Google is making another push into smartglasses with Gemini-powered eyewear that starts at $395, pairing its AI assistant with frames from Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. The company is also emphasizing privacy in a category that has long struggled with public skepticism, especially since the original Google Glass era.
Google returns to smartglasses with Gemini at the center
The new glasses are part of a collaboration between Google, Samsung, and two eyewear brands: Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. Samsung is supplying the computing hardware inside the frames, while Google is handling the software and AI features. The first models are available for preorder now, with wider availability planned for December 10.
The setup is similar in concept to the Ray-Ban Meta glasses already on the market. There are no displays in the lenses, so the core experience comes through voice commands and the built-in camera rather than through visual overlays.
Frame options and pricing
Warby Parker is offering three frame styles for Google’s eyewear: Alden, Reid, and Wren. They come in Pine, Saddle, and Jet Black, with both standard optical and sun lenses, and pricing starts at $395. Warby Parker is selling the glasses only in the US.
Gentle Monster is launching six styles, though Google has not shared the names of those frames yet. Those versions come in dark red, pink, gray, and yellow, with clear, tinted, blue, or brown lenses, and start at $449. They will be sold in the US and South Korea.
Google says the frames weigh about 41 grams before lenses are added, which is relatively light but still on the heavier side for regular glasses. Final price will depend on the lens choice, especially for prescription options.
How Gemini works on the glasses
The glasses let users interact with Gemini by voice or by tapping a touch-sensitive area on the frame. Google says the experience is meant to feel similar to using Gemini Live on a phone, but with a faster way to bring up the assistant hands-free.
You can say “Hey Gemini” to start a session, ask questions, get personalized answers based on your Google data and preferences, or use voice guidance from Google Maps. Open-ear speakers are designed to reduce disturbance for people nearby, and Google says directional microphones are intended to avoid picking up other people’s speech.
Camera features add more capability, and more risk
Each model includes a 12 MP wide-angle camera that can capture photos and video. That opens the door to more useful AI interactions, such as asking Gemini about an event poster and having it add the event to your calendar, or getting recommendations based on what you are looking at.
Google also says the glasses will support Gemini Guided Vision, which provides conversational audio descriptions for people who are visually impaired. That could make the product more than a novelty if Gemini can consistently recognize scenes and objects accurately.
That “if” matters. Gemini, like other AI systems, is not perfect, and the utility of smartglasses depends heavily on whether the assistant can reliably identify what it sees and carry out simple tasks correctly. Without a screen, users have fewer ways to verify whether the AI understood them properly.
Google’s privacy pitch
Google is leaning hard into privacy protections for the new eyewear. The company says it is trying to respect privacy on “both sides of the lens,” a nod to concerns about being recorded without notice as well as concerns about what the company can do with the data.
There is a recording light that turns on whenever the camera is active. If the light is covered or altered so it cannot function, the glasses will refuse to activate the camera. Google also includes a physical off switch.
In addition, the terms of use prohibit recording people without consent or in sensitive areas. Google says it can remotely disable glasses if those rules are violated.
Limits on livestreaming and facial recognition
Google is drawing a line that is stricter than some other smartglasses rivals. The company says no apps in the Play Store will be allowed to live stream video to social platforms from the glasses, and that includes YouTube Live. Recorded content can be saved to a gallery and uploaded later, but live broadcasting is not supported.
The company also says real-time facial recognition will not be allowed. On top of that, faces are automatically redacted before video is sent to Google for processing.
What Google says about data use
Google says images and videos captured by the glasses will not be saved in Gemini history, and the company says they will not be used to train AI models or to target ads. Voice interactions through the glasses are handled like other Gemini conversations, and users can delete those chats from Gemini history.
Data on the glasses is encrypted and remains encrypted while traveling to the cloud. However, Google says it is not encrypted on the company’s servers. The company says it is working to bring Private AI Compute to glasses so data can be isolated during processing and inaccessible even to Google.
Launch timing and device support
Anyone interested in trying the glasses can preorder them now from Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. They are set to ship and reach stores on December 10.
Support is limited at launch. The glasses work with iPhones from the 13 Pro onward. On Android, users need either a Pixel 7 or newer or a Samsung Galaxy S or Z series phone running One UI 9 or later. Owners of other Android phones, including cheaper Samsung models, are not supported for now.
Source: Original report
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Last Modified: November 12, 2026 at 10:31 pm
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