We live in a very interesting time in the wearables market. Miniaturization and greater processor efficiency have made it possible to create smart rings that last for days and can obtain precise data on our health and sleep. And perhaps with this new technology, it is time to recover a type of device that once failed: smart glasses.
Today, the company most committed to the concept of smart glasses is Meta, although we have also seen glasses from Xiaomi and other manufacturers, even if they have not left China. But in general, these devices have not managed to reach the popularity of other wearables such as smartwatches. This could change with the upcoming collaboration between Google and Samsung.
In an interview with CNBCQualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon seems to confirm that Google and Samsung are working on smart glasses. We say “it seems” because Amon didn’t come clean with his comments, but rather “hinted” that this is the future product of both companies.
More precisely, in Amon’s words, it is about “a new product, new experiences.” and states that “what I really hope to come out of this collaboration, what I want, is for everyone who has a cell phone to buy companion glasses.” It’s a bit of a weird way of putting it, as if Amon wanted to say more but couldn’t because it’s not yet time to officially confirm the product.
It’s clear that smart glasses are the Qualcomm CEO’s new “toy,” as he also praised Meta’s Ray-Ban, glasses with built-in cameras capable of recording short videos that can be easily shared on social media.
Amon believes that The arrival of generative AI was truly the “tipping point” of these devices, and that’s why the new glasses from Samsung and Google will make extensive use of this technology.
Apparently, the AI could even be run locally, in addition to the cloud and on the mobile phone we have connected; this could indicate great advances in Qualcomm’s new chips to offer an NPU (neural processing unit) in such a small form factor.
Let’s recall that Samsung, Google and Qualcomm are already working together on another project, augmented reality glasses whose presentation is also expected soon. Like this device, the smart glasses would use a version of Android.
At the last Google I/O 2024, one of the most surprising presentations was that of the smart glasses with Gemini, which are already able to use what the cameras capture as context to answer questions; for example, to analyze the content of a whiteboard.
