Benchmarking Meta! Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US) enters the game with Samsung and Chinese company Xreal. The first pair of glasses featuring Gemini AI is planned to be released next year.

Alphabet Inc. Class C, under Alphabet, Inc., Class C (GOOGL.US), has announced that it is working on creating two different types of artificial intelligence smart glasses to compete with Meta Platforms (META.US) existing models next year: one type equipped with a screen, and another focusing on audio features. The company stated in a blog post on Monday that the first batch of AI glasses developed through collaboration will be launched at some point in 2026. Samsung Electronics, Warby Parker (WRBY.US), and Gentle Monster are its early hardware partners, but these companies have not yet shown any final designs. Alphabet Inc. Class C also outlined several software enhancements that will be applied to the Samsung Galaxy XR headset, including a "travel mode" that will allow the mixed reality device to be used in cars and planes. Competition in the emerging category of AI and augmented reality (AR) glasses is heating up. Meta has been one of the most active participants in this field. It sells glasses under the Ray-Ban and Oakley brands at relatively affordable prices and has received positive reviews and decent sales, recently launching a higher-priced model with an integrated display screen. Snap Inc. (SNAP.US) is also planning to launch its first consumer AR glasses next year, while Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) is also planning to enter the field around the same time. For Alphabet Inc. Class C, these new products, along with its new Android XR operating system, represent a more refined and planned strategy compared to "Alphabet Inc. Class C glasses". During a demonstration at Alphabet Inc. Class C's office in New York City, the company presented several different prototypes of AI glasses, as well as early samples of glasses developed through collaboration with the Chinese company Xreal under the codename "Aura project". Similar to Meta's popular Ray-Bans, these glasses mostly connect wirelessly to smartphones and rely on the phone to process requests, whether it's asking Alphabet Inc. Class C's Gemini AI assistant to play music on YouTube Music or analyzing ingredients in front of you to generate recipes. Having the phone handle most of the heavy computing tasks allows these glasses to be thin and light enough to look like normal glasses. In a hands-on demonstration before the release on Monday, the company demonstrated two different prototype smart glasses with built-in displays: one with a single display in the right lens, and the other with displays in front of each eye. Both types support augmented reality overlay interfaces for applications such as Alphabet Inc. Class C Maps and Google Meet, but the dual-display design provides a larger virtual screen. "We want you to find the right balance between weight, style, and immersion based on your needs," the company said in a blog post. The company's goal is to ensure that as many software experiences as possible perform well on both formats. When using the real-time translation feature, users can display subtitles of the conversation on the screen or turn off the display and focus on the translation being played through the speakers. The display screens are particularly advantageous. When using Alphabet Inc. Class C Maps, the possibilities go beyond augmented reality turn-by-turn navigation. Users can look down for a larger aerial view of their current location, complete with the direction facing a Beijing Compass Technology Development. When taking a photo and requesting Gemini to beautify it using Alphabet Inc. Class C's Nano Banana Pro generative AI model, users can preview the final result without pulling out their phone. The unique feature of the glasses developed in collaboration with Xreal is their standalone experience: like the Samsung headset, the Aura project runs on the Android XR system, but with a more stylish appearance, similar to the company's other glasses, including One Pro. Like the Galaxy XR, the Aura project must always be connected to an external battery pack to function. These glasses will offer a 70-degree field of view, more immersive than Xreal's current series. Navigation in the Aura project feels familiar and intuitive, using the same hand tracking technology as the Samsung headset, despite fewer cameras. Improvements to Galaxy XR Alphabet Inc. Class C and Samsung are responding to early feedback on the $1800 Galaxy XR headset by introducing features that users and reviewers have been asking for. One of them is the upcoming "travel mode," which will make it easier to use XR devices on the go. Previously, virtual windows would fly past the user in a car or plane, making it extremely difficult to watch movies on a plane. Alphabet Inc. Class C will also release a PC Connect app, allowing any Windows PC to connect to the Galaxy XR and mirror its laptop screen in a virtual environment. The app is currently in testing and can also be used for gaming, greatly expanding the headset's appeal. This is an improvement over the initial release when customers needed to use Samsung's Galaxy Book laptop to use the virtual desktop mode. Alphabet Inc. Class C stated that they are also developing a macOS version. In addition, Alphabet Inc. Class C is introducing a new "realistic" virtual image style, more lifelike than Samsung's cartoonish design. With the help of a smartphone app, Galaxy XR users will be able to scan their faces to get an accurate representation of themselves in video calls. The realistic image can mimic facial expressions and gestures. Like the PC Connect app, this feature will be released as a test version. Both will be available starting this week.