Smart glasses have been called the next big thing for years, yet most of us still do not wear them. Samsung is trying to change that. The company has opened pre-orders for its new Intelligent Eyewear, a range of AI glasses built with two well-known eyewear brands, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. Pre-orders began on November 13 in the US, and the glasses are due to go on sale on December 10. Here is a simple look at what you get, what it costs, and what Indian buyers should know.
Price and availability
The price depends on which brand you pick. The Warby Parker glasses start at $395, which is around Rs 37,000. The Gentle Monster ones cost between $449 and $489, roughly Rs 42,000 to Rs 46,000, depending on the design. Samsung is offering 30 designs across the two brands, so you do get some choice in style.
The rollout is small for now. Both collections are coming to the US on December 10. In South Korea, only the Gentle Monster range is confirmed. You can order through the brands’ own websites and physical stores. Samsung has not announced an India launch or Indian pricing, so readers here will have to wait and watch.
What can the glasses do?
The idea is simple: do small things without taking your phone out of your pocket. The glasses use Google’s Gemini assistant, and Samsung’s Bixby is available too. You can control them by touch on the frame or by voice.
Here is what Samsung says they can do. You can look at an unfamiliar building or object and ask Gemini about it. You can translate a menu, get turn-by-turn directions through Google Maps, take calls, and send voice replies. You can also hear summaries of your notifications. At work, you can capture a whiteboard during a meeting and ask Gemini to summarise it, and the key points are saved straight to Samsung Notes. If you spend half your day pulling out your phone for tiny tasks, you can see the appeal.
Specs in simple words
Inside is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 chip, with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. On the frame sits a 12MP HDR camera. It takes photos in a 3:4 shape and records video at up to 3K resolution at 30 frames per second, with 2K HDR recording also supported. For sound, there are two open-ear speakers and four microphones, so you can hear replies without earbuds and still hear the world around you.
Samsung claims up to nine hours of battery on a single charge, and the charging case stretches that to 72 hours in total. The glasses also have Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4, and an IPX4 rating, which means they can handle light splashes of water, though they are not made for swimming.
Weight matters a lot with glasses. The Gentle Monster models weigh between 39.6 and 43.9 grams, and the Warby Parker ones between 40.4 and 42.6 grams. Those are light numbers, and they need to be if you want to wear something on your face all day.
Will they work with your phone?
They are not limited to Samsung phones. The glasses work with selected Galaxy phones running One UI 9.0 or later, Google Pixel 7 and newer running Android 17 or later, and iPhone 13 or newer running iOS 26.6 or later. So before you get excited, check which software version your phone is on.
The privacy question
A camera on your face makes people nervous, and fairly so. Samsung says the glasses have an LED that shows when they are recording, along with privacy controls. When Gemini looks at the world through the camera, the glasses automatically hide the faces of people nearby. Samsung also says the visuals Gemini collects will not be used for AI training or ad targeting, and the glasses are meant for people aged 18 and above.
Those are the company’s own claims, so it is best to treat them as promises until reviewers test them in real life.
More tech worth a look this week
This is not the first time we have heard about these glasses. They were teased last October and shown earlier this year again, and our piece on Samsung and Google revealing their smart glasses covers that first look and what they can actually do.
If wearables are your thing, there is more coming. Xiaomi is launching new gadgets globally on November 17, and our article on the Xiaomi Watch S5, Smart Band 11 and Clip Earbuds launch covers what to expect.
And if you are following the big tech news, our update on the Microsoft outage affecting Outlook and Teams explains what is working, what is not, and why the fix is taking so long.
Should you wait?
For people in India, the honest answer is yes, because there is no launch date. If you travel to the US or Korea or have a friend there, the glasses are an interesting buy, but check phone support first.
Think about who these suit. Commuters who want quick directions, travellers who want menus translated, and people who take a lot of casual photos could get the most out of them. People who rarely use voice assistants may find them less useful.
The real test will be daily use. Nine hours of battery, a light frame, and helpful AI all sound great on paper. If they work as promised, these glasses might finally be the pair that gets normal people to try smart eyewear.