The Smart Glasses Era Is Here — I Got a First Look

As I walked the floors of CES 2025, one trend became increasingly apparent: everyone believes that smart glasses are the future. However, it’s clear that no one agrees on how to get there. Companies are instead choosing to focus on simpler, more practical uses for these devices.

Chamelo CEO and cofounder Reid Covington emphasized the importance of prioritizing actual usability in their product design. “We’ve chosen to optimize for something that is, we think, a great feature geared towards the actual use case of glasses,” he explained. “You’re wearing them to see. You’re wearing them to block out light. A lot of the more forward-looking smart glasses have interesting features, but they’re not optimized for, you know, actual usability.”

This sentiment was echoed by other companies in attendance at the event. Nuance Audio’s global marketing director Davide D’Alena noted that while function is important, it’s only one aspect to consider when creating a product. “For us, it’s just not enough to put out an ugly product, even if it’s working perfectly from a functional point of view,” he said. “It must be something that is also a self-expression.”

Not everyone agrees on the best approach, however. Xreal founder and CEO Chi Xu believes that there will be two distinct directions for smart glasses: AR (augmented reality) and AI-based devices. He believes that eventually, these technologies will converge, but for now, companies are working to develop both options simultaneously.

It’s clear that while there may not be a unified vision for the future of smart glasses, the general consensus is that this technology is inevitable. With renewed interest from investors and advancements in AI, it seems that we’re on the cusp of something major.

As I observed at CES 2025, every company seemed to agree that the public’s perception of smart glasses has shifted dramatically over the past year and a half. The result is an influx of investment capital and growing excitement around this technology.

Source: www.theverge.com