Google is taking on Meta’s Ray-Ban Meta glasses by announcing new partnerships at Google I/O 2025 with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker to create smart glasses based on Android XR.
Google launched the Android XR platform with Qualcomm and Samsung last year. While it didn’t talk about specific devices then, the latest announcement indicates the company wants to build multiple iterations of glasses and headsets with different partners.
On Tuesday, the company also said it would expand its partnership with Samsung to XR glasses. It added that both companies are developing a software and a hardware reference platform for developers to build solutions on.
Samsung, Qualcomm, and Google announced a mixed reality project in 2023. Samsung subsequently unveiled a headset, Project Moohan, in late 2024. It’s set to debut later this year, Google says.
At I/O, Google also showed off concept glasses based on the Android XR platform augmented by its Gemini AI. The glasses have a camera, a microphone, and speakers, just like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses. But they also have an optional display to view notifications, affixed to the lens of the glasses.
Google demoed several different use cases, such as messaging, turn-by-turn navigation, scheduling appointments, live language translations, and taking photos. The search giant said it is seeding units to select testers to gather feedback.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/
