An ‘iPhone moment’ for your eyes — why Xpanceo is betting big on smart contact lenses as the future of AR

Roughly 45 million people in the U.S. alone wear contact lenses. Just a fraction of those folks need to convert to smart contact lenses for the technology to potentially take off and have its "iPhone moment," says Roman Axelrod, the founder of Xpanceo, one of the most promising smart contact lens startups in 2026.

Breaking down consumer technology barriers is arguably in Axelrod’s DNA; his grandfather was a Soviet engineer in the 1950s who worked on early computer systems and watched them ultimately transform into the high-power smartphones we carry today.

“He saw these little devils [smartphones], and he always laughed, 'We couldn't even have imagined that those computers we developed... that you guys will someday use them to post pictures on Instagram,'" says Axelrod.

As a contact wearer myself, I’ve been dying to learn more about the future of smart contact lenses. So, earlier this spring, I interviewed both Roman Axelrod, Xpanceo's founder, and Valentyn Volkov, Xpanceo’s chief technology officer, to find out what this new wearable platform will be capable of, how it works, and perhaps most importantly, how soon I can take a pair for a spin.

Awaiting an ‘iPhone moment’

"The iPhone moment of wearable tech... will be when you leave the house, realize that you forgot your phone, and be like just, 'Oh, fine then, I have my lenses, I don't need this thing,'" states Axelrod. But, how far off is that future?

According to Volkov, we may have to wait roughly ten more years until a consumer-ready smart contact lens is ready for market. However, that doesn’t mean that the platform won’t be available sooner. Smart contact lenses will likely initially make their debut as medical devices or for industrial/enterprise use.

“There's literally a huge graveyard of companies behind us, very well funded, created by great professionals. So, business-to-business (B2B) first. Then by the end of the decade, we'll approach the business-to-customer (B2C) market. Of course, we'll have to take into consideration medical trials and approvals, which might take some time,” says Axelrod.

New technology, no doubt, tends to take some time before catching on and achieving its so-called mass-adoption "iPhone moment." This is to say, Axelrod isn’t too worried about the road ahead.

“Apple used to sell their computers to libraries and copy shops for years before they started to spread their computers more widely. You start with a very narrow use case for a very narrow consumer. Once you persuade the first generation of consumers to actually follow your product, you establish a cult of your product.”

Thanks to the ubiquity of normal contact lenses among the masses, Axelrod predicts a potentially natural path to mass adoption of a ‘smart’ variant.

“In our case, of course, this largely comes to community wearing contact lenses already. There are about 150 million daily users. People are already paying daily. We need a fraction of them to start building knowledge about the product. Then, I hope that by 2033, 2035, this will be the, as we put it on the website, the largest used computing platform ever built.”

Instead of screens, a projection directly into your eye

“It is only natural to put content within the eyesight,” says Axelrod, but how is Xpanceo achieving such a seemingly difficult task without creating a bulky, uncomfortable product? Moreover, how can one focus on a display that’s located directly on the eyeball?

The simple answer: Xpanceo lenses project directly into your eye rather than out in front of it.

“The challenge is the eye was not created to see something closer than 10 centimeters. That's how we evolutionarily developed,” notes Valentyn Volkov. “We have to combine our micro display with a very sophisticated electro-optical projection system, where all the rays from the display — before they reach your eye lens inside — are made parallel. Once the parallel rays go through the lens [of your eye], they will be collected in a focal point.”

Diffraction elements in the Xpanceo’s lenses ensure a sharp image that parallels what you're seeing in your other eye gets projected. And because the lenses move together with your eyeballs, the projection is visible no matter what direction you look.

However, that’s not the only advantage of Xpanceo’s smart contact lens design.

Smart-powering tomorrow’s wearable tech

“We don't need a lot of brightness in our display because it's so close to the eye. The coupling efficiency from the display to the eye is almost 100%. Which means that all the traditional problems with smart glasses when the outside illumination is getting brighter, then the contrast dies immediately [are gone]," says Volkov.

Lower display brightness also means less power consumption.

“All the systems can be operated at a microwave or at a micro watt range, which is a huge difference compared to smart glasses, where battery life is a big, big challenge. So in our case, we don't need lots of power to operate our system,” adds Volkov.

Still, the thought of a tiny battery in your eye may sound unappealing, but both Axelrod and Volkov assure me that Xpanceo smart contact lenses will be just as comfy to wear as ordinary ones.

This is partially because Xpanceo’s design features an electromagnetic harvesting antenna that alleviates the need for a bulky on-lens battery.

“The micro antenna can harvest electromagnetic energy from outside. It can also send and receive signals without obstructing the very center, the pupil of the eye. This antenna is coupled together with micro batteries, solid-state batteries integrated again inside the lens. Those batteries can be charged with the help of that antenna,” says Volkov.

A companion device for computation is essential… for now

But, where is the antenna transmitting data to? While Xpanxeo’s smart contact lens concept is self-sufficient in terms of power, data computation is handled by a companion device kept in close proximity.

“The lens comes together with a companion device. It looks like a small box where the main computational power [takes place]. It’s very important to keep the thermal balance of the lens low, “ says Volkov.

Presently, Xpanceo’s companion device looks kind of like an old-school Bluetooth earpiece, but the form factor is hardly set in stone. For instance, your smartphone or a pair of wireless earbuds could potentially fill the role.

“Basically, [the smart contacts] are a screen and also your very private electrochemical lab, biochemical lab, which can also monitor your health in real time. Then, through Bluetooth, the system does an exchange of data with the companion device, which could also be your mobile phone, in principle,” notes Volkov.

When will Xpanceo smart contact lenses actually debut?

So, when can you expect Xpanceo smart contact lenses to actually debut in some form? According to Axelrod and Volkov, as early as 2027. While the brand was unable to attend Mobile World Congress 2026, Europe’s biggest tech show, this year, due to global events outside its control, the plan is to present a working prototype at next year’s early spring show.

In fact, both Axelrod and Volkov plan to show off the tech by wearing the prototypes themselves. What might this early version promise? In addition to in-lens displays, Axelrod says that Xpanceo is aiming to include health tracking tools like 24/7 blood glucose monitoring.

Other wellness-focused variants of Xpanceo smart contact lenses may be able to detect early signs of glaucoma and/or monitor drug levels within patients with a higher degree of precision than is currently available.

Ultimately, it will probably be another decade or so before you’re popping a pair of smart contact lenses in and leaving your smartphone behind, assuming smart contact lenses actually have an “iPhone moment” and take over the world.

I, for one, long for a smartphone-free future, where the primary tech we interact with is infinitely more seamless with our body, and moreover, doesn’t require a cargo-sized pocket to haul around like my iPhone 16 Plus.

What do you think? Would you give smart contact lenses a try if the tech were more mature? Let me know in the comments below.

Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds.

More from Tom's Guide

• All the robots I met at MWC 2026, Europe’s largest tech show
• Exclusive: Ultrahuman CEO says smart rings will 'become a computer on the body' with the ability 'to at least micro-think'
• Interview: This new, hidden feature inside your Pixel Watch could predict the next ‘Big One’