You might soon be able to buy luxury Gucci-branded Android XR smart glasses, and we dread to think what they’ll cost

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A niche within a niche

Xreal Project Aura
The Xreal Project Aura (Image credit: Google)
  • The CEO of Gucci's parent company has said the brand will probably launch smart glasses next year
  • These will reportedly be made in partnership with Google, likely meaning they'll run Android XR
  • Nothing else is known about them, but they're sure to be extremely expensive

The world might soon be inundated with smart glasses, as not only do companies like Google, Samsung, Xreal, and Meta have some coming fairly soon — along likely with Apple — but now it seems Gucci does too.

This is according to Luca de Meo, the CEO of Gucci-owner Kering, in conversation with Reuters, and saying specifically that they will come out "probably next year, 2027."

The smart glasses will be made in partnership with Google, so will presumably run Android XR — an operating system that so far is only available on the Samsung Galaxy XR headset, but which will also be used by smart glasses including the Xreal Project Aura, the Samsung Galaxy Glasses, and some unnamed Google specs.

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Android XR Dec 8 Update

An Android XR prototype (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Not the first but not far behind

Some of these will probably land this year, so Gucci isn’t going to be first out of the gate, but it probably won’t be far behind, with de Meo explaining that the brand plans to scale up its eyewear division to help rebuild the Gucci brand, which has struggled a bit in recent years.

We don’t really know anything about these smart glasses yet, but they’re sure to be extremely expensive. Even smart specs that aren’t made by luxury brands will probably command a high price tag, so Gucci-branded ones may be essentially unobtainable to many.

Still, it’s unlikely that their specs will be any better than smart glasses bearing Google or Samsung branding — instead you’ll be paying for the name, and perhaps the specific design or materials. So if Gucci is out of your price range, you probably won’t be missing out too much.

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James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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