Samsung and Google confirmed at Google I/O yesterday that their first smart glasses are coming this fall, including designs from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, all running Gemini AI on Samsung hardware. Multiple reports point to a July 22 launch event in London where Galaxy Watch 9 is also expected on the same stage, which would be the first time any company has launched a smartwatch and smart glasses in the same ecosystem on the same day.
Galaxy Glasses run on Google's Android XR platform (Google's operating system built for smart glasses and headsets) and are powered by Gemini. They're rumored to have a 12MP camera, microphones, and speakers. Processing happens on a connected phone, including iPhone, rather than inside the frames, which is what keeps them light enough to actually wear.
At I/O yesterday, Google's head of XR devices demonstrated photos taken with Android XR glasses showing up as notifications on a Wear OS smartwatch in real time, turning the watch into a quick-glance screen for what the glasses see without reaching for your phone. Photo editing runs through an on-device AI engine called Gemini Nano Banana, with results pushed to the watch or phone instantly.
Galaxy Watch 9 is expected to run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear Elite chip, which includes a dedicated processor for running AI tasks locally without routing through the phone. Google's Wear OS 7, also announced yesterday, adds Gemini-powered task automation and Live Updates to the wrist. Google CEO Sundar Pichai confirmed Gemini Intelligence expands to watches, glasses, cars, and laptops later this year, with Samsung and Pixel devices getting priority access first.
The industry is trending toward wrist-based controls for glasses. Meta ships the Neural Band, an EMG wristband (a sensor that reads electrical signals from your muscles) that controls Ray-Ban Display glasses with subtle finger gestures. The Neural Band may be a stop-gap until Meta makes its own watch. Malibu 2, Meta's revived smartwatch project, is reportedly targeting a 2026 release. Although they don't have companion glasses yet, Google's Pixel Watch 4 added double-pinch and wrist-turn gestures earlier this year, and Apple Watch has had Double Tap gesture control since Series 9. Samsung hasn't confirmed gesture controls for Galaxy Watch paired with Galaxy Glasses, but it's a likely convergence of two product lines launching on the same stage.
The wearable computing transition people have been describing for a decade is starting to look like a product roadmap.