Looking to the future. Can the next gen of smart glasses replace the smartphone?

When Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap Inc, unveiled his new Specs smart glasses in June 2026, he described the moment as the "beginning of a new era in computing."

He might be right. But the truth is, smart glasses are not new. In fact, Snap launched its first product, Spectacles, ten years ago. They failed. Within a year, Snap revealed losses of $40m in excess inventory and cancelled orders. But Spectacles was not the only flop. There was also Google Glass, launched to much hype in 2013, and withdrawn in 2015. 

Now, like Snap, Google is also preparing to re-enter the market again. It's preparing new Android XR smart glasses with partners including Samsung, Warby Parker, and Gentle Monster. It will be competing with other market entrants including Amazon, Rokid, Alibaba, Techno, Xiaomi and more. Apple is rumoured to be working on a product too.

What's going on? Where did this market revival come from?

The most likely answer is Meta. Its trendy eyewear products, designed with Oakley and Ray-Ban, launched in 2023. They feature a built-in AI assistant, speakers for audio and a camera that can capture 3K video and 12MP stills.

These features let wearers take high‑quality photos and videos directly from their eyeline, with a press of a button or a spoken command. They also double as audio devices, thanks to technology built into the arms that delivers sound without blocking outside noise. 

Meta's eyewear proved unexpectedly popular. The firm's manufacturing partner EssilorLuxottica says it has sold 7 million units and is expecting to sell 10 million more this year.

A $50 billion product category?

This success has revived a 'forgotten' product range. Research firm Counterpoint reported a 110 percent year-over-year increase in global smart glasses sales during the first half of 2025, with Meta capturing about 73 percent of shipments. Meanwhile Banna tech projects the market value will grow from $1.93 billion in 2024 to over $50 billion by 2030. 

Needless to say, it's tech that is fuelling 'smart glasses v2.0'. Today's products are powered by dedicated chipsets such as Qualcomm's AR 1+ Gen 1, which are smaller and more power-efficient than previous designs. Other chip makers, such as Allwinner, have launched budget system on chip (SoC) solutions that open up the market to entry level products.

AI arrives to change what’s possible

Then there’s AI. Obviously smart glasses don’t have keyboards, so they rely on spoken commands, gesture and touch. These functions could be clunky ten years ago. But thanks to AI, they are seamless and friction-free in the new generation of products. Unsurprisingly, all the current market players are hyping up the AI angle. Google is a good example – proclaiming that its forthcoming glasses will be built around the company’s Gemini AI engine.

Together, the newtechnical improvements have enabled compelling new product features including:

• Built-in AI features such as real-time translation, contextual assistance and voice interaction.
• AR overlays for navigation, gaming and productivity.
• Lightweight and fashionable design
• Support for prescription lenses
• Seamless integration with ecosystems like Android, iOS, and Amazon
• Bone conduction technology for hands-free communication and audio feedback
• Motion sensor to track movements and surroundings
• Connectivity to sync with smartphones and wearables.

Smart glasses and the enterprise

Of course, the smart glasses revival also has implications for business. Indeed, this product category started in the enterprise space. Boeing experimented with head-mounted displays as early as 1995. It later used Google Glass in 2016 to cut the production time of its wire harnesses by 25 percent.

Like consumers, enterprises are reassessing the value of smart glasses. Various smart glasses companies now offer eyewear configured for enterprise settings – especially in logistics, utilities, oil and gas, healthcare and communications. Businesses in these verticals are using advanced new smart glasses tech to explore uses cases such as:

• Using AI to help inspectors detect and diagnose issues
• Accessing AR overlays to reveal critical information, and eliminate the need for manuals
• Using voice commands to let technicians go hands-free, increasing efficiency and reducing errors
• Playing video demonstrations to facilitate real-time training
• Offering remote assistance via live feeds, allowing for immediate support and faster issue resolution

BMW is a case in point. It currently uses RealWear HMT-1 devices to let technicians access technical documentation hands-free, and connect with experts to speed up diagnostics and repairs. According to the company, some repairs are now being completed up to 75 percent faster.

A new approach to identity and trust

If we see smart glasses as the first AI-native computing platform, it follows that wearers will use eyewear to carry out sensitive tasks – just like they do on a laptop, tablet or phone. They’ll on board, sign in, make payments, prove their age and so on. 

But this presents a new trust challenge. Why? Because of the user interface. For 20 years the smartphone form factor – keyboards, screens, typing, apps – dictated security journeys. AI eyewear is different. It can understand speech, context, location, vision and intent without any direct user input.

This raises important new questions such as:

• How can users perform security tasks without a keyboard?
• How does the device know who is wearing it?
• How do third parties trust the device?
• How can stakeholders prevent spoofing or impersonation?

On the positive side, it’s possible to see the AI-enabled UX of smart glasses as an advantage – a tool to create a much more robust digital trust layer. It can combine multiple modes of biometrics (iris, touch, speech, behaviour etc) with speech, context, location, vision and intent. Together these properties canpower continuous authentication which is much more robust than a single static sign in.

Glasses vs the smartphone

The second coming of the new eyewear products has prompted the inevitable question: can smart glasses become the successor to the smartphone?

There are good arguments for 'yes'. Smart glasses offer a very natural user interface – directly in the field of view. This is much better for voice commands, eye tracking, hand gestures and other innovations. Because of this smart glasses make a more natural fit with always-present AI assistants – you can just speak your question and see your answer. 

Glasses arguably offer a better convergence of the digital and physical worlds too. Let's say you want to check street directions or product information. Eyewear lets you do that with much less friction than a phone.

Indeed, the convenience factor might be the biggest benefit of all. No more digging your phone out of your bag/pocket, unlocking it, opening the right app and typing. Instead, you just look or speak.

But the 'no' argument is also strong. Comfort is a factor. Do people want to wear camera, microphone and display on their faces all day? Similarly, there might just be a cringe factor. Smart glasses are getting cooler, but some people will always find them embarrassing.

There are technical considerations too. A floating display may never match the usability of a large smartphone screen. Battery power might also be an issue, as well as weight. 

The slick AI-powered features of the new generation smart glasses explain, in part, why the new products are proving so popular. But will smart glasses really displace the smartphone? On balance, most observers think not. More likely, they will add to the ‘constellation’ of devices – watches, ear buds, tablets etc – that orbits the mobile handset. 

We might be staring down, rather than looking up, for a few years more.