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Leaked images of Samsung’s rumored Galaxy Glasses suggest the tech giant is preparing for its long-awaited entry into the smart glasses market. The arrival of the wearable would set the stage for a tech battle between two of the industry’s heavyweights, Meta and Samsung, as they vie to dominate one of tech’s up-and-coming hardware categories.
Images that appear to show Samsung’s first Galaxy Glasses began circulating on April 27, after Android Headlines published them along with technical specifications. The leak gives the world its first glimpse of the lightweight, camera-equipped AI spectacles that happen to look a whole lot like Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses.
According to the report, Samsung is reportedly planning to roll out not one, but two pairs of smart glasses in staggered launches.
The leaked model, codenamed Jinju, could launch later this year. It doesn’t have a built-in display and is rumored to be priced between $379 and $499. It’ll come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 chip, a 12MP camera, bone-conduction speakers, and a battery housed inside the arms of the frame.
A more advanced model, codenamed Haean, will reportedly launch in 2027 with a micro-LED display that could show notifications, directions, and other contextual information. It’s expected to sell for $600 to $900.
We won’t have to wait too long to get more details on the Galaxy Glasses, as Samsung is expected to say more about them at Google I/O 2026, which runs from May 19 to May 20.
Smart Glasses May Sell Better Than VR and Mixed-Reality Headsets
For several years now, we’ve heard that VR and mixed-reality headsets were the future of tech. Devices like Meta’s Quest and Apple Vision Pro promised us immersive apps, virtual workspaces, and spatial computing.
As good as they sound on paper, these headsets have faced several hurdles to mass adoption, including their premium price tags and bulky designs. If you were an early adopter of these headsets, you likely use them at home and not when you’re out and about.
Smart glasses change all that, giving us a way to take immersive tech with us, outside of our living rooms and wherever we go.
While they won’t transport us to another world the way VR headsets do, they put cameras, audio, navigation, and AI tools directly in our line of sight. And they do this in a package that’s comfortable enough to wear all day.
That’s certainly the way Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sees it. In an interview with Rowan Cheung published on The Singju Post, Zuckerberg described AI smart glasses this way:
“…the ideal form factor for personal superintelligence because it’s the only real device that you can have that can see what you see, can hear what you hear, can talk to you throughout the day, and can generate a UI in your vision in real time.”
Of course, he’s trying to sell us on his line of smart glasses, so it’s not surprising that he’d talk them up. Still, Zuckerberg may be onto something.
Meta’s current Ray-Ban lineup comes packed with features, including camera functions, calls, music, and AI queries, while its newer display model adds notifications and directions.
Positive Reviews From Early Adopters
If user groups on Reddit and Facebook are any indication, owners seem pretty happy with what it offers, which could explain why companies like Samsung and Google are entering the market, and Apple is reportedly developing its own AI glasses.
Looking at how smart glasses work, it makes sense that they’d have an easier path to adoption than their bulkier counterparts. They won’t replace your laptop or TV, but they can complement your phone by allowing you to do things like:
- Take hands-free photos
- Translate speech in real time
- Ask an AI assistant questions on the go
It’s that practicality that makes them easier to explain, and maybe even easier to sell.
Meta has already shown there’s demand for this type of wearable tech. According to reporting from Reuters, demand was so high in early January, when the company planned to expand sales of its Ray-Ban Display to the UK, France, Italy, and Canada, that it temporarily paused the rollout to fulfill U.S. orders.
Why Samsung Could Challenge Meta in the Smart Glasses Market
Up until now, Meta has had the smart glasses market largely on lock. With the arrival of Samsung’s Galaxy Glasses, it’s about to face its first true competitor.
While many companies have dipped their toes in the smart glasses market, Samsung brings to the table something most of Meta’s rivals don’t: scale.
The company controls global supply chains, sells millions of smartphones, dominates Android mindshare in many markets, and already has relationships with carriers and retailers worldwide. Let’s say Samsung wants to bundle its smart glasses with phones, watches, or earbuds; it won’t be that hard for it to do so. Even more importantly, Samsung has Google by its side.
The leak shows that the glasses are expected to run Android XR, Google and Samsung’s wearable software platform designed for headsets and glasses. Google has already positioned Gemini as a core part of that ecosystem.
That means Samsung will likely be able to give users something that Meta can’t easily match: native Google Maps, Gmail, Android integration, and Gemini AI inside a product many consumers already understand.
If Meta made smart glasses interesting, we just might see Samsung turn them into a mainstream product.
