Ray-Bans were the universal symbol of cool for decades. It’s why Meta chose them as the vehicle for their smartglasses.
But there are two other eyewear brands that have given Ray-Bans a real run for their money and now Google and Samsung have partnered with them on Intelligent Eyewear.
At Google I/O 2026 today, Google showed off two pairs of Android XR smartglasses: one from Gentle Monster, a brand that absolutely dominates in the capital of all things culture, South Korea, and another from Warby Parker, the affordable eyewear of choice for the creative class in the US.
On stage today, Google showed off only two models, but promised that more models will be available in the fall when the smartglasses officially launch. (There’s no word on price.)
Samsung is responsible for the hardware engineering, while Google supplies the AI via Gemini.
The smartglasses handle everything that’s expected in this category. There’s hands-free calling and texting, with Gemini summaries for anything missed on either front. The glasses can give information about the world around you, like summoning reviews of nearby spots. There’s also turn by turn navigation, voice control for apps, speech and text translation, and the ability to take photos and videos.
Privacy concerns proliferate along with the technology
Because the glasses, like the Meta Ray-Bans before them, look so much like regular eyewear, they pose the same privacy issues.
The ability to so easily and discreetly capture photos and videos has resulted in backlash. There are the private incidents, like a woman who objected to an aesthetician wearing Ray-Ban Metas during her waxing appointment, to more public ones, like them causing a stir and a call for a ban against them at the Masters Tournament.
The quick look at them on stage at Google I/O today did not show whether or not the glasses have an LED indicator to show whether the wearer is taking photos or recording video. However, indicators are easy to cover, with lots of products available for this purpose.
