, refresh rate and resolution specs are all the same between the two glasses, I found the Pro 2 display sharper and clearer. There are also more adjustable levels, up to nine, and at least four filters, including true color, blue light, cinematic and warm, which is more than what the a01+ offers.

If adjustability is important to you, the Pro 2s have it in spades.

Like the Xreal glasses, the Pro 2 might not be the best for work, though they’re great for gaming or watching movies. I found the corners to be a bit blurry on the left side, but as I mentioned in my review, my left eye is weaker than my right, so it’s something to note if you have a similar situation.

Finally, this may come down to preference, but to me, the plastic finish on the Pro 2 feels a bit more premium than that on the a01+.

Bottom line

I live in the world of budget AR glasses, having tested the last three RayNeo spectacles plus both of our rivals here, and in this comparison I’d edge toward recommending the Viture Pro 2 — the adjustability with the diopter wheels, multiple nose settings, and arms make these spectacles more comfortable and usable. Plus, the display is brighter and again more tuneable.

If style and fun are what you want, the Xreal a01+ brings a bit of actual flair and joy to a category of tech that is often nearly indistinguishable from one another on the outside. My colleague Jason England uses the pub test for smart glasses, meaning: can you wear a set of AR glasses to the bar without getting weird looks? The xbx a01+ fit that bill and then some.

If you’re just using these glasses for gaming or binge-watching, I don’t think you’d go wrong with either set. Viture is more adaptable, but Xreal offers HDR. It’s all minute differences where you’ll have to decide what’s most important to you in a pair of AR glasses.

RayNeo finally has some real competition in the budget AR glasses space, and its glasses offer a lot at $299. But Viture and Xreal offer virtually identical budget-friendly options with nuanced enough differences that the space is getting more exciting as it matures.

More from Tom's Guide

• ICE just banned Ray-Ban Meta glasses for agents — here’s why
• Tom's Guide to smart glasses: 13 terms you need to know
• I’m worried ‘pervert glasses’ are going to ruin all smart glasses — even display-only specs

As reported by The New York Times, acting ICE Director David Venturella told agency employees in a memo to stop wearing Meta's camera-equipped glasses because they count as personal body-worn cameras and cannot be worn in federal workplaces.

"The use of Meta Glasses or similar devices could unintentionally capture, record, or transmit sensitive information, potentially compromising privacy and legal protections," Venturella reportedly wrote.

The ban apparently applies to all ICE employees, not just those agents conducting raids or interacting with the public. It covers all personal devices capable of recording audio or video.

Not the first time

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told the Times that this isn't a new policy. "Personally owned body-worn cameras and unauthorized recording are prohibited, as they always have been."

Concern over ICE agents wearing Meta glasses isn't new either. Last year, 404 Media reported on Border Patrol agents who were photographed wearing Meta glasses clearly in recording mode.

In March, The Independent investigated multiple sightings of DHS agents wearing Meta glasses in at least six different states. In some of those instances, agents appearred to be using hte glasses to photograph or record members of the public.

Part of the concern, at least on the government's part, is that personal devices mean the government can lose control of the footage. The videos could be passed on to a personal phone or filter through Meta's platform with no oversight of who can access it or what information is actually in the recording.

And that's all before we get into reports that DHS wants to design its own smart glasses. As reported by Gizmodo in April, the agency wants the glasses specifically for surveilling "illegal aliens." This version would use existing smart glasses combined with biometric databases and facial recognition to "identify people in real time."

Meta's privacy problem

Even outside of government surveillance, privacy concerns are an ongoing problem for Meta and its smart glasses. Recording can be quickly started, and the LED light indicator can easily be circumvented. Plus, there's the report from July that Meta is building "super sensing" glasses that would continuously record your life.

Meta is no stranger to pushing through privacy concerns. The company was sued over privacy claims in March over claims that workers in Kenya were watching intimate footage captured by Meta smart glasses.

In 2025 alone, the company filed a suspicious patent that would allow AI facial recognition glasses to identify people and record automatically, was caught tracking Android users without consent, accused of accessing camera rolls without permission for AI training, and was accused of displaying revealing personal info in the Meta AI discover feed.

Meanwhile, Meta currently faces a $1.4 trillion lawsuit over its claimed failure to protect children on its social platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

More from Tom's Guide

• Meta files patent for AI facial recognition glasses that identify people around you and record automatically
• Meta's new AI tool uses your Instagram photos by default — here’s how to opt out
• Meta Connect 2026 kicks off in September — date, time and mystery new smart glasses teased

For the uninitiated, the Steam Frame is Valve’s answer to headsets like the Meta Quest 3. It features a Snapdragon ARM processor, an LCD with 2160 x 2160 resolution per eye, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, a refresh rate up to 120Hz, and pancake optic lenses. Along with eye-tracking, it also has camera passthrough and a 110-degree field of view (FOV). Naturally, it runs on SteamOS, effectively making it a VR version of the Steam Deck.

With the basics out of the way, here are the leaked Steam Frame videos.

Steam Frame: Unboxing

This first video (posted on X by @HardwareSteam) is an unboxing, where we get to see what you get with the Frame. In addition to the actual headset, you get a pair of controllers, a spacer, a wireless adapter, an information booklet, and a USB-C cable. This video then shows how to initially set up the device, which ships in a power-saving mode.

Steam Frame: Wireless adapter

The wireless adapter lets you connect to a Steam Machine or compatible PC. You'll need to log in to the same Steam account on both the headset and your PC, plug the adapter in, and Steam will guide you through the setup process. Games that are available for streaming will appear in your headset's Steam library.

Steam Frame: Ergonomic accessories

This video discusses some of the ergonomic accessories available for the Steam Frame. The handstraps keep the controllers securely in your hands even during intense gaming sessions. Then there’s the top headstrap, which provides extra headset stability. Lastly, the extended light blocker is for folks with smaller noses who may still see light leaking through the front of the Frame.

Steam Frame: Extended light blocker

This next video goes into more detail on how to attach and adjust the extended light blocker and top strap. While the process for each can be pretty involved, the video does a nice job of showing how to do everything one step at a time.

Steam Frame: IPD adjustment

The IPD wheel lets you adjust the spacing between the lenses until the picture you see through them looks good. Basically, you want the focus, sharpness, and overall optical comfort to look good to your eyes. There's an IPD lock to keep the lenses exactly where you want them for future sessions.

Steam Frame: Fit guide

This video is pretty self-explanatory, as it shows you the various ways to fit the headset to your nogging. Some users who wear glasses or who feel their eyes are too close to the lens can use the included spacer, which magnetically snaps into place.

Steam Frame: Controller handstrap

To keep your controllers from flying across the room, you'll want to keep them secure with the included handstraps. This video shows you how to adjust them. Like the rest of the videos, all the instructions are very easy to follow.

Outlook

You can check out the rest of the videos above for more, but suffice it to say that Valve has left no stone unturned when it comes to these Steam Frame tutorial videos. We still don’t have word on when the device will launch, but if I were a betting man, I’d say a fall release isn’t out of the question.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just tested Mixed Reality Link for Windows 11 with my Meta Quest 3, and it’s shockingly good for a free feature
• I got this compact power bank for my Meta Quest 3, but now I use it to charge everything
• Samsung Galaxy XR vs Apple Vision Pro vs Meta Quest 3: Which headset is right for you?

It’s an expansive category of devices that can be pushed out to include XR and display glasses like Xreal’s Project Aura or the Viture Pro 2.

With so many differences, manufacturers are throwing around a flurry of terms like spatial computing, IPD or DoF that do explain what these glasses do, but in a clunky way that makes a lot of folks go “huh?”

So I’m here to help you understand some core terms that explain most smart glasses in plain English. Hopefully this guide gives you a clearer understanding of what’s important, especially as smart glasses become more popular and available.

The Three Realities: AR, MR and XR

If you just looked at the best smart glasses, the tech could be cleanly divided into two categories: AI glasses and AR glasses. It’s a tad murkier than that, but those are two great starting points because right now they do different and distinct things.

But first, let’s talk reality.

We’re going to be referring to different capabilities for how digital content is overlaid on the physical world. Confusingly, there are four realities: AR, MR, VR and XR.

Virtual reality is one you probably know and associate with headsets like the Meta Quest 3s. For this discussion, that’s where it will stay and we'll focus on the remaining three.

However, XR, AR and MR are somewhat interchangeably used by smart glasses manufacturers. So what are they and how are they actually different?

Augmented reality

Augmented reality is an overlay of digital information on the real world. You can try AR right now with your smartphone’s camera and certain apps. Wayfair, for example, offers an augmented reality function that lets you measure furniture or even place an item in your space. A personal favorite is the Stellaris app, which overlays constellations in the night sky.

Some glasses, like Meta’s offerings, are starting to offer AR features, but the Snap Spectacles might be the most infamous ones as of this writing, with their gesture controls and AI-powered augmented reality apps.

“They are about adding digital experiences to the world in front of you, in a way that feels natural through voice, gesture, touch, and AI,” a Specs spokesperson told Tom’s Guide.

Mixed Reality

Mixed reality is kind of the in-between of AR and VR. The best example is Pokémon GO, which lets you catch digital Pokémon in the real world using the app and your camera. It blends the real world and computer-generated objects. From my understanding, most MR functions still lean heavily on VR uses, like allowing streamers to impose their characters in video games.

eXtended Reality

Finally, we have eXtended reality or XR, which can be confusing because XR is both its own thing and an industry umbrella term that seems to encompass VR, MR and AR. Plus, manufacturers use it interchangeably, which can make figuring out what XR-labeled glasses are actually doing a messy experience.

For example, Viture puts the XR label on its display glasses and Xreal dubs its more feature-rich Project Aura spectacles as XR, but these glasses do functionally very different things.

The big difference is in attachments to wearable tech. True XR-focused glasses allow for more integration with sensory inputs like those from smart rings, smartwatches and gesture controls.

Glasses Types

AI Audio Glasses

‘AI glasses’ appears to be a marketing term made up by Meta for its Ray-Ban glasses that has extended to similar form factors like the Samsung Intelligent Eyewear.

AI glasses come in two forms; audio or with a display. The difference is that the display versions use light diffraction to shoot information into the lenses, like on the Meta Ray-Ban Display.

Both types of eyewear tend to utilize apps and artificial intelligence via cameras, microphones and speakers to ostensibly help you navigate the world. You can use them for things like live translation, listening to music, or talking to a chatbot like Gemini AI.

These glasses look the most like normal glasses or sunglasses, though with a little extra bulk thanks to the integrated technology.

There are more of the audio AI glasses in the wild currently; earlier this year CNBC reported that Meta sold around 7 million in 2025 alone. Notably, because of the cameras, these smart glasses are controversial due to privacy concerns.

AI Glasses with Display

AI glasses featuring a display are much newer but will likely be the dominant form of these glasses in the coming years. We already have the aforementioned Ray-Ban Display glasses.

Samsung's Intelligent Eyewear will get a version featuring a display that should launch next year as well.

What makes these different is that, using light diffraction, a digital overlay or somewhat opaque HUD is shown on one of the lenses. This can include controls for things like your music or phone calls or notifications for apps like Instagram.

Display glasses also offer live translation like the audio version, but with the display, the translations can be captioned in the lens.

Virtual Screen Glasses

Virtual screen glasses may be the most confusing category because manufacturers can't seem to agree on what they call them. RayNeo calls it display specs AR glasses while Viture labels its specs as XR.

Simply, virtual screen glasses are a monitor that you wear on your face. They typically feature prism lenses hidden by the more normal-looking glasses lenses. I’ve yet to see a wireless pair; most are tethered to your device using a USB-C cable.

At Tom’s Guide, we’ve found these glasses great for travelers or gamers. They can really expand your work monitor or give your handheld console like the Steam Deck a larger screen so that you don’t have to crane your neck to look at your games. It’s also a comfortable way to watch movies or TV shows.

Wired XR Glasses

The difference between what we’re terming wired XR glasses (taken from Google) and virtual screen glasses is the amount of connected technology. One way to think about these glasses is that they’re simplified VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3 or even Apple Vision Pro but in a pair of glasses.

Xreal’s Project Aura is where you can see how this design works. These glasses come with a tethered device usually called a “puck” where specialized chips like the Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite live and power the whole setup.

Wired XR glasses look similar to display specs. However, the included puck allows for more powerful apps and experiences. In some cases, the puck enables gesture controls and some augmented reality experiences with digital overlays or even a semblance of VR gaming.

Wired XR glasses with an attached puck are fairly niche currently, but it hints at the future of smart glasses with powerful chips and nearly VR headset capabilities without the bulk.

Design Elements

Battery Life

Nearly every device we own today requires charging and knowledge of how long the battery life will last. This metric specifically affects AI glasses and wired XR glasses because of the puck.

AI glasses should last you all-day with normal use. We found that to be true with most glasses like the Meta Ray-Bans and the Rokid Glasses. The current gen 2 Ray-Bans are rated for eight hours of typical use while the Ray-Ban Displays are rated for six hours.

Currently, wired XR glasses aren’t as big of a category, but the pucks will have batteries. The Xreal Project Aura, for example, is supposed to feature a 4455 mAh battery, which suggests it should last 2 to 3 hours of heavy use.

There’s also the upcoming Snap Specs, which cram two Snapdragon processors in the arms and enough battery life for about four hours of general use.

Electrochromatic film

Simply put, an electrochromic film is a thin layer in the lenses of smart glasses that uses a small electrical current to control tinting.

This is especially useful in display glasses where you may want what's behind the prism lenses blocked out. Most high-end display glasses have multi-level electrochromic lenses, meaning you can block or let in more light depending on your needs.

Interpupillary Distance

Interpupillary Distance (IPD) is the measurement of the distance between the centers of your eyes to the millimeter. It’s important for VR headsets and smart glasses because it can be adjusted to ensure you see optimal image quality.

Having the proper measurement means you can get the correct alignment that matches your sense of 3D depth and scale. The wrong measurement can make virtual spaces appear incorrect.

You can measure IPD using apps like EyeMeasure or by asking your eye doctor.

Puck

The simplest way to think about the puck is that it is the brain for your XR glasses. They usually feature a battery and a specialized chip like the Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite to power spatial computing and gesture controls.

You may wonder, why not just use your smartphone as a puck? Xreal’s Ralph Jodice told me that right now, it’s a different device. “The phone wasn’t made for XR,” he said. He described the Project Aura glasses as a “spatial computer.”

Plus, the puck enables you to attach peripherals like keyboards, mice and gamepads, which makes it more computer-like than your phone, even ones like the Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Samsung DeX desktop interface.

Capabilities

Field of View

Field of View (shortened to FOV) refers to how much virtual screen you can see at one time. One way to think of it is that the FOV is a window you look through; the larger the window, the more you can see.

Currently, the top-end standard for virtual screen glasses is between 50 and 60 degrees, meaning you should see a virtual screen between 130 and 160 inches set about six to 10 feet away from you. Depending on the FOV, that also affects your aspect ratio with some digital displays feeling more square depending on the prism. It can also make content seem cramped.

For AI display glasses, at most you're getting 20 to 30 degrees. The Meta Ray-Ban Displays only have a 20 degree FOV for the lone right-side lens that features the display.

The three DoFs (or Spatial Anchoring)

As smart glasses evolve, one term you’ll hear a lot is DoF (depth of field), the most common version being 3DoF. The term stands for degrees of freedom, with the common denominations being 0DoF, 3DoF and 6DoF.

Essentially, it refers to the independent movements the device can track. One way to think of it is that this is how the virtual screen is locked or anchored in space. So 0DoF is a fixed screen that will always sit wherever your glasses are pointing, only tracking your head movements.

3DoF anchors the display at a certain position centered on you. If you move your body forward, backward, or side to side the screen will follow you. However, if you move your head, the screen will stay locked in place.

This is especially important for gaming where you might naturally look down with your eyes and move your head to look at a mini map. Without 3DoF the screen would shift with you, but with it you can quickly flick your eyes down and the screen will stay in place.

6DoF is more commonly associated with VR headsets, but as spatial computing becomes more important with smart glasses, you'll see more 6DoF offerings. Like with 3DoF, the content is locked in a specific position in space. However, 6DoF allows you to move around the space.

It’s especially important for augmented reality applications. So imagine you have a digital object like a table. In 6DoF, you’d be able to walk around the table while wearing the glasses and see different angles. With 3DoF you’d only see the one angle you started with because it’s locked there. 6DoF and 3DoF tend to require heavier compute power, so this is where built-in chips and pucks come into play.

Spatial Awareness or Computing

Like degrees of field, spatial computing is effectively for AR uses. The term refers to the glasses' ability to blend digital content with your physical world.

AI glasses and wired XR glasses are starting to integrate more spatial computing into their designs. The closest current is example is the Snap Specs, though they call their offerings ambient computing, referring to what you can do in your surrounding spaces.

You can see it in gesture control features and apps that let you play what are essentially VR overlays but in your glasses.

That's all for now

We picked terminology that you'll commonly hear, but let us know if there are features, capabilities, or some other word that you want to know about.

More from Tom's Guide

• I’m worried ‘pervert glasses’ are going to ruin all smart glasses — even display-only specs
• I’ve worn smart glasses for over 5 years — here’s the best AR and AI glasses
• Exclusive: Inside Google’s plan to win over your face with AI glasses — and avoid Meta's privacy missteps

Now though, Viture is back with an updated version, the Viture Pro 2, which prioritizes comfort over improved specs, and that focus has made for a better pair of glasses. Plus, the company nearly halved the price, making these glasses even more enticing than they were two years ago.

How did Viture improve on an already great design? By making the Pro 2s lighter, adding more adjustment options for comfort and vision and equipping them with improved micro-OLED tech.

Of course, to get the full experience you still need the Pro Mobile Dock and a controller, but compared to the $549 price of the original, your wallet won’t be hurting as much. Plus, Viture still offers its SpaceWalker software for spatial computing that unlocks some of the same features as the Apple Vision Pro for significantly less. Read on to see if these more comfortable AR glasses are the right fit for you.

Viture Pro 2: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? They are a pair of AR glasses. Viture refers to them as XR, though that’s only really possible via extra software. They’re a sequel to the original Viture Pro XR glasses.
• Who is it for? Viture is pushing these glasses for gamers, but people who frequently travel will get the most out of them. Still, I’ve enjoyed gaming on the couch at home using them as well.
• What does it cost? The Viture Pro 2 glasses cost $299, but to use them for console gaming (including Nintendo Switch 2 compatibility), you’ll need to pair them with either the $129 Viture Pro Mobile Dock or the unreleased $99 Mobile Dock Mini. Viture typically sells these accessories in a bundle with the glasses for less, but you can see how things quickly add up.
• What do we like? The premium build, the 146-inch virtual screen and adjustability make these glasses a joy to use. They’re quite comfortable too and their bright, colorful display makes gaming and watching content a treat.
• What don’t we like? I didn’t find these great for work or reading, which isn’t ideal for something you might hook up to your laptop. The audio from the built-in speakers is still fairly quiet and a bit tinny.

Viture Pro 2: Specs

Viture Pro 2: The ups

Right out of the box, if you’ve seen the original Viture Pro glasses, the new Pro 2 spectacles look much the same, save a few shaved-off centimeters. Where you’ll feel the difference is in the weight and adjustable options you have to make the glasses fit your face and vision. I was expecting a minimal upgrade, but from the start I may have found my new favorite smart glasses.

Lighter, thinner design

AR glasses in general aren’t VR headset cumbersome, but many of them look chunky with a thin excuse for pleasing aesthetics. Now, the Viture Pro 2 won’t sneak by you like the new X by Xreal a01+ which do look like sunglasses. However, they are lighter and thinner than their predecessor by about 20% across the board.

The original Pro specs weighed 2.8 ounces, while the Pro 2s are a slightly more svelte 2.2 ounces. The lenses are thinner but still hold all the display tech and prisms. Overall, these are slick shades with a similar soft-touch finish as the originals.

The new glasses also have a more standardized USB-C connection compared to the magnetized, somewhat proprietary version of the original Pro glasses. My colleague Jason England really liked the magnetically attached cable, but I prefer the USB-C connection because I can find more cables if something gets broken, or in the case of one of my cats, chewed through.

If I could make one change, it would be having the connection on both arms of the glasses and not just the right side. When possible, I tend to place devices to my left, which makes connecting the cable a bit more cumbersome even if it is a decent length. Viture does sell extension cables though.

Eye Comfort is the point

Normally, I’d put some of these comfort features in the design section above, but Viture did such an interesting job that I think it’s worth expounding on them more. According to the company, this update to the Pro glasses is comfort-focused, and not about updating their specs.

I think the company nailed it.

For one, the Pro 2s come with three different-sized sets of nose pads (one less than the Viture Pro) but seven different position adjustments, which makes positioning them on your face even easier.

My favorite comfort adjustment is in the arms, which have three levels of adjustment at the temples where the hinge is located. You can push each arm up or down independently to make things more comfortable. Doing so can also adjust the display if you’re not seeing it properly.

Like the originals, it does come with two diopter adjusters for each lens that go from 0 to -5.00. This lets you adjust the focus, though you can also get a set of prescription clip-in lenses.

Beautiful display

Although Viture is pushing its comfort-over-specs narrative, the Pro 2s aren’t without some upgrades. The displays are better than the ones in the Viture Pro.

The Sony micro-OLED displays feature something Viture calls UltraClarity 3.0 that smooths the focus, keeps the images sharp, and is color-tuned in the micro-OLEDs themselves.

The field of view expanded from 46 degrees to 50, a more standard size today, which improves on what was a somewhat limiting display in the originals. The virtual display is also expanded to roughly 146 inches with a smooth and impressive vividness that is much brighter at 1,600 nits compared to 1,000 in the originals. The brightness can be adjusted up to nine levels, and there are some filters, including blue light, cinematic, and bright.

The glasses do come with a lens shade, but I only used it once to try it out. Otherwise, I found everything past the prisms pretty well blacked out, and I liked being able to peek around me if needed.

Nearly half-off

In the year 2026, the most surprising thing any company could do is cut prices. Everything is more expensive, sometimes by hundreds of dollars compared to previous iterations.

The original Viture Pro glasses started at $549. I don’t know how they pulled it off, but Viture cut the price nearly in half for the Pro 2, which starts at $299 for just the glasses. What?!

That puts these glasses more in line with other budget-friendly options like the aforementioned Xreal a01+ or the RayNeo Air 4 Pro. Compared to those, the Viture Pro 2 feels a bit more premium and with the adjustability options, makes them easier to recommend.

Viture Pro 2: The downs

Admittedly, I’m nitpicking a bit here, but audio continues to be a flaw for the Viture Pro specs. Additionally, one area where I did find things unworkable was when I tried using the glasses for work or reading, though that may be a personal problem rather than a Viture issue.

Work, work, work…no.

When it comes to watching shows or playing games, I have no qualms with the Viture Pro 2. However, I spent a few days trying to work with the glasses, and despite adjusting the diopter wheels, I couldn’t make the experience comfortable for me.

I found the corners of the display blurry, especially the upper left one. My hesitancy to totally condemn stems from knowing that my left eye is weaker than my right. I’m not sure if a set of prescription lenses would help, but also the biggest flaw of AR glasses is that normal glasses wearers still can’t really wear them without shelling out for extra prescription lenses.

For work, I was able to increase the scale display on my computer, which helped a bit, but I still found the corners annoying.

Again, this might be something with my eyesight. But it’s something you should note if your eyes might be a bit off.

Tin can sound

Personally, if I could buy AR glasses without speakers, I would. I don’t care how good the audio siloing is; I want to wear headphones with these devices, especially if I’m on a plane or train. Or most often for me, sitting next to my wife consuming something I’m interested in while she plays her own games or the latest season of Love Island.

Still, speakers are here, and as far as I can tell, the speakers on the Viture Pro 2 are the same as the ones in the Viture Pro. They’re still tiny speakers with all of the tinniness that implies.

It remains annoying that because it's a display, the glasses override whatever audio source you’re already using. It’s simple to swap audio on the connected device, but still. I’d rather not have to.

Viture Pro 2: Verdict

Viture makes some of the best smart glasses already, but the original Viture Pros are outclassed by its Beast and Luma glasses. The Viture Pro 2 brings the price down, making them serious contenders in the realm of “budget-friendly” AR glasses.

At $299, Viture has superior display tech with comfort and adjustability built-in, making them more viable for more people.

Now, if you’re looking to use these for more than gaming and watching movies, they might not be the best glasses for you. However, if you’re a traveler and you want something to plug into your Steam Deck (or Switch 2 via the extra dock), these glasses will do the job and then some.

If it wasn’t for the tech industry's obsession with slapping AI onto everything from electric toothbrushes to bird feeders, maybe there wouldn’t be such a push to add cameras to smart glasses. Now that big tech firms have seen what they’re capable of, though, of course we need two or even three cameras strapped to our faces at all times.

Unfortunately for myself and others, the best smart glasses aren’t the only high-tech eyewear in town. Unlike a pair of Oakley Meta Vanguards or Rokid Glasses that can capture the world around you in crystal clear video, the specs I prefer are designed to do just the opposite. Instead of recording video, these devices — often marketed as AR or XR glasses — act as a massive private display that sits inches from your face.

From your favorite shows and movies to video games or browser tabs from your work laptop, these wearable displays are a game changer for both entertainment and productivity. However, as backlash continues to grow around camera-equipped smart glasses, I’m worried that wearing any high-tech frames in public won't be met with the same enthusiastic reactions I’ve received in the past.

That’s a real shame, because I don’t leave home without my Xreal One or Viture Luma Pro glasses when traveling, and they’re just as useful around the house.

A truly private workspace

Back when I first tested out the original Khadas Mind mini PC, I couldn’t get over the fact that you could power it via USB-C as opposed to using a bulky power adapter. That got me thinking: could I turn it into a portable workstation I could take with me anywhere? Sure, I could’ve just plugged in a portable monitor and called it a day—but where’s the fun in that?

I’m always looking for new devices to test out, so with the help of my colleague Jason England and Xreal’s legendary Ralph, I soon had a pair of AR glasses in hand to complete my vision. I’d tried VR headsets in the past with limited success, but once I donned a pair of Xreal One glasses, it was a perfect fit — both for my face and my workflow.

Armed with a massive power bank, that pocketable mini PC, and my AR glasses, I was able to take my portable workstation everywhere. And I did. After working at a coffee shop near my house and on a plane to and from New York for the unveiling of the Nintendo Switch 2, I did the unthinkable: I left my laptop at home and relied on this novel setup for an entire week at Computex in Taiwan.

Doing so made on-the-ground reporting slightly more difficult, but I didn’t regret my decision one bit. In fact, while working in the press room at the conference, a Taiwanese TV crew actually came up and asked to interview me about them. It was a completely different reaction than the side-eyes you’d get with a pair of camera-equipped smart glasses.

The secret to the setup's simplicity is USB-C DisplayPort Alt Mode. A single cable delivers both video and power to these wearable displays, keeping them remarkably lightweight since they don't need internal batteries or constant charging. You just plug them into a compatible device and you’re instantly greeted with a massive screen that’s far larger than what you’d get on any portable monitor or laptop.

These glasses have another trick up their sleeve, too. Thanks to electrochromic dimming, the push of a button lets you switch from an immersive, blacked-out background to a completely transparent lens. Transparent displays have always seemed like a piece of science fiction we’d eventually get in our homes. Now, not only did I have one, but I could wear it on my face. It’s like VR passthrough, except instead of a camera feed replacing reality, you're looking right through the glass at the world around you.

Big-screen on the go

Keeping yourself busy or entertained on a long flight has always been a struggle. Sure, you can poke around for something to watch on the in-flight entertainment system or pull out your laptop, but both come with downsides. Constant announcements from the flight crew interrupt your movie right when it gets good, and with a laptop, you’ve always got a neighbor peeking over your shoulder at your screen.

With a pair of wearable displays, only you can see what’s on screen. They come equipped with built-in speakers, though on a plane, I usually route my device's audio through a pair of Bluetooth earbuds instead. At home, though, it’s a whole different story.

After unboxing those Xreal glasses, the very first thing I did was plug them into an iPad mini. Even though Apple doesn’t make specs like these, it just worked. Suddenly, I was watching YouTube videos blown up to massive proportions without having to configure or adjust a single setting. All I had to do was plug them in to get a full home theater experience strapped to my face.

That’s another massive perk of wearable displays: they’re platform agnostic. Whether you’re running one of the best MacBooks, a Windows laptop, or an Android tablet, you’re good to go as long as the device has a USB-C port with DisplayPort Alt Mode. In an increasingly overcomplicated tech landscape, dealing with a truly plug-and-play device feels like a breath of fresh air.

The same plug-and-play simplicity applies to handheld gaming on devices like the Steam Deck or Asus ROG Xbox Ally too. Plug the glasses in, and it instantly feels like you're playing on a massive TV while using the handheld as a controller. You can't do that natively with a PS5 or Xbox, but companies like Xreal and Viture have come up with clever dock-like workarounds.

Returning to that Switch 2 reveal — while I loved most of the upgrades Nintendo made to its new handheld, one design choice left me scratching my head. Having an extra USB-C port on top of the device for charging is great, but that secondary port isn’t capable of standalone video output.

That’s where Viture’s Pro Mobile Dock comes in. Pair it with a set of AR glasses, and I was able to play Mario Kart World on a virtual 135-inch display while sitting poolside on vacation. When the day wound down, everyone else gathered around the hotel TV while I kept that same big-screen setup going indoors. Electrochromic dimming came in clutch here, too — a quick push of a button let me check my surroundings without ever having to pause the game.

Smarter isn’t always better

Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand both the appeal and the privacy concerns of smart glasses. Having a mobile device that can see and help you interact with the world around you also sounded like science fiction just a few years ago. Now, it’s a reality whether or not we’re prepared to meet it.

From traveling to just documenting your day to day life from a first-person perspective, there are definitely people who can really benefit from a pair of smart glasses. Right now though, they’re still very much in their adolescent period. Google Glass stumbled so that the Meta Ray-Bans and Intelligent Eyewear could run. However, while you may very much like your new smart glasses and everything they can do, others around you definitely might not.

In a world where everyone is glued to their smartphones and recording tons of videos at concerts they’ll never watch again, smart glasses could help bring a bit more reality to our digital lives. The problem is that, as we’ve seen, safeguards like recording LEDs can easily be bypassed. Meta and even Samsung are working on ways to address this but like we saw with Apple’s iPhone and now with AI, there will always be a jailbreak.

Personally, I’m holding out for smart contact lenses because by that point, all of the kinks and stigma of wearing smart glasses will hopefully be worked out. In the meantime, I love that I can just plug in a cable and have one large 16:9 or even an ultrawide screen anywhere I go.

Saved by a wire (for now)

Ironically enough, at a time when every gadget in my desk setup is wireless, the wire that connects my display glasses to whatever device I’m using is actually their saving grace. While people might have qualms about others wearing a pair of smart glasses out in public or even around their house, that visible relic is a telltale sign that I’m not recording what they thought was a private interaction.

Given that Xreal, Viture, and others have been making display-equipped glasses like this for some time now, I don’t think they’re going to drastically mix up the formula anytime soon. It’s just a shame that such a useful productivity and entertainment accessory is now mixed up in this whole camera-equipped smart glasses debate over a naming convention.

When you’re watching a film in your glasses or playing a game, you’re not really extending reality. Instead, you’re escaping it for a few minutes here and there — so "XR glasses" doesn’t really work. Likewise, you’re not augmenting it either, which is why "AR glasses" falls short too. I get that companies wanted that instant name recognition you’d get from associating their product with VR, but I still wish there was another name for these particular kinds of glasses. Display glasses is the most accurate, but that doesn’t roll off the tongue either.

For now though, I’m going to keep wearing mine in public because that’s where I find them the most useful. I’ll just continue to do so with their cord clearly visible.

More from Tom’s Guide

• I wore Ray-Ban Meta Display smart glasses to watch the Super Bowl halftime show — and understood Bad Bunny in real time
• I found a free Mac app that solves the worst thing about USB-C cables
• Tested: Xreal Aura DOES work with Nintendo Switch over USB-C — but they won’t tell me how they did it

• The Crisis: A late-night, long-distance phone call with my wife almost ended in disaster — until my Even Realities G2 smart glasses fed me a live summary of her argument like a teleprompter.
• The Friction: Outsourcing our active listening to an AI raises massive ethical red flags about cognitive atrophy. Are we losing our ability to pay attention to the people we love?
• The Defense: Even Realities CEO Will Wang argues that "ambient computing" is actually the cure for our digital distraction, forcing us to keep our heads up and stay present in the physical world.

It was 1AM, and I was staring down the barrel of every married man’s worst nightmare.

My wife lives in New York and I’m in the U.K., which means our daily catch-ups cross a brutal multi-time-zone divide. Late one night, as my brain-fogged exhaustion finally peaked, my focus slipped for just a few seconds. Then came the dreaded, fatal question:

“What was the last thing I said?”

Normally, failing this question means a one-way ticket to guilt trips and emotional exile. But as I’ve written about before, my Even Realities G2 came to my rescue with the Conversate feature passively transcribing the call and summarizing key points into its HUD overlay.

Now, as you may remember, when this happened a deeply uncomfortable thought washed over me: when relying on smart glasses, who’s actually in a relationship with my wife? Me, or my smart glasses? That’s a question I put directly to Even Realities Founder & CEO, Will Wang.

The cognitive hangover

It’s one of those big questions that makes so many of us skeptical of the AI hardware boom. We’re being asked to strap always-on micro-computers to our faces to make life completely frictionless. But what happens when that friction is the thing that makes us human?

This isn’t just some philosophical late-night hangover; it’s a genuine scientific concern. Recent studies coming out of places like Harvard have warned that an over-reliance on AI tools can lead to brain fry — actively diminishing our critical thinking, memory retention and ability to focus.

If we outsource our active listening to an LLM, we are essentially training our brains that it is OK to zone out. We are turning human connection into a highly optimized, automated task.

In my conversation with Will Wang, I asked him this question point blank, and he didn’t flinch.

“This question arises at every major technological turning point because it challenges the status quo and changes how we interact,” Wang told me. “Before smartphones, we had the exact same concern: while phones empowered us, they drew our attention to digital information and made us feel less connected to families.”

Fair point, but I feel this misses out on a crucial detail — the phone is pocketable, whereas the glasses are permanently worn. One is inherently more invasive than the other.

The "undisturbed connection"

Wang’s argument is that the cognitive damage has already been done by the smartphone. We are already ignoring our spouses to stare at glowing rectangles in our hands. The smart glasses, he argues, are actually the cure.

“First of all, as a company, we must build our products with a core philosophy of helping people build human connection,” Wang explained. “A display in your field of vision can be highly disruptive, but if designed with the right ethos, it can actually be the only way to show information while keeping you focused on the physical world. Otherwise you would look down at a phone screen.”

This is the central thesis behind Even Realities glasses. There are no cameras, and no obtrusive apps demanding your attention. It’s a design language the team calls “ambient computing” or “undisturbed connection.”

“When you align with this ethos, it completely changes your UI/US and product design decisions,” Wang noted. “An internal term we use frequently is ‘undisturbed connection’ — keeping you connected with digital services while remaining undisturbed.”

It’s Wang’s mission to make “design choices” that “always put the user in the driver’s seat,” like picking and choosing when you need AI cues like you see in Conversate. A very far cry from what you see other glasses doing.

The verdict: a digital crutch, or a cure?

Wang is right about one thing: when a new technology is introduced, we tend to get overly excited (or overly terrified) before we figure out how to coexist with it in harmony.

Did my smart glasses enable my bad behavior by letting me zone out during a conversation with my wife? Yes, absolutely. But they also kept my marriage in one piece, keeping me verbally present rather than going vague in my non-listening state..

We are potentially entering an era where AI is going to mediate almost every aspect of our digital lives. We are going to have to rely on digital crutches to manage the overwhelming flood of information. But if I have to choose a crutch, I’d rather have one that occasionally feeds me the right words to say to my wife, rather than one that distracts me from her entirely.

Let me know what you think in the comments below, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

More from Tom's Guide

• Exclusive: Even Realities CEO slams Meta Ray-Bans — we 'don’t thrive on selling data’
• 'It’s going to be that shift from phones to glasses': Snap Specs chief on design, target audience and that $2,200 price tag
• I praised Meta’s smart glasses privacy update yesterday — today, its ‘super sensing’ glasses proved me completely wrong

• The Conflict: Even Realities CEO Will Wang is calling out Meta and Google for forcing cameras onto smart glasses just to collect training data for future AI models.
• The Counter-Strategy: Even Realities' G1 and G2 smart glasses intentionally omit cameras and speakers, focusing instead on a text-based ambient HUD that prioritizes privacy, weight, and battery life.
• The Escalation: Even Realities has scaled its engineering team from 20 to nearly 400 people, gearing up to challenge Big Tech’s wearable AI dominance directly with its upcoming G3 hardware.

While Silicon Valley races to strap cameras, speakers and multimodal surveillance tools onto our faces, one smart glasses maker is picking a fight direct with Big Tech’s entire playbook.

Meta, Google and Snap want you to believe that a front-facing camera is essential for the future of AI wearables. Apple’s even rumored to be jumping in on this too. But according to Will Wang, Founder and CEO of Even Realities, their camera obsession isn’t about giving you a better device today — it’s about harvesting your personal life to train their future AI models.

Following a major $1 billion valuation round, I sat down with Wang to talk about the design choices behind the Even Realities G2 smart glasses. His message to the tech giants was loud, clear and strikingly defiant.

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

The ‘endgame’ trap

If you ask Meta why the Ray-Ban Meta glasses feature an ultra-wide camera, they will point to visual AI — the ability for your glasses to see what you see and help in real-time.

Wang sees this differently. In his view, companies like Meta and Google are letting their long-term corporate ambitions spoil their current hardware.

"When you look at the strategies of Snap, Google, or Meta, their long-term vision often overly influences their current generation of products," Wang explained. "For Google and Meta, they include a camera because they believe visual data will be crucial for AI in the future, and to reach that endgame, they need to enable visual capabilities and start gathering data now."

The result? Heavy, power-hungry devices designed for future data gathering rather than present-day wearability.

"I feel these larger companies let their endgame thinking dictate their current products instead of focusing on making the perfect product for the present moment," Wang noted. "For a hardware company, it is crucial that each generation does not sell a dream or an expectation, but sells the product as it is."

‘We thrive on making good products, not selling data’

Even Realities took the opposite path with its glasses — completely stripping away cameras and speakers, and opting for a discreet heads-up display that delivers notifications, teleprompting, navigation and live conversation summaries in your field of view.

When I asked Wang if a camera prototype was ever on the table during internal testing, he shut the idea down immediately.

"From day one, even with the first-generation G1, we never had a camera," Wang said. "We feel that, at the current moment with the capability of AI, adding a camera onto a pair of glasses definitely introduces many more downsides than upsides."

Beyond the obvious hardware penalties (added weight, larger size and worse battery life), Wang pointed directly to the ethical and regulatory landmines that Big Tech seems content to ignore.

"The guardrails and regulations around how to properly use visual data with smart glasses have not been established," Wang pointed out. "So, we feel it's too early, too risky, and has too little upside for a company like ours that does not thrive on selling data. We thrive on making good products and making a profit from those products, so a camera was never in the discussion."

Instead of overpromising an invasive sci-fi feature set, Even Realities focused on what actually works today: crisp, text-based ambient computing that keeps you present in the real world without creeping out the people around you.

David vs. Goliath: the battle for G3

It’s easy to dismiss a startup taking anti-camera ideological stances against multi-trillion-dollar titans. But Even Realities is no longer just a niche player catering to early adopters.

While the original G1 was built by a scrappy skeleton crew, the company’s massive recent funding round has allowed them to quietly build a massive engineering war machine to prepare for their next generation of hardware: the Even Realities G3.

"To give you some context, when we built G1, our team was only 20 to 30 people," Wang revealed. "For G2, we had about 70 to 80 people... Now, for G3, we have 300 to 400 people globally working laser-focused on this single product line."

That headcount puts Even Realities on a similar dedicated engineering scale to the smart glasses divisions that Apple, Meta or Google have — but with one massive structural advantage. While Big Tech giants split their resources across dozens of spatial computing projects, AR headsets and ad platforms, Wang’s team is focused solely on perfecting one lightweight, ambient device.

"We are on the radar of a lot of these bigger players; they are already buying our products and trying to analyze our roadmap," Wang said with a smile. "We really need to accelerate faster than before, and this round of fundraising actually gives us that. We are very confident."

The war is on

The smart glasses war is dividing into two distinct camps. On one side, Meta and Google want to turn your face into a sensor array to fuel their AI algorithms. On the other, Even Realities wants to give you a clean, distraction-free HUD that respects your privacy and actually looks like a normal pair of glasses.

If Will Wang has his way with the upcoming G3, the winner of the smart glasses revolution won’t be the company that records the most video of your daily life — it will be the one that lets you look the world in the eye without a camera watching back.

More from Tom's Guide

• '136 grams is not for all-day wearing' — Even Realities CTO sounds off on Snap Specs, and gives details on the future roadmap
• 'It’s going to be that shift from phones to glasses': Snap Specs chief on design, target audience and that $2,200 price tag
• I praised Meta’s smart glasses privacy update yesterday — today, its ‘super sensing’ glasses proved me completely wrong

These glasses are shockingly light given all the tech stuffed inside, and Samsung promises longer battery life than the Meta Ray-Ban glasses and instant access to Google’s robust app ecosystem. Plus, Samsung seems to be taking user privacy seriously.

Light enough for ‘all-day’ wear

The first thing I noticed about this Intelligent Eyewear is how light they are. Yes, the Warby Parker model looks bulkier than my everyday reading glasses from the same brand, but I was surprised how easy they were to pick up.

The right side houses a button for firing up Gemini and capturing content, and there’s a power switch on the inside of the left arm. There’s a camera on the right, LED sensor on the left and dual stereo speakers on the arms.

The Gentle Monster glasses come in a couple of different styles, including fashionable oval specs and more traditional-looking frames that offer clear or tinted lenses.

There appears to be a touchpad on the left and right arms for controlling volume, but Samsung was not able to confirm this detail.

Durability: Dropped, stretched and sunscreened

According to James Choi, who heads Samsung's XR R&D, the company subjected these glasses to drop tests, water tests, high temperatures and sweat. In fact, the company invented 20 different tests to evaluate the durability of its glasses.

This includes using robots to force the arms outward to see how long they last under stress. Samsung even devised a sunscreen test, injecting it near the speakers. So these specs should be able to stand up to the wear and tear of your daily schedule.

Gemini AI on your face

These AI glasses are all about having Gemini always available, letting you check notifications, get answers to your questions, directions and more on the go. For Samsung, it’s not about replacing your phone, but using it less.

With Gemini Live on board, you can leverage the cameras, microphones and open ear stereo speakers to have conversations on the fly with the AI assistant. You can get real-time guidance on everything from cooking to putting together an outfit or assembling furniture.

And because the glasses instantly understand the world from your perspective, the eyewear can be more contextual and there’s much less you need to explain.

And, unlike Meta, you’ll have access to a bevy of popular Google apps from day one, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps, as well as Samsung apps like Notes and Interpreter.

Very good (promised) battery life

Samsung promises nine hours of battery life on a charge with mixed usage. This includes Gemini Live conversations, voice calls, notifications and more.

I got to handle the charging case for the Gentle Monster glasses, and it was quite light as well. It promises several charges on the go.

What about privacy?

We don’t know the specs of the camera yet for the Samsung glasses, but you'll be able to capture photos and videos, as well as let Gemini see what you see for Gemini Live interactions.

But how will Samsung protect privacy and prevent a horde of creeps from surveilling everyone around them? Samsung told us that they’re building AI glasses you can trust.

For starters, any blocking of the LED on the glasses also blocks recording. But Samsung knows that certain individuals will resort to trying to hack the glasses or — as in the case of Meta — perhaps seek black market options for tampering with their device.

“At Samsung, privacy is not an afterthought,” Samsung’s Choi said. “For this category to be more widely adopted, we understand that the user and the people around them need to trust both the technology and its privacy protection."

Choi told us that simple destruction of the LED can be detected but Samsung also has engineers who are focused on further protections and reverse engineering what bad actors might accomplish on the black market.

Outlook

There’s still a fair amount we don’t know about the Samsung AI glasses year, like the weight, specs and especially price. But it’s clear that Samsung is focusing on everyday wearability and durability for these first-generation glasses.

Assuming the prices are affordable enough, I’d say Samsung and its partners have some key advantages over Meta, including high-profile partnerships with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, longer battery life, a better ecosystem of apps and a smarter AI assistant in Gemini.

Display glasses will come later. Samsung is actively developing this category but is also in no rush to launch. The company doesn’t want to make any major sacrifices to wearability.

“We want better quality than what’s in the market,” Choi said. We want to make it natural with the display. We’re working on it.”

But tell me what you think. Are you leaning towards Samsung or Meta, waiting for Apple to join the smart glasses race, or are you just fully anti AI-camera glasses no matter who makes them? Sound off in the comments.

To that end, these glasses don't have a camera, but instead a set of mics and an AI that can act as your assistant to look up data, create action items, and help keep people accountable.

I went hands-on with the Halliday G2 a few weeks back and here's everything they can do, as well as my initial impressions on how they compare to the best smart glasses.

Price and availability

The Halliday G2 will cost $599 (the same price as the Even Realities G2, but $200 less than the Meta Ray-Ban Display), and is expected to ship in September. Preorders begin today (July 21) at www.hallidayglobal.com; those who secure a preorder with a $10 deposit will get $100 off the regular price of the glasses.

The G2s will be available with prescription lenses.

Design and display

While the Halliday G2 has a display, it feels a lot more stripped-down than the Meta Ray-Ban Displays or the Snap Specs, but that's by design.

For one thing, there's no camera. In addition to making the glasses simpler, it was also done to put others at ease, company reps told me. (They can record audio, but still.)

While the G2 has a built-in display, it's much more basic than what you'll find on the Meta Displays, and more like that on the Even Realities G2 or Rokid Glasses: a green, monochrome readout.

Unlike the first-gen Halliday, the G2's display is brighter and clearer, and appears virtually in front of both your eyes, rather than on just the right side. The image appears to hover a few feet in front of you, which made it much more natural to look at when holding a conversation with others.

The G2's feature dual micro-LED projectors with a resolution of 600 x 300 in each eye, and a peak brightness of 1,600 nits.

I wore the G2's for a few minutes during a hands-on session, and found them to be as comfortable as the Ray-Ban Metas, as well as my regular non-smart glasses. The G2's weigh under 50 grams, which put them in the same tier as the Ray-Ban Meta (51 grams), the Rokid Glasses (48 grams), but heavier than the Even Realities G2, which weigh just 35 grams.

A touchpad on the right temple lets you navigate the G2's interface with swipes and taps; it'll take some practice to get the hang of things.

Similar to most smart glasses, the Halliday G2s can also deliver notifications, phone calls, play music, and let you use the Halliday AI Assistant.

Made for meetings

The biggest differentiator between the Halliday G2 and other smart glasses is its focus on making meetings more productive. To that end, its biggest feature is called Meeting Flow, which has several facets:

• Understanding the conversation (literally): The glasses support real-time translation in over 45 languages, and can pick up voices using its 4-mic array, which work in up to a 2-meter radius.
• Quick Summary: If you lose focus or get distracted, the glasses can catch you up on what was just said.
• Quick Research: If you need to look up a fact or information, Meeting Flow can dig up relevant information based on the conversation taking place at the time of your query.
• Thread Tracker: Often, conversations can drift off on tangents; this feature tracks how things evolved, so you can get back to the original subject.
• Decision Confirmation: This helps make sure that if something was decided, it gets remembered, and also prompts the G2 wearer if something was left open-ended.
• Commitment Check: If someone in the meeting says they're going to do something, this feature will prompt the wearer to not only confirm that, but also give the person the information they need to complete the task.
• Open-item tracker: If things are left unresolved, this feature will make note of them, and put them in a checklist.
• Summary and transcript: Like all other AI assistants, Meeting Flow will create a summary and transcript of the meeting.

Outlook

At a time when there's a lot of concern around privacy and smart glasses — just look at the issues around Meta's smart glasses — the idea of having a camera-free set of specs will no doubt be appealing to many.

The idea of having a set of smart glasses hyper-focused around a particular activity could appeal to those who spend a lot of time in meetings, and need a smart way to not only make them more productive, both during and after the fact.

However, I have no doubt that many will look to the broader appeal of the upcoming Samsung smart glasses (and other Android XR devices), which could cost around the same, but offer more functionality.

We'll reserve our final judgment until September, when the Halliday G2 glasses — and Meeting Flow — rolls out.

• I've reviewed all of Meta's smart glasses, and this is the pair I'd actually buy
• Exclusive: Inside Google’s plan to win over your face with AI glasses — and avoid Meta's privacy missteps
• I’ve traveled over 50,000 miles testing smart glasses in 2026 — here are my 3 favorites that have launched this year so far

As you might expect, Gemini is the headline feature. Having a smart assistant as your literal eyes has the potential to help you get a lot done on the go without having to constantly whip out your phone. But Juston Payne, who leads the product management team for XR at Google, also knows that the smart glasses category is fraught with controversy, especially over how to handle recording in public and user privacy.

“If people don't feel comfortable wearing these glasses, and privacy is part of this, they just won't wear the glasses. It’s as simple as that,” Payne said.

I had a chance to sit down with Payne to discuss these issues and a lot more ahead of the Intelligent Eyewear launch, including how to design for the masses, the roadmap to built-in displays and the totally separate Android XR spatial computing glasses coming from Xreal this year.

The lessons of Google Glass

Anyone old enough to remember the original Google Glass from 2012 probably remembers them for embarrassing reasons.

For me, my mind instantly goes to that infamous photo of Robert Scoble in the shower, which became a symbol for the device’s voyeuristic dangers. And then there’s that SNL Weekend Update bit, during which Fred Armisen lampooned how difficult the interface was to use.

I asked Payne directly about the lessons of Google Glass, and he admits that they were ahead of their time.

“The trouble was that the vision was good, but the reality was that the tech just wasn't quite there yet,” Payne said.

He cites three reasons for the Google Glasses flop that Intelligent Eyewear hopes to get right. First was the nerdy form factor. They didn’t really look like regular glasses. There was also a lack of content, which you now get with Android XR. And the third thing is versatility, which AI brings to the table.

“So there were these huge building blocks missing,” Payne said, “Hardware, platform, AI.”

And that brings us to the present…

What does Intelligent Eyewear do?

For the first round of Intelligent Eyewear, the glasses will be audio-only. Glasses with single and dual displays will be coming later, though Google will start offering a trusted tester program sometime this year.

In the meantime, the glasses coming this year from Samsung, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker will leverage Android XR to (hopefully) make your day easier by having Gemini always at the ready.

“Gemini can take your personal context — we call it personal intelligence — and then it can start feeding that into your experience,” Payne said. “These glasses are designed to give you ambient assistance throughout the day while keeping you connected to your digital world and the real world.”

For example, because Gemini has personal intelligence built in, it knows you, and you can ask about what’s on your calendar, the score of a sports game or a random fact.

“Just having a real-time conversational interface all day long is incredibly valuable for a lot of people,” Payne continued. For example, when Payne is driving with Intelligent Eyewear on he can ask about other podcasts Gemini might recommend based on the one he’s currently listening to and do it on the fly.

Payne cited a couple other major use cases for Intelligent Eyewear. The first is navigation, such as looking up a local restaurant that might be good around you.

“The audio experience for that is fantastic,” Payne said. “It uses the camera to localize you, so it knows that you're pointing in the right direction. It can give you contextual navigation to help you get to where you're going without being vague, you know, like ‘turn right there.’”

Translation is another potential killer app for Intelligent Eyewear, promising a quick “UN translator experience.” And when you’re cooking you can get step-by-step instructions even without a display.

But Payne argues that display glasses are nice to have as opposed to a must-have, such as seeing that your upcoming turn is 300 feet away.

“We think of the display more as almost an augmentation to the audio experience rather than something that is a hard dependency in many cases,” Payne said.

Design first, features second

Anyone who has been paying attention to the smart glasses market knows that there’s a sliding scale of geekiness. The Ray-Ban Meta glasses and Meta Glasses look very much like regular sunglasses or glasses. But the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses are bulkier, and the even more ambitious Snap Specs look pretty geeky with their extra-wide frames.

For Google, the approach is pretty simple: they have to be great glasses first.

“We lead with design and then we ask the question ‘what can you make within the constraints of a great design?’” Payne said. “Can we make a product that is genuinely valuable for people so that if they walk out of their house and they forgot them, they'll actually go back and get them?”

The early design from Gentle Monster has chic oval-shaped lenses that wouldn’t look out of place on a runway, while the Warby Parker design is a bit chunkier and more retro. They both feature dual cameras, but they look a bit more discreet on the Gentle Monster specs.

Google doesn’t seem willing to push the limits and risk the sort of backlash the Snap Specs have been getting for their overtly techy look.

“If you make a product that provides really novel new experiences, people might be willing to tolerate a design that has some larger compromises. I think it's great that people are out there testing that theory. It's just not the approach that Google's taking. We're really leading with design,” Payne said.

Major privacy landmines — and what Google is doing about it

By now you’ve probably heard some of the horror stories coming out of the Meta glasses camp around privacy concerns, including a woman who discovered her esthetician was wearing Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses at a European Wax Center in Manhattan. And 404 Media reported on how men were wearing the glasses to covertly film massage parlor workers.

Then there’s the black market that sprung up around disabling the LEDs on Meta glasses so that others don’t know that you’re recording. Meta recently attempted to close this loophole with a software update that automatically disables the cameras if the LED has been tampered with or destroyed.

It’s safe to say that Google is walking into a minefield of privacy concerns, but the company has a plan to address them.

“If people don't feel comfortable wearing these glasses, and privacy is part of this, they just won't wear the glasses. It’s as simple as that,” Payne said.

To help combat some of the concerns people have about these issues, Google is starting by making sure that Intelligent Eyewear users are signaling to the people around them when they are recording and that the LED is accurate.

Payne told us that Google will share more details later this year around how they ensure this accuracy, but the bottom line is that the light should be on if whatever you’re recording or shooting can be reviewed later.

Google will also be employing Android permission frameworks to help protect users, as well as other security and privacy techniques already on your phone.

Lastly, Google is “investing to make it so that the hardware itself holds up,” Payne said. “So if people try to mess around with it somehow, we have ways of detecting that.”

Google vs. Meta vs. Apple

Launching in 2023 and with over 9 million units sold already, it’s fair to say that Meta has had a pretty big head start with its Ray-Ban glasses and other eyewear, but Google is pretty confident that it can make a splash in what is still a pretty nascent market.

I asked Juston directly about his largest competitor and he told me that “Meta’s doing a great job” with “very nice glasses.” But while the Meta glasses are good for things like photos, videos, calls and music, Google is taking a different approach with Gemini front and center.

“We think a lot about moments throughout the day. And these moments throughout the day are really the things that are driving our approach to the platform. ‘How does Gemini show up in glasses? What kinds of hooks are we making from Gemini into apps? How are apps making themselves available to Gemini? So so much of our thinking is about versatility.”

That thinking includes making things super easy for developers to get their apps running in Android XR, while Meta’s app ecosystem is still fairly skimpy.

“The platform will know if their app, which is running on the phone, is talking to audio glasses or glasses with a display, and it'll tailor that app experience for it,” Payne said. “So that means that developers really only build once. They just build an Android app, and then we take care of the rest.”

Payne also is acutely aware of the fact that Apple is working on its own Apple Glasses, which will likely debut in 2027. And it will be taking the same vertically oriented approach it has with all of its other products: Apple’s own design. Apple’s software. Apple’s ecosystem.

“Apple has a very strong track record,” Payne said, “and I think that one thing that Apple has always done well is that they play to their strengths. I would expect that they'll keep doing that. And I'm sure that they'll provide very real competition for everybody else playing in the space.”

The difference between what Google is doing with Android XR and Intelligent Eyewear and what Apple is doing is that Google is building a multi-partner platform, while Apple is focusing on making a product.

“So each time that these categories come along, Google makes a platform and there's a lot of value. Google's a partnership company. And as you look through when we've done best, it's when we partner.”

At the same time Payne shared that Google has a lot of “skin in the game” with its first-party apps, including Gemini, Google Maps and Google Translate.

Despite being a fierce Apple competitor, Google is working hard to make sure that Intelligent Eyewear devices work well with the iPhone, though there will be some platform-level restrictions the company may not be able to work around.

Aura farming

Google’s partnerships extend to companies like Xreal, an early pioneer in the smart glasses space, and they are collaborating on spatial computing glasses that attempt to squish pretty much all the functionality of the Samsung Galaxy XR headset into a pair of fairly sleek specs.

However, while Intelligent Eyewear works with your Android phone or iPhone, the Xreal Aura are wired glasses that connect to a computing puck. Coming this fall, the glasses promise an immersive see-through display and AI assistance from Gemini.

You can work across multiple virtual monitors, experience over 100 apps made for XR, enjoy a private cinema anywhere for watching 3D movies and more. Think Apple Vision Pro but in a design you might actually want to wear. But there’s some trade-offs versus headsets, like a narrower field of view.

For example, the Xreal Aura has a 70° Diagonal FOV, compared to 109° horizontal and 100° vertical for the Galaxy XR.

“Some people would say, ‘hey, I'm okay actually giving up some of that,’” Payne told me. “I need to keep the core value, but I'm okay with giving up some of that so that I can take it with me more easily.”

Will smart glasses replace phones?

If smart glasses like Google’s Intelligent Eyewear are designed to help you use your phone less often, will there be a tipping point where the vast majority of people leave their phone behind?

For Payne, that’s not happening anytime soon.

“The phone is here to stay,” Payne said. “Phones are incredibly powerful. They have a user interface to them that is well adopted and highly robust. I'm not so sure that there's even a great reason to get rid of the phone, even if you could.”

The true benefit of smart glasses — at least for now — is that they allow you to be less distracted. How many times have you opened your phone to respond to a notification only to find yourself knee deep in some other app?

“Glasses can fit into your experience throughout the day by adding a lot of value on top. It'll shift some of the minutes that you’re spending on the phone to the glasses, which have all these nice benefits because you can then stay more present with what you're doing.”

We’ll be keeping a close eye on Intelligent Eyewear and will bring you our full reviews once we have a chance to test out Google’s Android XR platform — and its partner’s designs.

People will stare. Teenagers will point. Baristas will ask if you need medical assistance. But sitting in Costa Coffee with a 120-inch OLED screen floating over my gigantic black americano, playing Nvidia GeForce Now while looking like a low-budget cyberpunk extra... I quickly realized the joke was entirely on them.

It got even better when I sat in the pub with no TV, but still managed to get the big screen experience watching England play in the World Cup! The old men sipping bitters can stare all they want, but I’m watching the Jude Bellingham masterclass while they’re not.

Now, obviously this is purpose-built for home and flight use — a separate wearable paired with 6DoF-enabled glasses for a spatial experience, which is Android-armed to download and take all your content with you for offline viewing. Wearing it in public like this is a ludicrous stress test “in the name of science.”

But it proved that while this combo of devices were a bit of a mess a few months ago before the software updates, Viture’s platform is maturing nicely here. It’s not the Android XR levels of the Xreal Aura, but it’s the essentials with a little extra on the side for (probably) far cheaper.

What I’m using this combo for mostly

So my two main use cases have been light work and play. The OS is built on Android 13, so you get all the Google apps you need to get stuff done, alongside Viture’s built-in entertainment apps and the Play Store to snag things like Netflix.

Let’s start with play, because this one is pretty obvious, right? It’s got Bluetooth, so you can connect a controller, fire up cloud gaming services like GeForce Now and play to your heart’s content on a giant screen. Also, shout-out to Viture’s PSPlay and XBXPlay apps too, which can stream your console to your glasses via remote play — these work perfect for when your wife wants to watch Bake Off, but you don’t want to stop your season on FC 26.

Then there’s the work side of it. Multi-screen support means I can have my Google Drive, Google Docs and Chrome open all at the same time to refer to files, research stories and type away on my bluetooth-connected keyboard. For anything more intensive, it’s clear that spatial computing still has some ways to go. But for that casual day-to-day, this has been fun.

Then we have to talk about the entertainment side of it, which now comes with Immersive 3D. If you’re new to this, Viture’s Spacewalker app has been dabbling with real-time 2D-to-3D content conversion on other devices, and it’s finally made its way to the Pro Neckband.

Is it a gimmick? Sure, just like how I’ve found 3D cinema to always be a gimmick. But I can’t deny it’s a damn fun gimmick to have when depth is added to the intense racing action scenes of something like “The Fast & The Furious.”

Truly spatial…ish

Viture’s been quietly updating the Pro Neckband in the background since it released a while ago, and one of the more crucial ones is making it play nice with that chip in the Luma Ultra glasses and the cameras for 6DoF tracking.

99% of AR glasses give you three degrees of freedom (3DoF), which registers rotational movement. Imagine sitting still in a swivel chair — you can look all around you (up, down, left and right) and the screen will stay locked in front of you. Where the illusion of tracking ends is if you were to lean forward to the screen, or get up and try to walk around it. The screen will stay the same distance from your eyes because there isn’t the tracking tech to do so.

Enter 6DoF, which takes those first three degrees, but then adds surging (moving forward and backward), heaving (moving up and down) and swaying (strafing left and right). You can physically walk around the screens floating in the space around you. That chip in the Luma Ultra tying up nicely with the built-in cameras and the computational power of the Neckband Pro allows for this…sort of.

You see, it all starts to kind of become awkward when hand tracking is involved. First of all, shout-out to Viture for figuring out tracking my tattoo-covered hands — both they and Xreal had this issue before, so it’s great to see everybody overcome my unnecessary challenge!

But it’s not completely reliable, and there are a few times when you’ll be left waving at yourself and pinching wildly in the air to try and get the system to recognize you. In those moments, however, there’s the Neckband Pro remote app for a trackpad or pointer. These came in clutch on flights (when 6DoF tracking is basically out the window) and for fixing those frustrating moments.

Not for everyone

So what did I learn from my experiment? Well, Viture’s been quietly cooking here. When I first got the Pro Neckband about a year ago, it wasn’t ready for primetime. The rough idea was there, but the experience was all over the place with apps flying away and near-zero tracking reliability.

The Neckband Pro itself is a lot better for users now, and when testing it with 3DoF glasses like the Beast and Luma Pro (even other glasses like the Xreal One with that adaptor), you’re now getting a solid spatial computing experience on-the-go with a decent-enough battery life to take you through around 3.5 hours in my time using it.

Would I like a longer battery life? Absolutely, and hopefully we can get some silicon-carbon battery tech to make up for the shortfall. Plus with the internals packed so tightly into this, make sure you don’t obscure the fan on the left arm.

But throw the Luma Ultra into the mix, and it clicks just that little bit better with the 6DoF capabilities and improved hand tracking. However, I’m fully aware this will not be a must-buy for everyone. The combination is nearly $900, which is a lot. Will it be cheaper than Xreal Aura? I’m willing to bet it will be, but that’s beside the point because $900 is VR headset money. You could get a couple of Meta Quest 3Ses for that.

However, if ultra portability is your thing, and your use cases can find that sweet spot that really makes the most of its capabilities, then you’ll have a lot of fun with it.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tested the $299 X By Xreal a01+ AR glasses over 25,000 miles of travel — they’re proof that we don’t need fancy spatial tracking, we just need a cheaper screen
• These camera-less smart glasses are a great anti-Meta alternative, but the AI still wants to record your life
• I’ve traveled over 50,000 miles testing smart glasses in 2026 — here are my 3 favorites that have launched this year so far

But after learning that Meta wants to turn its Ray-Bans into a 24/7 AI wiretap, I went looking for an alternative. Enter the MemoMind One: a pair of smart glasses that completely ditches the camera and proves it isn't a necessary function.

From XGIMI — yes, the company behind some of the best projectors out there — they do protect bystanders from being secretly filmed, but there are 'Moments' where for $20 a month, AI will record and transcribe your daily environment in the background.

Less creepy, to be fair, but still a little creepy (and $20 a month for the "privilege"). Though they did prove that a camera is not needed.

I love the idea behind these smart glasses

Sure, having a camera on smart glasses is incredibly useful, but it's also a privacy nightmare. Meta just rolled out a mandatory update for its own glasses that disables the camera entirely if the privacy LED is tampered with.

The XGIMI MemoMind One takes a different route by skipping the camera altogether. Instead, the company makes its glasses smart by leaning on its projector expertise, shipping them with a built-in projected display that overlays a heads-up display directly onto the real world in front of you.

That means whenever you're wearing the XGIMI MemoMind One, you see a small monochrome green virtual display floating in front of you, showing important information in a compact dashboard, including notifications, weather, time, and more.

The display only shows up for a few seconds at a time, though you can adjust that in the companion app. The beauty of having a projected display, though, is that anyone in front of you won't be able to see what's on screen, mostly. At certain angles, however, the glasses do show a faint green hue here and there.

In terms of functionality, the XGIMI MemoMind One is fairly similar to the highly popular Even Realities G2, except it goes a step further by adding a feature the G2 was missing: audio output and built-in microphones.

That means it can play audio from any app you like, whether that's YouTube, TikTok, or Spotify. You can also use that same combination to take calls and meetings, make notes on the go, and of course, chat with the AI assistant on the device.

Over the Even Realities G2, I also appreciate that these glasses skip the touchpad entirely. Instead, they rely on a physical button under the right temple, which I'd take over a touchpad any day. And there's no additional smart ring you need to buy just to control them, either.

It's not perfect

So what's not to like about the MemoMind One? It pretty much sounds fantastic. Well, yes, but only on paper.

I'll give the XGIMI credit for not making me look as goofy as most other smart glasses do. And while the headlining feature of a virtual floating display right in front of your eyes sounds fantastic and futuristic, my eyes took a few days to properly adjust.

For the first three or four days, my eyes constantly felt tired, and I'd take the glasses off after wearing them for just a few minutes. That was until I finally figured out you can adjust the display distance from the app. Even so, I still get slight fatigue whenever I wear them.

My biggest issue with this pair of smart glasses isn't the hardware, though. It's the software. It's great that you can ask the AI general questions and both see and hear the responses at the same time.

But the software lacks basic features like setting timers, alarms, and reminders, which feels like table stakes for a device that's supposed to bring the quickness of getting things done from your phone straight to the display in front of you.

I do love that the company isn't gatekeeping the essentials. Calendar integration, notifications, and the basic Memo AI tier are all free. But there's also a Memo+ AI tier that costs around $20 a month, which brings a better AI engine and a feature called Moments that records and transcribes your daily environment, continuously in the background.

And that is where this product feels a little creepy. Having my life recorded 24/7 and paying $20 for the same? This makes the subscription a pretty hard sell.

I don't miss the cameras

Look, the XGIMI MemoMind One may not be the perfect display-based smart glasses out there, but the company's direction reassures me that this segment isn't just about slapping a camera onto a pair of normal glasses and calling it a day.

There's room for far more innovation here, and having a built-in floating display, on top of everything else I've raved about, makes this a much better value proposition than a standard pair of smart glasses.

Sure, camera-equipped glasses will still have their place, but for everyday wear, this is pretty much what I'd want to carry. Also, it helps not to look like a creep.

The XGIMI MemoMind One is currently only available through the company's Kickstarter, where it's offering nearly $200 off on pre-orders right now. The available variants start at $399, but the company tells me that once it hits shelves commercially, it'll be selling for $599.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple Glasses could be the next Apple Watch and send shockwaves through the eyewear industry
• I've traveled over 50,000 miles testing smart glasses in 2026 — here are my 3 favorites that have launched this year so far
• I just tried Google's Android XR glasses — and Meta and Apple are in trouble

Previously, the answer for that has been the RayNeo Air 4 Pro. But now, a new $299 competitor has entered the ring: the X by Xreal a01+. And yes, the MacBook Neo-ification of AR glasses has arrived…but it’s a little odd sometimes.

Because yes, I’m a big fan of the ultra lightweight design, the screen quality is nice and bright and the AI SDR-to-HDR converter does work well in adding more of a flourish to the picture. Plus the swappable front gives me serious Nokia 3210 levels of fun customization opportunities.

But while this does have the design and ease-of-use advantage over the RayNeos, there are some areas where the Air 4 Pros do excel, such as the audio quality, vividness and the raw sharpness of the panel. Plus this stabilization mode of the XBX is good on paper, but leads to a picture that warps slightly with some ghosting around objects.

All in all, these are some solid AR glasses that do the essentials well. It will ultimately come down to what your priorities are — RayNeo for the better picture and sound quality, but XBX for the improved comfort while giving you most of that pretty screen.

X By Xreal a01+: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? These are budget AR glasses.
• Who is it for? They are ideal for first-time buyers of AR glasses and those who want a good value-for-money option.
• What does it cost? These cost $299.
• What do we like? The super lightweight design feels great on your face, the display is nice and bright, and I do love that customizability of just snapping off the front frame.
• What don’t we like? Keep that stabilization mode turned off, as it does weird things to the picture, colors are a little drained if you don’t use HDR, and there is some edge blurring around the sides.

X By Xreal a01+: Specs

X By Xreal a01+: The ups

It’s about time we had some competition on the lower end of AR glasses — RayNeo’s been snapping it all up! And Xreal does introduce some new ideas here that are rather great.

Super lightweight and comfortable

Beyond looking like a swanky oversized pair of wayfarers on your face (the usual affair for AR glasses), that 62g weight makes them like a feather atop your ears. Yes, that’s dramatic, but compared to more premium, heavier glasses, these were a breath of fresh air.

And whether it’s the rocket-shaped box it’s packed in (why? No idea) or the bright logo emblazoned on the inside, there’s just something fun about this design. The build quality definitely feels like cheap plastic, which makes me nervous about their longevity. But there is a chaotic upside to this budget design: you can physically rip the front lenses off. It gives me serious Nokia 3210 vibes, and people are already 3D-printing their own custom mods for it.

Just the picture quality you need

When it comes to basic budget glasses, you just need something that’s sharp and bright. The XBXs deliver on that nicely with 1080p micro OLEDs that may be a little less colorful out the box as you’d get from a RayNeo (that’s always been Xreal’s color tuning) but largely matches the sharpness in the center with slightly less edge-blurring than the Air 4 Pro, and they’re much brighter at 1,600 nits peak.

With support up to 120Hz, I had a blast with some high refresh rate gaming when connected to my MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ on several journeys, and the HDR10 support is huge for those moments when you've downloaded content from a service like Apple TV+ on your Mac.

Oh, and shout-out to the AI SDR-to-HDR converter too. The differences are subtle, but the pop of color is definitely noticeable alongside the improved contrast ratio — all while adding very little additional latency to the pipeline. Though to quickly note a couple of things in the features menu:

• HDR options turn the refresh rate down to 60Hz or 90Hz — not a world-ending problem at all, but if you notice a reduced smoothness, that’s why.
• Stabilization works at 120Hz — more on this feature later.

Don’t get me wrong. You’re not getting the cream of the crop (as you should expect in cheap AR glasses). But for the price you’re paying, it’s a solid panel for gaming and entertainment.

X By Xreal a01+: The downs

With budget products, everyone always has one question on their lips: what are the compromises? The XBXs do have a couple worth noting, and a feature that may sound good on paper, but is a little awkward in execution.

Cheap thrills?

Don’t get me wrong. The super lightweight construction does feel good on the face, and there’s a decent amount of flex in the arms to make them fit. But the plastic does feel cheap across the body, which given some of the hinge cracking problems I’ve noticed on more premium Xreal glasses, does make me a bit nervous about the longevity of them.

On top of that, there is no IPD adjustment here. This seems to be par for the course with cheaper AR glasses, so take stock of the XBX’s pupillary distance window (54.5mm to 74.5mm) and measure your own IPD to be doubly sure.

For iOS users, get the EyeMeasure app, and for Android users, OptoExpert does the trick!

Some picture woes - aggravated by Stabilization