Smart glasses and augmented reality gadgets are considered the next big breakthrough for wearables - and the early iterations of many spectacles are already here.
Each has slightly different aims, but, in essence, a pair of smart glasses tends to focus on putting useful connected features in front of your eyes. And, as you’ll discover in our list of tested picks below, some are less obtrusive than others in achieving this.
Interestingly, the smart glasses concept is now being developed by both startups and tech giants alike, too, with glasses from the likes of Meta/Ray-Ban, Snap, and Amazon all available to buy. Apple is also reportedly actively working towards the smart glasses form factor, with Vision Pro representing the first step on the journey.
This is still a fairly unknown area of wearables, though, so we’ve done our best to round up only the very top options worth considering right now.
Let’s dive into the best devices we've tried - and a few that are coming soon.
What are smart glasses?
When we talk about smart glasses, we're generally focusing on eyewear that has augmented reality technology included.
This merges what you see in the real world with virtual information, and usually overlays this on one of the lenses. It could be as trivial as seeing a virtual Pickahu on your couch, or as practical as text from a menu being translated in front of your eye.
Often, these overlays recreate the kind of screens and features you'd find on your smartphone, like navigation for maps or flashing up notifications.
However, some other smart glasses are a little more basic.
These early iterations of glasses tend to focus on support for smart assistants, music playback, or video capture - and don't offer much advanced AR technology.
We'll specify these below in our list of options.
Best smart glasses you can buy
Below, we'll be highlighting some of the best available smart glasses you can buy in 2024.
Many of them we've tested as part of full reviews or worn during short demonstrations, with some options also in the process of being tested by our in-house team.
Just arrived: Apple Vision Pro
Apple
Apple has finally launched the Apple Vision Pro, a headset designed for a truly augmented reality future.
Priced at $3,499 and currently only available in the US, this is still very much geared towards developers and enthusiasts. Yet, the headset promises groundbreaking advancements in the virtual reality and mixed reality space.
The Vision Pro is sleek, resembling a standard VR headset. But the core of this headset is the video passthrough; this allows users to keep in touch with the outside world while overlaying Safari windows, Apple TV+ shows, and more.
When you move, you move around these windows, and you only block out the world a la VR when you want full immersion (like when watching a movie). It's why Apple is calling Vision Pro its first step into 'spatial computing' - it's like having an iPad or Mac strapped to your face and living in your environment.
It houses dual Micro OLED panels, providing visuals beyond 4K for each eye. The visuals are reportedly very good, but the control system is one of Vision Pro's more innovative features, eschewing physical controls for eye-tracking hand gestures, and voice control.
It's a very different proposition to what we've seen before - and most of the rest of the glasses and AR devices below - but the Vision Pro opens up new possibilities for AR/VR technology.
Read our in-depth guide to the Apple Vision Pro for more - and stay tuned for our full review.
Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses
Wareable
squirrel_12863464
The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses - a collaboration between the tech giant and luxury eyewear brand EssilorLuxxotica - arrived last year, and was one that took us a bit by surprise.
We've tested things like Snap Spectacles, which offer the same kind of first-person video capturing, and been left slightly cold. These, though, were a joy to wear during testing.
They pack dual 5-megapixel cameras to capture and share first-person videos, while also including speakers and microphones to listen to music and handle phone calls.
A single tap records up to 30 seconds of video, while a tap and hold will snap a picture. There are also hand-free controls, letting you make use of onboard microphones to say, "Hey, Facebook, take a video," if you don't want to reach up to your specs.
When you're recording or taking pictures, a small LED situated near the camera illuminates to indicate to those around you that you are in recording or snapping mode. And, on the listening front, the glasses feature two open-ear speakers to handle listening to audio playing from your phone or handling calls.
All of that tech is wrapped up in some familiar Ray-Ban frames, which include the iconic Wayfarer shown above, and only add 5g over a non-smart pair of the glasses. There are 20 style variations in total, and they also support prescription lenses.
And this is probably the best bit about them. They're a luxury purchase at this stage, and the tech's inherent privacy issues mean they're not for every occasion, but you just can't really argue with a pair of souped-up Ray-Ban Wayfarers.
There's no AR tech here, we should say to be clear, but Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that the partnership is destined to yield AR specs in the future. Exciting.
- Read our full Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses review
Vuzix Blade 2
Wareable
Buy now: vuzix.com | Price: $1,299.99
Vuzix remains one of the companies at the forefront of AR smart glasses, and the Blade 2 is a good distillation of its latest tech available to buy.
We think they're the first pair of really useful commercial AR glasses that actually look like a pair of glasses. And while they're obviously not as stylish as Ray-Bans, they're also not quite as goggle-like and concept-like as others on this list, either.
The best way to describe them is that they're a lot like the first generation of smartwatches. They're a good first step at getting a lot of advanced tech in a decent package.
The latest version uses waveguide technology to project a full-color HD display over the right lens, with an 8-megapixel camera, 40GB internal memory, head tracking, stereo speakers, and Vuzix's voice control support all in tow, as well.
When we first got to try the standard Vuzix Blade a few years ago, the Vuzix app store wasn't exactly brimming with apps. Since then, some high-profile names have turned up. There's now Netflix, Zoom, Amazon Alexa, and even support for DJI drones.
With the Blade 2 running on Android 11 OS and support for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, as well, everything is just that little bit smoother.
Amazon Echo Frames (2nd Gen)
Amazon
squirrel_12863465
The Echo Frames 2 is Amazon’s latest effort to put the Alexa voice assistant directly on your face.
Unlike more advanced glasses, there's no AR tech here, but they do provide Alexa feedback via four directional speakers built into each stem.
You can talk to the smart assistant if you want to control your smart home, get notifications, make calls, or listen to music – all without the people around you hearing the responses.
The glasses themselves are made from carbon fiber and titanium, which make them a lightweight pair of glasses to wear, and they're also rated IPX4 for fending off sweat and water and are splash-resistant.
The second-gen Echo Frames can also adjust the volume of content and feedback based on the ambient environment, with battery life being upped by 40% from the original glasses.
The result of this means the Frames can achieve roughly about 60 minutes of music, 30 minutes of phone calls, and 120 incoming notifications over 14 hours.
Snap Spectacles 3
Amazon
squirrel_12863466
Snap has newer, 4th Gen specs that we've detailed below, but the third-generation glasses are still the latest edition you can actually buy.
Featuring dual HD cameras and 3D AR features, the Spectacles 3 are available in two colors – cobalt (black) and mineral (rose gold). There's also a charging case to keep the spectacles powered up in between your shooting.
The camera quality is much improved from the first two generations, allowing you to take advantage of 3D filters, effects, and lenses for your footage and photos.
These photos will sync automatically to your phone and you can also take 3D photos, too.
Meanwhile, the cameras will record 3D footage at 60fps, with 4GB of onboard storage storing around 100 videos (or 1,200 photos).
At just shy of $400, however, these are a pair of smart specs that do not come cheap.
Vue Lite 2
Vue
Buy now: vueglasses.com | Price: From $179
Vue's prescription glasses and sunglasses are the product of a $2m Kickstarter campaign way back in 2017.
Fast forward to 2023, and the company's second-gen connected specs are now available in glasses and sunglasses form, with a whole host of comfortable styles and prescriptions to pick from.
There's no AR here, though. Instead, the Vue Lite 2 harness directional speakers to allow you to put the headphones to one side and listen to music or take calls in more of an open-ear style.
Battery life is slated at five hours in continuous use and three days in standby mode, with the option to buy a charging case that will also store the specs.
You can read our Vue Lite 2 review to see how we got on with the latest pair of Vue smart glasses.
Lenovo ThinkReality A3
Wareable
Buy now: lenovo.com | Price: $1,499 / £1,430
These Lenovo smart goggles were unveiled way back in January 2021 and are made to be on the faces of people at work, whether that's in a lab or a shop.
When connected to a phone or PC, the chunky-looking A3s project stereoscopic 1080p resolution displays and can offer support for working or viewing up to 5 virtual displays.
That's all powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR1 platform to deliver that augmented experience.
The frames on the glasses can be modified to make them better suited to working environments where you need a more robust design and it also finds room for an 8-megapixel RGB camera for shooting video.
When we tested the glasses at MWC 2023, we found we could still see – or at least could be vaguely aware of – much of the world around us. If someone were to walk up to your desk while we were using this at work, you'd be aware.
In terms of the build, though, it was extremely heavy on the bridge of the nose, and not something well-suited to long periods of wear.
If you want a pair for enterprise purposes, you're also going to have to spend a sizeable amount to get them on your face.
Engo 1
Engo
Buy now: engoeyewear.com | Price: $400 / £330
Engo might not be a household name in the tech space, but it's managed to build these sporty glasses for runners, cyclists, and triathletes that are capable of projecting real-time stats onto an AMOLED microdisplay planted into photochromic lenses.
That data comes through the ability to pair it up to devices including Garmin watches, bike sensors like power meters, and smartphones.
That can include distance covered, speed, power, and heart rate, and you can also tinker with data screens to make sure you see the data you care about most when you're out running or riding.
There are even gesture controls to let you change screens with a wave of the hand - all backed up by 12 hours of battery life and 100% UV protection to make sure your eyes are guarded when you're training out in the glorious sunshine.
The cheaper Engo 2 is now available to buy, as well, and we'll be updating this section when we've had the chance to test it out.
Upcoming smart glasses and AR headsets
As we mentioned up top, this is currently a very experimental area of the tech industry, and the smart glasses market is still proving to be quite small.
It all means that brands are mostly still just toying with concepts, slowly progressing their technology, and trying to gauge interest. As such, there are plenty of glasses not ready for store shelves.
Below, we'll run through some of the official concepts that are essentially paving the way for a more developed consumer product to arrive over the next few years, as well as a few that are actually coming soon.
XREAL Air 2 Ultra
Wareable
Release date: March 2024
XREAL - who in 2023 changed its name from Nreal - is churning out smart glasses like nobody's business, and we had the chance to try the Air 2 Ultra at CES 2024 recently.
Unlike older iterations of its glasses, which essentially boiled down to offering users 100-inch screens to watch content on or play video games, the wired Air 2 Ultra is a bit more in the mold of Vision Pro.
That means the emphasis is more clearly on spatial computing here, with excellent clarity in the world you've chosen to launch from the company's Nebula platform, and hand tracking that actually worked better than we expected.
The Air 2 Ultra offers motion tracking with six degrees of freedom thanks to built-in sensors in the frame, and you also have 52-degree FOV, and HD for each eye which is bust out at a decent 500 nits.
These launch in March with a price tag of $699. Stay tuned for our full review - and read our initial impressions below.
Oppo Air Glass
Wareable
Release date: TBC
Following the original Oppo Air Glass that launched back in 2021, we got the chance to test the second iteration of this concept shortly after it was announced at MWC in February 2023.
In terms of design, we don't think it gets much better at the moment. The Oppo Air Glass 2 looks like a proper pair of specs, and though they are a bit too big and heavy, they could certainly pass for normal eyewear.
It doesn't quite match up as an actual AR device just yet, however. In our demo, the viewing area felt quite far away and difficult to focus on, and the text itself we were reading was quite low-res.
The control did at least work well, with swiping on the left-side arm of the glasses moving the text.
Not one we're convinced about after a short test, but still a pair of glasses we're interested in seeing develop over the next year or so.
We may even see a full launch this year - but don't get your hopes up.
Nuance Audio / Luxoticca
Wareable
Release date: Late 2024
Another one we got our hands on at CES 2024 was Nuance Audio's collaborative effort with EssilorLuxoticca, the Ray-Ban owner.
These are quite a different concept from the rest on this list. Instead of focusing on delivering content, or acting as a spatial computer, they use beamforming technology to help those who are hard of hearing.
Essentially a hearing aid on your face, the smart glasses can identify the person you're talking to and amplify their voice.
It's particularly aimed at those with mild or moderate hearing loss - the kind that means conversations are hard to follow conversations in crowded environments.
The idea is that these are unobtrusive in the way a traditional hearing aid isn't, and also don't require being fitted by an audiologist.
They arrive later this year.
Sony XR headset
Sony
Release date: Late 2024
Though it doesn't have an official name yet, Sony's "spatial content creation system" got a full reveal back at CES 2024 - and it's coming later this year, it seems.
We don't know how much it will cost, but we do know that Sony is aiming this one at professionals working in 3D who want to expand the physical world with overlays via video passthrough. In this sense, it appears very akin to Apple's Vision Pro.
The Snapdragon XR 2+ Gen 2 platform will power the unnamed Sony headset, with dual 4K OLED displays and two unique types of controllers shown off during the initial reveal.
The headset has two controllers, too: a wand-like option, which Sony described in the presentation as a "pointing controller", with a ring-like option also available to help users manipulate objects.
Stay tuned for more on this one.
Xiaomi Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition
Wareable
Release date: TBC
Xiaomi revealed its latest concept back at MWC 2023, and it's a bit of a mouthful - these are the Xiaomi Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition.
It's only been around 18 months since we witnessed the company reveal its last AR glasses concept - the Xiaomi Smart Glasses - and the follow-up here are lightweight goggles that build in the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1.
The 126g device is also wireless, as the name suggests, with Xiaomi building it from magnesium-titanium alloy and carbon fiber. It's also touting the 'retina-level' Micro-OLED displays - one for each eye - that can deliver visuals at a peak brightness of 1,200 nits.
These appear to be just a concept for now, however, with no official line on pricing or availability.
Stay tuned for more on this one.
Snap Spectacles AR (4th Gen)
Snap
Release date: Not for general sale
Snap Spectacles AR represents a bit of a different beast from what we've seen from the other generations of smart glasses, with the company jumping into AR for the first time.
Under the hood, there's Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR1 processor powering performance. And while the field of view is just 26.3 degrees, the Snap Spatial Engine allows for six degrees of freedom. This enables you to move around and the visuals overlay in your space.
There are also two RGB cameras and a touchpad on the arms, and the glasses weigh just 134g. The battery life is limited to just 30 minutes, though, which is probably one of the reasons why this one isn't for sale.
Instead, they're being offered to developers and Snap creators to figure out what they can best be used for.
Nearly three years since their initial reveal, however, we've not heard anything significant about them. Or, indeed, any follow-up efforts.
How we test
Conor moved to Wareable Media Group in 2017, initially covering all the latest developments in smartwatches, fitness trackers, and VR. He made a name for himself writing about trying out translation earbuds on a first date and cycling with a wearable airbag, as well as covering the industry’s latest releases.
Following a stint as Reviews Editor at Pocket-lint, Conor returned to Wareable Media Group in 2022 as Editor-at-Large. Conor has become a wearables expert, and helps people get more from their wearable tech, via Wareable's considerable how-to-based guides.
He has also contributed to British GQ, Wired, Metro, The Independent, and The Mirror.