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The Ray-Ban Meta glasses have sparked a new hype about smart glasses. While Google and Apple are working hard on counter-designs, VR hardware is going back to the drawing board to get going again with a new architecture. What developments can we expect in 2026?
Smart glasses are becoming more diverse – and flooding the market
Last year, numerous smart glasses from small and large manufacturers entered the market, and this development will continue to accelerate in 2026.
Twelve years after the failed Google Glass experiment, Google is daring to make a fresh start and has announced AI glasses with and without displays for this year. The operating system used is Android XR, which focuses on the AI assistant Gemini.
A new product category that combines elements of smart glasses and mixed reality headsets is “Project Aura”. The joint project between Google and the display glasses manufacturer Xreal takes over central functions of the Samsung Galaxy XR Android XR headset and shrinks the form factor to lightweight smart glasses with semi-transparent optics and a diagonal field of view of around 70 degrees. Miniaturization is achieved by outsourcing the computing unit and battery to a wired pocket computer.
Project Aura looks like a simple pair of display glasses on the outside, but is based on Android XR and is comparable to Samsung Galaxy XR in terms of functionality and performance.
(Image: Xreal)
Apple is also pursuing plans in the smart glasses segment. According to Bloomberg, the company plans to introduce a first model this year that will be paired with the iPhone and does not have its own display. However, the market launch is not scheduled until 2027.
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It will be exciting to see how Google and Apple integrate smart glasses into their own ecosystems and interlink them with smartphones and smartwatches. This is a decisive platform advantage over other manufacturers and the market leader Meta, which will not rest on its previous success and will continue to expand its constantly growing smart glasses portfolio this year.
Snap will also be involved this year and has announced fully integrated AR glasses for consumers, which will be significantly lighter and more compact than the current developer model. If this feat succeeds, Snap would be the first company to market full-fledged AR glasses with a form factor suitable for everyday use.
In addition to these products, a flood of devices from smaller manufacturers and start-ups can be expected in 2026. As the quantity and variety grows, the range of smart glasses is becoming even more confusing than before. Since the devices sometimes differ significantly in terms of form factor, technology, input methods and software, the collective term “smart glasses” will continue to fray and only offer limited guidance.
At the same time, demand will hardly be able to keep up with the rapidly growing supply, meaning that the industry’s optimism could be overturned this year.
From headsets to glasses: VR devices with a new form factor
Last year, smart glasses became more of a focus in the industry, while virtual reality lost visibility. With the growing presence of smart glasses this year, this shift will continue, especially since only a few VR headsets have been announced for 2026. Of all the new devices, Steam Frame alone is likely to attract more attention, but will only have a limited market impact due to the small target group and an expected higher price level.
The year remains exciting because a new hardware trend is emerging: By outsourcing the computing unit and battery to a wired pocket computer, the form factor and weight are approaching that of sunglasses instead of a headset.
Some VR hardware is expected to adopt a significantly slimmer, glasses-like form factor from 2026. Cables and pocket computers are not shown.
(Bild: VR Tuoluo)
The first product of this kind could come from Pico and Meta is also developing a corresponding product, which has reportedly been postponed to 2027. A Chinese prototype that relies on this split architecture shows how surprisingly light and compact such devices could be (see picture above). Google and Xreal are pursuing a similar project with Project Aura, but are relying on a semi-transparent display and birdbath look. An approach that could soften the previously clear separation between VR devices and smart glasses.
The size and weight of VR headsets have inhibited wider adoption of virtual reality. Manufacturers therefore hope that significantly slimmer devices will meet with a greater response. The first VR devices with split architecture will appear in 2026 and will show whether this hope is justified.
AI and Gaussian Splatting are becoming more important than ever
A wide range of smart glasses is emerging for 2026. How successful they will be in detail will depend less on the technical equipment than on how seamlessly they are integrated into existing hardware ecosystems and how useful the AI actually is in everyday life.
So far, AI has only offered limited added value with Ray-Ban Meta glasses. The central question is therefore what new AI functions Meta, Google and other manufacturers are developing. The long-term trend is towards personalized, proactive and permanently active AI that accompanies users through everyday life by seeing and hearing and anticipating concerns based on the situation. It remains to be seen how the environmental recording required for this will be received by society and whether it will meet with similar resistance as Google Glass did. It is clear that AI for smart glasses will become so commonplace that the collective term “AI glasses” will lose its meaning.
AI is also becoming increasingly important in the VR sector. AI turning images, films and even games into 3D experiences with stereoscopic depth will increasingly become standard in 2026. Google has announced a corresponding function for Android XR and the soon-to-be-released Xreal 1S display glasses should also support 3D conversion.
An AI technology goes even further, creating spatial scenes from images and allowing changes in perspective. Apple recently introduced a similar feature for the Apple Vision Pro and we can expect it to be rolled out to devices from other manufacturers later this year.
Based on this, the next major development step lies in generative AI systems that create freely explorable spaces from text prompts, images or videos. World models like Marble and Google Genie 3 give an impression of the possibilities that arise here. In the VR context, such world models could mature into a holodeck machine: you describe a place and find yourself in it moments later. In this way, memories, classic works of art or film locations could also be accessed and relived. In 2026, these tools will gain shape and become more accessible.
With “Meta Hyperscape” real places can be digitized true to the original. Here the author visits Heise editor Jan Wöbbeking (seen as a VR avatar) in a hyperscape version of his apartment.
(Image: Tomislav Bezmalinović / heise medien)
Another technology that will shape VR this year is Gaussian Splatting. While generative AI will accelerate the creation of virtual worlds, Gaussian splatting has a comparable role in digitizing the real world for virtual reality. It has recently become possible, without specialist knowledge or special equipment, to create an almost photorealistic replica of your own apartment and to invite distant family and friends to it using Meta Quest 3.
If you want to understand the metaverse as a spatial internet that connects virtual spaces instead of websites, then AI and Gaussian splatting are among the central building blocks. A vision that will come a lot closer in 2026.
(tobe)