The Next Generation of Smart Glasses: What to Know

Google says it will commit up to $150 million to the consumer eyewear company Warby Parker to develop AI-powered smart glasses based on Android XR jointly, the companies said on Tuesday during Google I/O 2025.

Google has already committed $75 million to Warby Parker’s product development and commercialization costs. Google says it will invest an additional $75 million. Google will take an equity stake in Warby Parker if the eyewear company successfully meets certain development and performance milestones.

At Google I/O 2025, Google also announced partnerships with several companies to develop smart glasses with Gemini AI and AR capabilities, including Samsung and Gentle Monster.

These glasses will include smartphone-like features such as navigation, live language translation, appointment scheduling, object recognition with visual explanations, and optional in-lens displays—designed to enhance users’ real-world experience with multimodal AI.

Google seems to be taking a page out of Meta’s smart glasses strategy

Meta has found success partnering and investing in the Ray-Ban maker Essilor Luxottica to develop its smart glasses. Part of the reason behind Ray-Ban Meta’s success is that the smart glasses have an attractive, familiar design, and they’re being sold in Ray-Ban stores. It seems likely that Google will have a similar relationship with Warby Parker, taking advantage of the eyewear company’s popular frame designs and perhaps its retail stores.

In the press release, Warby Parker and Google said they intend to launch a series of products over time. Their first line of eyewear will launch “after 2025” and will incorporate multimodal AI with prescription and non-prescription glasses.