Samsung’s love of wearables may extend from your wrist and finger all the way to your face. The company is gearing up for its annual Galaxy Unpacked phone event, which will likely reveal the Galaxy S25. Still, rumors hint that Samsung may be working on a pair of AR glasses to rival Meta’s eyewear offerings.
Based on anonymous IT sources, the Korean outlet Yonhap News (read with machine translation) reported that Samsung is gearing up to launch a pair of “AR glasses” at its upcoming Unpacked conference in January. The outlet further claimed the device will have some payment function, gesture recognition, and “facial recognition.” We don’t expect it to have invasive capabilities like a hacked pair of Ray-Ban Meta. However, any pair of cameras connected to the internet could potentially become a privacy nightmare.
Yonhap further claimed Samsung is working with Google and Qualcomm on the device, meaning it will probably include some Snapdragon processor and use Google’s Gemini model. Google has already tuned its AI assistant to listen to commands through the Pixel Buds Pro 2, so it’s not a big stretch to imagine it will work with a pair of glasses.
This upcoming device may only be a prototype, similar to what Meta presented in September with its Orion true AR glasses. If the Galaxy maker shows something off at Unpacked in January, it may not be available until the following year or later. Samsung has also tipped that it may be working on some mixed-reality headsets, but we don’t know if these devices will all share the same XR software environment.
As for a date, Unpacked may arrive late in January, according to multiple tipsters collected by Android Police. The Galaxy S25 lineup may be the company’s big product showcase, while the AR glasses are meant to excite consumers beyond yet another phone refresh. This past January’s Unpacked revealed a teaser for the Galaxy Ring, but we didn’t see it until July.
In the years that every company was hyping up “metaverse” and VR as the next big thing, the unexpected hero of that product slate was a $300 pair of Ray-Ban glasses with in-built cameras. The Ray-Ban Meta glasses received a minor refresh during the company’s Connect conference; the company has been working on adding more AI voice capabilities to the wearable this year. In Gizmodo’s experience, those AI features aren’t all that intelligent, but we’ll have to see if and how they improve in the future.
Samsung has a new penchant for wearables, especially after this year’s new Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Ring. Both devices work best if you’re already using a Samsung-brand phone, and you can expect the same from any pair of Galaxy smart glasses. This move would also beat Apple to the punch. Samsung’s biggest competitor in mobile phones is also reportedly working on a pair of smart glasses. Apple’s device may be more Ray-Ban than Orion.
Despite all this talk about glasses, all I want to know is: Where the hell is Ballie? We’d love to see the little home robot again at CES this year if only to finally know if the device is truly as kickable as its shape implies.
