Samsung Electronics Co showcased the smart glasses it developed in partnership with Alphabet Inc’s Google, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, offering new details around battery life and durability ahead of a release this year.
The company also attempted to preempt privacy concerns by highlighting measures it’s building into these glasses, and others that are in development. Meta Platforms Inc, which brought smart glasses into the mainstream through its partnership with eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica SA, has been contending with a fresh wave of social-media backlash from consumers who are wary of the devices being used for nonconsensual public recording. That’s prompting other brands to distance themselves from the controversy.
The South Korean company has several engineers on its research and development team dedicated to testing and implementing new privacy features, said Jaein Choi, the executive vice president in charge of Samsung’s mobile experience division, during a media briefing this week. The company’s product will prevent filming if the LED light that is meant to signal recording is covered or obscured. (Meta also does this.) Samsung also pledged in a statement on July 22 not to use customer audio, screen-sharing or video data from smart glasses for training artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Choi said that consumers’ sensitivity to potential privacy risks "highly depends on the culture, each country and the regulations,” Choi said, arguing that this is an "industry-shared problem.”
He added that building trust with consumers, and being transparent about data policies and putting users in control, is crucial. "The intentional bad uses need to be covered and protected against,” he said. "But if you stop the innovation, we don’t go anywhere.”
Despite some viral pushback, the category is gaining in popularity. Shipments of smart glasses without built-in displays soared 167% in the first quarter, according to research firm IDC. That leaves an opportunity for newcomers like Samsung.
The company’s first wave of products in this category will be centred around voice interactions with Google’s Gemini AI assistant, Choi said. Samsung declined to disclose the product’s name, price or exact release date at this time. Once the glasses arrive, they’re meant to slot into the company's broader device ecosystem, which includes new folding smartphones and smartwatches announced on July 22.
Glasses with built-in displays will follow, Choi said, assuming they can meet certain quality expectations.
The glasses feature a number of custom-designed components, according to Samsung, including advanced hinges and temples that can withstand their fair share of twisting and pulling. Choi added that the glasses can last through as much as nine hours of "heavy use,” a figure Samsung hadn’t previously disclosed.
The company said it has prioritised maintaining a comfortable weight balance when considering internal parts like the battery and speakers. It also sought to ensure the user won't feel heat from the device on their face. The glasses have been put through extensive testing for water, heat, humidity, sweat and sunscreen resistance, Choi said.
There are more ideas to come: Choi said Samsung has filed over 200 patents tied to the smart glasses category, and only a small portion of those are represented in the first-generation hardware. – Bloomberg
