Google Collaborates with Leading Eyewear Brands for New Android XR Smartglasses

Google, with its usual flair for surprises, has decided to jump into the smartglasses game, not unlike some tech giants before them. They’ve hooked up with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, two brands that breathe the very air of cool — if glasses could have a style icon, these guys might be it. Why are they making this move? Probably because Meta linked arms with EssilorLuxottica ages ago, dragging those iconic Ray-Bans into the tech light. I mean, maybe it’s just a jealousy thing. Or maybe not. Anyway.

Right now, Google’s playing it coy. No shiny new Android XR smartglasses on the shelves just yet, but they’ve promised us they’re tinkering away with Warby and Gentle Monster to bring something fresh to our eyeballs soon. And yeah, this mysterious gadget is supposed to come packed with Google’s Gemini AI. Sounds fancy, right? Like having a tiny tech wizard on your face. Some models might even light up with their own little screens. (What wizardry is this?)

It’s funny, both Warby and Gentle kicked off in the 2010-ish era, and they’ve rocked the whole affordable, direct-to-eye-people deal. But let’s not kid ourselves; they’re not exactly flexing the muscles of EssilorLuxottica. That titan behind Ray-Ban could squash smaller brands for breakfast. Meta’s partnership with them has already soaked some serious mileage — those Ray-Ban smartglasses keep dropping like mixtapes.

Getting Google into bed with Warby and Monster feels like their way of shouting, “Hey, look, we can be fashionable too!” Remember when Google Glass first popped up in 2012? Sure, it was sleek for its time, but that lopsided, funkily chunky design was just too odd — like wearing a toaster on your head. People just couldn’t handle that look. I still cringe at photos of them, sometimes.

So, here we are. Google says developers will get a sneak peek at building apps for these Android XR glasses later this year. No word yet on when you or I can snag a pair for ourselves or what kind of dent they’ll put in our wallets. Until then, they’re keeping us guessing. Hopefully, this launch will be less like the two steps back they took with the original Google Glass, and more like… a moonwalk forward.