Samsung smart glasses promise 9-hour battery and AI features, launching this fall

Samsung Smart Glasses Last for 9 Hours. Check Out the New Designs

Samsung and Gentle Monster intelligent eyewear smart glasses. (Credit: Eric Zeman/PCMag) Samsung closed out today's Unpacked event with another peek at its upcoming smart glasses, including two new design options. Details are still a little thin, but we got a few more details following a first look at Google I/O in May. Samsung currently refers to this category as "intelligent eyewear," rather than a dedicated Galaxy brand name. They will come in at least four designs made in partnership with fashion houses Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. Both will offer "a range of frame styles, colors, and lens options," with every model featuring a slim frame, lightweight design, and integrated hinge. Samsung briefly teased two designs at Google I/O, and today it unveiled two more. There's a Gentle Monster pair with a straight upper rim in black and a Warby Parker option in brown with a more rounded design, plus a color variation of its previously teased option. Samsung says each pair will last up to nine hours on a single charge, with an accompanying battery case extending battery life to seven recharges. It's unclear whether each design will offer different battery performance or whether Samsung will use the same battery tech in all models. The glasses will run a Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen1 chip, previously used in the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. Samsung says this chip allows for "AI performance designed for real-time assistance, with touch interaction, connectivity, power efficiency, and thermal management optimized within the eyewear's compact frame." What Can Samsung's Smart Glasses Do? Each pair comes with two built-in cameras, and there's no display, meaning you interact via audio through a microphone and built-in speakers. The glasses are confirmed to run on Google's Android XR platform with Gemini AI integration. Other confirmed features include live visual sharing, where you can stream your current view to someone else; real-time integration with apps that can help with directions or live translation; and summaries of your latest notifications without looking at your phone. Samsung also detailed a feature that can take a snapshot of what you're seeing and save it to Notes for you to look back on. An example Samsung shared was glancing at a whiteboard, knowing you'll be able to refer back to that information later without copying it all down. Expect more Samsung intelligent eyewear teasers in the coming months. The brand says it's on track for a fall launch, so it may not be long until we hear more about the release date and pricing for each model. Can Samsung Compete With Meta and Apple? If they launch this fall, Samsung's devices will go up against Meta, which currently holds 69.2% of the overall smart glasses market, largely thanks to its Ray-Ban partnership with EssilorLuxottica, the world's largest eyewear maker, according to June data from IDC. As IDC explained, "the Ray-Ban Meta lineup has done something rare in consumer tech: it created a device people are genuinely unafraid to be seen wearing in public." In our testing, we found the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 to be the most stylish camera glasses. The Oakley Meta HSTN smart glasses also earned praise as a "fun and easy way to shoot POV videos and get real-time information about your surroundings." The big question is whether Apple can outdo Samsung and Meta on style and substance. With a CEO swap scheduled for this fall, we'll have to see whether John Ternus prioritizes smart glasses, but rumors suggest we won't see anything until at least 2027.

Samsung just revealed more details about its upcoming smart glasses, including battery life - Engadget

You can expect nine hours per charge, but they come with a case for more juice. Samsung just revealed some more details about its upcoming line of smart glasses at Unpacked, following a tease at Google I/O earlier this year. We now know that the specs will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 platform, which includes the Hexagon NPU for on-device AI tasks. Qualcomm says the platform is "optimized for lightweight, battery-efficient" glasses and battery specs from Samsung support that claim. The company says they'll last nine hours per charge and they come with a charging case that stores enough juice for seven charges. The company also promises visual search and real-time translation capabilities to "enable the ultimate personal assistant experience." It's worth noting these glasses do not include a display of any kind. Otherwise, the glasses support both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 for streaming from a connected phone and other devices. There's also an integrated camera, which is one of the main selling points of these types of smart glasses. This has caused quite a stir in the "I don't want strangers constantly filming me without consent" community, for obvious reasons. Samsung is addressing this via a LED light that activates when the camera is recording. There's also integrated software that disables the camera system when that LED light is covered or obscured in any way. Meta does something similar with its smart glasses, but this led to companies offering "hacking" services that allows smart glass perverts to do their thing without any LED light. Meta has tried to solve this problem by disabling the camera if anyone tampers with the LED. This is a brand-new initiative, so we don't know if it helped stem the pervy tide. Samsung's upcoming glasses will no doubt experience a similar influx of "content creators" looking for ways to disable the LED light. We don't know when these glasses will be available or how much they'll cost. The company will give us more information in the fall. We do know, however, what they'll look like. Samsung has teamed up with global brands Warby Parker and Gentle Monster for the frames, and the designs look great.