They must also look good and withstand the rigors of everyday use — a challenge Samsung Electronics has taken seriously.
Samsung Electronics' intelligent eyewear designed by Warby Parker SAMSUNG ELECTRONICSAs glasses sit directly in front of the user's eyes, they can make interactions with AI more seamless and intuitive.
"Our goal is not to replace the phone with AI glasses," he said.
Samsung is also leveraging its broader Galaxy ecosystem as the first major mobile device-maker to launch AI glasses.
"We believe the benchmark we have established will become the industry's new standard and help drive the growth of a new mobile AI ecosystem."
Choi Jae-in, Samsung Electronics executive vice president and head of the XR development team at Mobile eXperience business, speaks at a briefing held in London on July 23. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS
Samsung Electronics says its new smart glasses were built for comfort, style, battery life and privacy as it pushes into the fast-growing smart eyewear market.
LONDON — AI glasses will not win people over simply by being smart. They must also look good and withstand the rigors of everyday use — a challenge Samsung Electronics has taken seriously.
"No matter what technology we put into the glasses, our goal was to create a pair that my parents and daughter would want to wear immediately," Choi Jae-in, Samsung Electronics executive vice president and head of the XR development team at Mobile eXperience Business, said in a press briefing held on Thursday.
That philosophy shaped Samsung's development process for its two new intelligent eyewear models developed in collaboration with Google and Qualcomm, which were unveiled at its Galaxy Unpacked July 2026 event in London on Wednesday. The products expand on the two prototypes introduced at Google I/O 2026 in May and feature new designs created in partnership with global eyewear brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. Their market sales are expected to begin later this year.
"Glasses are accessory people wear on their faces all day, so they require an entirely different ergonomic approach from conventional smart devices," Choi said during the post-Unpacked briefing.
Samsung prioritized everyday comfort over technological showmanship. In pursuit of creating glasses people would genuinely want to wear every day, the company injected its craftsmanship into each detail by trimming weight to fractions of a gram and subjecting the device to extreme durability testing.
Because the glasses rest directly against the skin, sunscreen resistance proved to be one of the toughest challenges.
Samsung Electronics' intelligent eyewear designed by Gentle Monster SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS
“We injected alcohol-based, high-performance sunscreen into the open-ear speakers on the outside of the frames, raised the temperature and applied vibrations to make sure it seeped all the way in,” Choi said. “We then tested the speakers’ performance more than 100 times.”
To address battery life, Samsung formed what it called a "Power Camp" with Google and Qualcomm. More than 50 hardware, software and chip engineers from the three companies worked together to optimize power efficiency. As a result, the glasses can deliver up to nine hours of battery life under demanding workloads in their thin, lightweight design.
Samsung's move into smart glasses reflects the rapid growth of a market.
Global smart-glasses shipments reached 8.7 million units last year, up 322 percent from a year earlier, according to market research firm Omdia. Meta Platforms led the market with 7.4 million units shipped, which accounted for an 85.2 percent share. Omdia forecasts that global shipments — across multiple brands — will surpass 15 million units this year.
Samsung Electronics' intelligent eyewear designed by Warby Parker SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS
As glasses sit directly in front of the user's eyes, they can make interactions with AI more seamless and intuitive.
"Our goal is not to replace the phone with AI glasses," he said. "The AI era is advancing even faster than the internet and mobile revolutions did. We asked ourselves how we could extend the AI experience people already have on their phones."
Samsung is also leveraging its broader Galaxy ecosystem as the first major mobile device-maker to launch AI glasses.
The device can capture whiteboards, documents and meeting scenes through its embedded camera and automatically organize the content in Samsung Notes on a Galaxy smartphone. Hands-free photos and videos can be viewed through the phone's Now Bar and Gallery app, while users can seamlessly continue listening to and controlling music through the intelligent eyewear.
Samsung also emphasized privacy protections to address concerns over covert recording. The glasses also include several safeguards against covert recording. A built-in LED indicator lights up whenever the camera is in use, and if the glasses are taken off and set down, an on-body detection sensor automatically disables image capture.
"Samsung Electronics has always excelled at creating new form factors and setting the standard for entirely new product categories," Choi said. "We believe the benchmark we have established will become the industry's new standard and help drive the growth of a new mobile AI ecosystem."
BY YI WOO-LIM [[email protected]]
