• Illinois is set to ban smart glasses being used while driving
• The bill makes no distinction between glasses with and without displays
• Many online fear that it gives cops too much power to pull drivers over

Illinois is poised to be the first US state to ban smart glasses — of any kind — while you’re driving. Importantly, the bill makes no distinction between smart specs with a display and those without.

Once Governor JB Pritzker approves the bill, people caught flouting the rules could face fines of $75 (or $150 for repeat offenses) and the possibility of misdemeanor or felony charges if involved in a serious crash while wearing smart glasses.

Other states, such as New York, have proposed bills limiting smart glasses use while driving, but so far none have progressed as far as Illinois’ has — though that could soon change if states decide to take Illinois’ lead.

The hope is that this proposal will make roads safer by reducing distractions for drivers.

While there’s possibly some advantage of drivers having, say, navigation on a HUD in front of them to find their destination — which is something Amazon is hoping to offer its delivery drivers with its own smart glasses — attempting to text chat or watch a video on your glasses while driving is a terrible idea.

So, to discourage this kind of dangerous driving, it’s perhaps safer to just ban smart glasses and avoid any possibility of temptation.

Safer, but for who?

While many can agree that having a display distracting you while you drive isn’t ideal, some are questioning why non-display glasses — which are completely hands-free and boast zero visual distractions — are included in the ban.

Some have therefore wondered if there’s an ulterior motive to Illinois’ smart glasses approach, or if it’s at least not very well thought out.

Over on Reddit one user pointed out that the law “Gives cops license to pull over anyone and claim ‘oh, i thought those were smart glasses’” which could be abused by bad actors to write invalid tickets — with the user linking to a viral example of a cop using Florida’s existing driver laws to pull over a woman for texting while driving using a phone in her right hand, and doubling down even when the woman shows she doesn’t have a right hand.

Meanwhile, a commenter replying to Gizmodo’s coverage of this story said the rules have “Nothing to do with driver safety. Everything to do with law enforcement not wanting to be recorded,” as it’s much easier to record police with your smart glasses than holding up a phone.

On the flip side, Illinois does have precedent for banning audio distractions; headphones, earbuds, or other headsets that play audio into both ears are illegal under the state’s vehicle code. One-ear headsets are generally allowed, and there are exemptions for some professions and audio devices that improve hearing, like hearing aids.

Because audio can be a major distraction while driving — you might not hear sirens if you have active noise cancellation turned on, for example — even in places where it isn’t expressly against the law, it is advised against, and can work against you if you’re caught in an accident while immersed in your music.

Smart glasses don’t fully immerse you because they have open-ear audio, but their audio notifications and music playing into both of your ears could cause a distraction.

Additionally, because the tech is evolving so quickly, creating nuanced carve-outs today might lead to legal disputes or confusion down the line, especially as lawmakers aren’t known for being particularly tech-savvy. There’s a simplicity to just banning smart glasses outright while driving.

Of course, these rules are just for one state, assuming they get signed into law at all, but smart glasses regulation seems to be on the agenda for a growing number of local and national governments in an attempt to curb bad actors.

So don’t be surprised if similar rules start being proposed in your local area, and be sure to follow any new smart glasses rules that are introduced if you like using a pair.

• Samsung's XR headset will help you meditate while giving blood
• Employees recently tried the demo, and it'll be available at AWE
• Further expansions are already planned

There are plenty of things in life we know we should be doing but don’t for one reason or another — like eating more vegetables, exercising several times a week, giving our time to good causes, or reading a good book. But for one such activity, giving blood, Samsung and healthcare company Abbott have just showcased a way to make it a bit more bearable: immersive meditation.

To mark World Blood Donor Day, Samsung employees in South Korea had the opportunity to give blood while experiencing immersive meditation, and the company plans to expand the program globally, with events scheduled for the US and Malaysia.

One such activation is happening in just a few days. Attendees at Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, California, next week (June 15 to 18) can take part in Samsung and Abbott’s four-day blood drive.

I’m currently taking part in a medical trial, and as part of it every couple of months I have to get a lot of blood taken. While I am now used to it, I always get stressed out in the moments before the needle goes in, and I can’t relax until I know it’s all over — so some kind of immersive XR experience would be a help.

It would certainly beat my current method of trying to distract myself by talking the nurse’s ear off.

Analysis/subhead section

We’ve seen XR used in similar ways before, for example, some flights now offer VR headset meditation to help calm nervous fliers, and schools have used VR to help bring education to life. These examples give some ideas for how XR can make other mundane parts of our lives a bit more fun.

Gamifying exercise to make it more exciting is a trend that's always being chased, but too often it struggles to pull folks away from a more traditional routine. So instead, I’d like to see an XR glasses app that can work with any gym equipment.

Imagine having an XR coach there to talk you through a routine, with advice for each machine and stats about your last visit, like what weights you were lifting and pushing you to go a little harder if you can. Treadmill runs could come with immersive routes to jog through, or perhaps you could have a virtual you/rival joining you at each machine, giving you someone to compete against.

My next proposal: a reading companion. I know a few teachers, and many have said it’s harder than ever to get kids to read. If you do try to set a reading and then quiz the kids on what the book is about, they’ll just use AI to summarize the story for them.

So what if an XR glasses or headset app could leverage eye-tracking to follow along as you read to see that you’ve actually gone through a book properly. Parents and teachers can then know their kid has been reading and deserves some congratulations, and for the kid, the glasses could help with understanding or pronouncing words, perhaps provide some visual cues to what they’re reading, and help them find similar books once they’re finished.

I’m not envisioning anything supremely immersive, just a few bits to help readers of all ages engage with a story.

Or perhaps we could use XR to help make doing chores less of a, well, chore.

MR apps have been made to show us where we have and haven’t vacuumed, so something similar for dusting, cleaning the bathroom, and other tasks would be great at keeping my home spotless in every way.

I also love listening to music while I clean, so perhaps an XR app could turn my home into a rave that only plays while I’m tidying, helping me push through chores.

These are just a few fun possible examples, but they showcase some of the reasons and ways XR could be an awesome technology as it develops. We’ll just have to wait and see what Samsung, Google, Meta, Apple, and the rest have up their sleeves.

• Lawmakers in Pennsylvania want new smart glasses rules
• A proposed bill would mandate that glasses display when they are recording video or audio
• This comes after reports that modders are disabling this feature on Meta Ray-Bans for a price

Last week, I covered reports of, let’s face it, creeps who have been modifying their smart glasses (typically Meta Ray-Bans) to secretly record video and snap photos — by disabling the safety light that flashes when the glasses’ camera is in use. Now, Pennsylvania lawmakers want to make private recording with smart glasses a crime.

Representative Joe Ciresi (D-Montgomery), has introduced a bill that would require smart glasses made, sold or used in his state to display a visual indicator (like a light) when the device is recording — though his bill would go beyond video and to audio as well.

Calling the bill’s rules “common-sense privacy safeguards” to prevent the “misuse of emerging technologies.” It would also require device makers to prevent users from disabling the visual indicator.

While Meta has yet to respond to this new proposed bill, a spokesperson did get back to us after my last story, saying, "All technology — whether it's cameras, smartphones, or AI glasses — comes with the same basic expectation: people should behave responsibly and not misuse it.”

Adding “We aggressively target anyone advertising tampering tools, have removed thousands of violating ads and Marketplace listings for these services, and pursue legal action when appropriate," in response to questions about modification services being sold and advertised through Meta’s own Facebook Marketplace platform.

Meta also explained that its teams are working on evolving its measures — so hopefully it’ll find a way to counter the techniques modders have developed to disable the smart glasses' safety light.

The best outcome?

This new bill is one I’m expecting we’ll see echoed across the States and in other regions because it feels like common sense.

As I mentioned before, we’re seeing how folks are being plain weird in public by misusing smart glasses to harass, intimidate, stalk, and spy on people — amongst other creepy behavior — and these actions risk spoiling everyone’s fun.

Cameras on glasses have genuine utility for allowing the AI to identify landmarks or translate signs, or simply snapping a quick first-person shot while you’re on vacation. Having used my Meta Ray-Bans plenty, the camera quality is worse than my phone's, but the big advantage is that the specs can record without taking me out of the moment — you’re living it for real, not behind a phone screen, but still capturing the memory.

But the risks of misuse can be countered by full-on bans, so I’m glad to see Pennsylvania is taking a tactful approach.

We’ll have to see how companies and governments respond to modification services trying to skirt these rules, but this is the best possible next step in the smart glasses safety saga — giving us an increasingly uncommon win in the consumer tech space.

• Code to power facial recognition has been found in the Meta AI app
• This would allow Meta's smart glasses to identify people's faces
• The feature isn't live yet, and Meta claims it may never be, but reactions to it are largely negative

Meta’s smart glasses like the Ray-Ban Meta and the Oakley Meta Vanguard have always been concerning from a privacy perspective, given their ability to photograph and film whoever the wearer happens to be looking at. But they just got even more troubling, as there’s evidence that they might soon get facial recognition.

Wired (via Mashable) has found that the company has quietly been adding code related to facial recognition to the Meta AI app over multiple updates this year.

Its investigation found references to three AI models, one which would detect faces, another that would crop them, and one that'd encode them into biometric data. And while the feature isn’t live, two security researchers who reviewed Wired’s findings claimed that it’s almost ready to launch, if and when Meta chooses to.

In a response, a Meta spokesperson told Wired that "nothing has shipped to consumers and no final decision has been made on what to do here, if anything. If we do decide to roll something out, we will take a thoughtful approach and do so with full transparency. One decision we can be clear about — we are not building a central face database."

A privacy nightmare in the making?

Still, the fact that Meta is already adding relevant code to its app certainly suggests a feature along these lines may well launch. At which point, not only do you need to worry about being photographed or filmed by people’s glasses, but that they could identify you just by looking at you.

Responses to the news on Reddit are largely negative, but also largely unsurprised, given that this is Meta we’re talking about — a company that hasn’t got the best track record for respecting people’s privacy.

One Reddit user commented “is anyone surprised by this, really?”, with others saying “well, that tracks”, “I miss privacy”, and “should be illegal”, among other negative comments.

And while Meta does at least provide some measure of privacy with its smart glasses — such as displaying a light when they’re recording or taking photos — modders can already disable that light, so it’s easy to imagine that any precautions put in place for facial recognition could also be disabled or got around.

• UK government says cheating in exams using smart devices poses a great threat
• Students could soon resort to using smart glasses and invisible earpieces
• It's not just a concern in the UK, and cases are rising in China and the US

The UK government has warned that the rise of smart tech could give students more reason to cheat in their GCSE, AS, and A-level exams, and the threat should not be overlooked.

Chief Regulator of Ofqual (The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation), Sir Ian Bauckham, warns that devices such as hidden earpieces and smart glasses advertised to students via social media could overtake phones as a means of cheating. Speaking with BBC Radio 4, he shared the following:

"We're hearing stories — and I hear this directly from schools as I go up and down the country — of devices like supposedly hidden earpieces, smart glasses that play text covertly on the inside of the glasses that only the wearer can see, and even biros [pens] that have got apparently invisible mini video screens built into them”. "In the worst cases, they could lose all their A-level grades. That's future-altering," he added

Additionally, Bauckham appeared on Ofqual’s Can I Just Qualify That? podcast show, where he revealed that the government has had to “move really fast, because technology is moving fast”. He also said that exam invigilators are now being trained to spot these kinds of smart tech.

Since 2018, the rise of smartphone malpractice in exams has grown substantially, and last summer alone, 2,225 cases where smartphones and other devices were used to cheat were flagged, resulting in 545 cases where students were disqualified.

Having access to mobile phones in schools, Bauckham argues, has opened the doors for a new wave of technology to enable cheating in exams, and from his recent warnings, it’s only going to get more difficult to control. That said, this threat isn’t just limited to UK schools.

Global education systems need to take action

This isn’t the first time smart devices have made their way into the examination hall.

In regions such as China, smart glasses are becoming a popular way to cheat in university exams, allowing students to scan questions, which the device will then display the answers on the lens, Rest of World reported a few weeks back.

Students are even going the distance to rent out their smart glasses to other students to use during exams for between $6-$12 a day, the outlet says, and second-hand online marketplaces like Xianyu are becoming an increasingly popular place for students to source their devices.

Using smart glasses to cheat in exams is one thing, but AI is another growing issue in educational spaces. Not only is AI becoming increasingly difficult to detect in written coursework in the UK, but it’s prevalent in universities across the pond.

In May, Ars Technica reported that 30% of Princeton students are cheating in exams by using AI, but this can be attributed to the institution’s outdated examination codes. The outlet shared that because lecturers don’t monitor exams (the university still adheres to a 19th-century regulation), it makes it easier for students to get away with cheating, and the number of cases is only rising.

According to a survey of Princeton seniors conducted in 2025, almost 30% of students admitted to cheating during an exam. However, in spite of this number, almost 45% of students said they had witnessed fellow classmates cheating, but decided not to report it, even though students must vow to report malpractice.

However, the university is clamping down on this soon. A few weeks ago, Princeton faculty members cast votes in a referendum to write mandatory proctoring for in-person exams into Princeton's laws, and it was a landslide win with only one member opposing. The regulation will come into effect on July 1.

• Modders are charging as little as $50 in the US to alter Ray-Ban Meta specs
• The altered smart glasses are then able to record without the safety light
• This allows bad actors to film secretly and potentially harass people

Update: Since publishing this story Meta has responded to say its tech (like all technology) comes the expectation that "people should behave responsibly and not misuse it." You can read the full statement below. I've also reported on news that Pennsylvanian lawmakers want new smart glasses safety rules, and that story also includes Meta's statement.

Original: $50 or some technical know-how — that’s all it’s taking some to mod their Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses to disable one of its most important safety features: the camera light.

The first-person video perspective is incredible for snapping first-person shots while on vacation or just living your day to day, but bad actors have been using smart glasses in more nefarious ways — often to harass women as the BBC reported earlier this year, with that likely to spike again as we enter beach season in the Northern hemisphere.

To help prevent secret recording, the Meta glasses switch on a light that plays the entire time. It sits on the left side of the glasses, creating design symmetry with the camera on the right, and if it’s ever covered (say, by some tape), the glasses will prevent you from recording.

However, as reported by Joanna Stern in a YouTube video, modders can permanently disable this light in a way that doesn’t prevent recording. You just need the technical know-how and some tools, or $50 to $100 to pay someone on places like Facebook Marketplace, adding an unfortunate ironic layer that it’s happening through Meta’s own platform.

This kind of hack isn’t illegal, but it is against Meta’s terms of service. Recording with these now secret spy glasses isn’t necessarily illegal either. It depends on the region's laws surrounding things like recording in public and if you need one- or two-party consent.

I reached out to Meta for comment, and it said "All technology — whether it's cameras, smartphones, or AI glasses — comes with the same basic expectation: people should behave responsibly and not misuse it. We aggressively target anyone advertising tampering tools, have removed thousands of violating ads and Marketplace listings for these services, and pursue legal action when appropriate."

It added that it is looking into evolving its existing measures so that it can continue to deliver safe and secure products.

Please don't ruin the tech I love

My relationship with smart glasses has been a little up and down recently, but overall, I’m still a major advocate for them.

Just like smartwatches before them, smart specs offer truly useful features in ways that are more convenient than our existing tech — I’ve used my own RayBans when I travel to great effect (translating signs, identifying historical sites and monuments, and recording memories without being taken out of the moment), and the tech’s only getting better.

These kinds of modifications risk ruining everyone’s fun. Because if people keep abusing this tech, I can see governments taking a heavy hand with restrictions — either outlawing cameras in specs, or simply banning smart glasses altogether if things get too out of hand.

That would suck.

So I'm hoping there are some fixes Meta can implement, and that other manufacturers follow suit. Perhaps they could also work with governments to introduce precise rule changes, such as making it illegal to record covertly or changing harassment rules so that bad actors are punished.

Because smart glasses are so incredibly cool, and while I have tried a lot of awesome tech over the years, smart specs have always seemed in a league of their own (in a great way). It’s a wearables category that I hope keeps thriving — we just need to make sure it grows the right way so that this dream tech doesn’t become a nightmare for many.

• More hardware is reportedly on the way from Meta
• We could get an always-on AI pendant and new smart glasses
• The smart specs may involve new hardware partners

As well as exploring premium subscriptions for its social media platforms, Meta is also reportedly developing new hardware too: an AI pendant, and smart glasses that are apparently going to be different to the models we've seen before.

This is according to The Information, which says testing for the AI pendant will begin in the coming year. Presumably it works along similar lines to the Limitless AI Pendant which launched in 2024, as Meta acquired Limitless at the end of last year: the device records and processes audio, and can answer queries with its built-in chatbot.

Details are thin on the ground at the moment, but we've seen quite a few of these AI wearables in recent years. From transcribing meetings to telling you what time you need to be at the station to catch the next train home, the idea is they act as constant companions ready to lend a hand at any moment.

We know that ChatGPT developer OpenAI is working on something similar, though again there's not much in the way of solid information about what the something is, or what it'll do. We could be getting gadget launches from two of the biggest names in AI across the course of the next 12 months.

More smart glasses

As for the smart glasses, as per the report in The Information, there are apparently several new models coming. The rumored plan is to bring more partners on board, in addition to Ray Ban, which Meta already works with. As you would expect, Meta's own AI models are going to be providing the intelligence.

The same report mentions a new 'Wearables for Work' project at Meta, intended to drive subscriptions for Meta's AI apps — including an as-yet-unreleased AI agent called Hatch. Meta is apparently aiming to sell 10 million smart glasses in the second half of 2026, in part by expanding sales to more countries.

There's more evidence for the incoming smart glasses via Android Authority: Meta has registered several new pairs of smart specs with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US, a necessary regulatory step for new gadgets. These documents have been filed under the Meta name, which hasn't often been the case with previous wearables.

That might suggest Meta is teaming up with another hardware partner, which lines up with what The Information is saying, but we'll have to wait for confirmation. Many other companies are expected to launch smart glasses soon too, including — perhaps — Apple.

• Xreal just unveiled the xbx a01 smart glasses
• These XR specs are super budget-friendly...
• ...but packed with some impressive features

With its One Pro glasses Xreal seriously hit it out of the park — making arguably the best XR glasses you can buy right now for the private home theatre experience, and easily my favorites. The only issue? They’re pretty darn pricey, as are many of Xreal’s previous specs. That’s about to change however, with the new xbx range.

Standing for 'X by Xreal', and not some Xbox tie-in as I initially thought it was, this sub-brand will champion new glasses lines, starting with the budget-friendly a01 line. Instead of costing $649 like the Xreal One Pro, it’ll cost just $299.

Initially coming to China, with a US launch scheduled for July this new budget option looks set to give my favorite cheap XR specs — the RayNeo Air 4 Pros — a serious run for their money.

A budget XR champion?

First up, Xreal's xbx a01 boasts a 1600-nit HDR10 display. RayNeo’s budget specs debuted the first HDR10 XR specs earlier this year with the Air 4 Pros, and it seriously helps improve the vibrancy of its colors with compatible content. However it only came with 1,200 nits; the extra brightness from Xreal should help further enhance the clarity and beauty of its images.

Secondly, there’s a new anti-shake algorithm built for using during commutes, flights, and bumpy subway rides. Think of it like a reverse version of the stability controls cameras come with — the glasses will try to keep the in-display image from shaking around, while trying to preserve as much of the image clarity as possible.

Thirdly, these glasses are meant to look great. With a range of interchangeable front frames to suit different styles, they also cater to different needs — such as the ability to swap to dimmer lenses in brighter conditions.

Plus they should be pretty comfy too. At only 62g which should make them feel fairly light on your face.

Of course we’ll need to test Xreal’s glasses out to be able to judge them fully, but I’m a major fan of its other specs so I’m optimistic that Xreal’s foray in budget glasses will be a slam dunk.

If I was RayNeo I’d even be a little worried Xreal is coming to eat my lunch — though I’m sure it has some tricks up its sleeves to counter down the line.

This also gives us a fun look at how Xreal’s Android XR efforts might develop. As smart glasses become something we wear all the time, design aspects like interchangeable frame covers could allow us to make fashion conscious decisions (having multiple designs to wear for various scenarios) without breaking the bank on several expensive pairs of smart specs.

We’ll have to wait and see what next, but yet again smart glasses are proving why they’re one of the most exciting sectors in tech right now.

Rumor has it, Apple's pricey Vision Pro is headed for the scrap heap of failed tech gadgets. Rumor also has it that it's fine and will see either further upgrades or iterations. Rumor further has it that even if the Vision Pro doesn't get significant upgrades, it will stand as the progenitor of Apple AR glasses, the wearable everyone will probably want.

By now, you should know that no one knows anything about the future of the woebegone spatial computer except for Apple, which, for the moment, is busy celebrating a significant Vision Pro win: eye surgery completed via a surgeon wearing the headset.

That news is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's a fist-pumping validation of Vision Pro's potential as a life-altering piece of wearable technology for enterprise. On the other hand, consumers may see it as yet another sign that the Vision Pro was never intended for them in the first place.

It's been almost three years now since Apple unveiled Vision Pro at WWDC 2023 and gave a small group of attendees, including me, the chance to try it out. As I wrote back then:

Perhaps it was the moment a virtual butterfly effortlessly landed on my extended finger, or maybe it was the dinosaur's snaggle-toothed maw that came within inches of my face, or even the mountaineer who balanced barefoot on a thin cable pulled taut across a vast ravine. In truth, it was all of those experiences with Apple's stunning Apple Vision Pro spatial computing headset that convinced me I'd just experienced the true future of VR.

To this day, I do not think this was hyperbole. I had never in decades of using technology and even trying VR (going all the way back to the mid 1990s) and AR tech for the last two decades, experienced anything like it.

As most people know, the Vision Pro arrives with a hefty price tag of $3,499. If you held, wore, and experienced the spatial computer, you could understand, if not justify, the price, but between the sometimes uncomfortable nature of wearing the 1-pound device on your face and the instant out-of-reach for average consumer price, the Vision Pro was a hamstrung consumer product from the get-go.

Apple did not win over consumers

Over the last year or so, Apple has done what it could to attract consumers, like integrating more entertainment and experiences, letting people turn any photo into a spatial image, updating the processor to the M5 chip, and radically improving the headstraps to finally make the Vision Pro truly comfortable to wear for hours at a time.

But there has always been a disconnect. Even aside from the price, consumers showed little interest in being cut off from family, friends, and coworkers. Because that's what Vision Pro was asking of you: dive into a 3D movie while your family does something else. Work at a massive virtual desktop while your coworkers sit nearby, staring at you incredulously.

The latest software lets you bring other coworkers into your virtual space, and it's a wild experience, but it requires that they also wear a Vision Pro headset. It's overkill for remote work, where Zoom will probably suffice.

The Ternus factor

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the Vision Pro is not the breakout consumer hit Apple imagined. I don't see the headsets in offices, and I do not get questions about them from consumers.

Stories about using them and the eye-popping experiences you can find (like the spatial vision of U2 lead singer Bono's documentary) drive little to no interest.

Apple will still point to the goggles as a point of pride. In a recent discussion with Tom's Guide, John Ternus called them "an extraordinary product."

The vote of confidence is important because Ternus is now just months away from stepping into the Apple CEO role. It sounds like he likes Vision Pro. On the other hand, now is not the time to tear down products championed by Tim Cook, his soon-to-be former boss and predecessor. It would be the height of bad form.

Perhaps it's Ternus's recent appointment that's recharged the rumor mill here, but fresh reports indicate Apple's failure to ignite widespread consumer adoption with the Vision Pro M5 upgrade may have doomed the product. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has claimed in the past that Ternus was not necessarily a fan, but more recently said that he may have killed a lower-cost Vision Pro product project.

Apple has no public statements to support any of this conjecture, but anyone with a brain knows that a product struggling at this level will at least need solid repositioning. The closest Apple has come to admitting that it's not a consumer hit is Tim Cook mentioning Vision Pro's big enterprise potential. I do think the Vision Pro could have a long-term future with the corporate set. On the other hand, Microsoft (HoloLens) and Google (Google Glass) both followed that path only to eventually shelve their wearable AR products.

More certain is that everything Apple and John Ternus learned from Vision Pro about spatial computing will be poured into Apple Glass, iGlass, or whatever Apple calls its lightweight, affordable mixed-reality glasses that draw most of their intelligence from the iPhone in your pocket.

For as much as Ternus may have disliked the Vision Pro project, he will look to the glasses — and maybe the folding iPhone — to be his signature products, the ones people talk about when he steps aside 15 years from now.

No matter what happens to Vision Pro, nothing can diminish the accomplishment. Apple's spatial computer remains the apex product in the category (yes, outdoing the Galaxy XR headset for now) and marked a turning point in wearable hardware. Sure, it's been overshadowed by AI and Apple's failure to deliver a more powerful Siri, but I will encourage you to head over to an Apple Store and put on a Vision Pro headset, just so you can someday tell your grandkids about it.

• Apple’s Vision Pro headset was used in a world-first surgery
• It’s since been used in hundreds of similar operations
• It could help transform operating theaters, one surgeon believes

If you’re due for surgery, the next time you go under the knife, your operation could be performed by a surgeon using an Apple Vision Pro headset. That’s because the world’s first successful procedure to remove optical cataracts has been completed with the assistance of one of Apple’s headsets — and it’s gone on to help in scores of other medical operations in the past year alone.

The surgery actually first took place in October 2025, but the surgeon in question — Dr. Eric Rosenberg, DO, MSE — has since performed “hundreds” of subsequent procedures, according to a press release.

It all happened at the SightMD practice in New England, which is owned by Dr. Rosenberg. Using a Vision Pro app called ScopeXR (also developed by Dr. Rosenberg), the surgeons were able to visualize the operation “in immersive stereoscopic 3D while simultaneously accessing real-time surgical overlays and comprehensive preoperative diagnostic data, all without breaking sterile technique".

Dr. Rosenberg had plenty of praise for the Vision Pro: “This isn’t just about a new device, it’s about reimagining what the operating room of the future looks like.” Speaking of ScopeXR, he said: “We’ve created a platform that makes surgeons safer, smarter, and more connected.”

Fulfilling the Vision Pro’s potential

One way that ScopeXR was able to tap into the Vision Pro was by enabling collaboration between surgeons and consultants, even if they weren’t all in the same room together. Assistants and mentors could remotely join the feed provided by the Vision Pro and communicate in real time.

As Dr. Rosenberg put it, “We are now able to bring the world’s best surgeon into any operating room, at any hour, from anywhere on the planet.” That has a range of uses, from training surgeons to providing help with unexpected complications.

Apple’s Vision Pro is often held up as an expensive flop, with its future existence frequently called into question, and it’s true that the device seems to have struggled to gain traction in the consumer world. But flip over to the other side of the coin and it appears that the product is doing well in industrial, medical and similar environments.

Perhaps that’s where the Vision Pro is best placed to fulfill its potential. Apple is said to be working on lightweight smart glasses, and those would probably be a more consumer-friendly device. But for more demanding users like operating theaters around the world, the Vision Pro’s incredibly high-end specs could be just what’s needed.

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2): two-minute review

Between the boom in generative AI technology and the ability of manufacturers to produce smaller-than-ever hardware components, accessories as light as glasses frames can house impressive computing power these days, and leading that particular charge has been Meta, with its stylish and capable Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, made in collaboration with EssilorLuxottica (the parent company of Ray-Ban and Oakley), set the current standard for the many lesser-known brands competing for space in the burgeoning market.

That being said, the competition may well catch up before long — the changes between the first- and second-gen glasses are only iterative, and Meta’s focus is more than likely on the Meta Ray-Ban Displays rather than on these comparatively ‘dumb’ smart glasses.

So, what better way to test them than by taking them on the road? I took my pair of second-gen Ray-Ban Metas on vacation to Rome, Italy and used them as both my main camera and my tour guide to find out how useful they are in real-life environments.

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) review: price and availability

• Starts at $379 / £379 / AU$689

The Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) start at $379 / £379 / AU$599 in all their various styles — that’s $80 / £80 / AU$150 more than the first-generation glasses. That’s a relatively small price increase (especially given current market conditions) for a decent upgrade to battery life and camera specs — and you can easily swap out your existing lenses into the Gen 2 if you already own the first generation and really want those benefits.

You'll also pay $30 / £30 / AU$40 or $80 / £80 / AU$90 extra for Polarized or Transitions lenses, respectively. I went for standard shaded lenses, and I wished for transitions countless times during my testing; they’re a must-have if you plan to use these indoors at any point without looking like you’re nursing a hangover.

While these are still surprisingly affordable, the price is beginning to creep up towards “wait, do I really need these?” territory; in a world where we can now purchase a $599 / £599 / AU$899 MacBook Neo, the ‘cool’ factor can only go so far to inspire new customers to invest in an otherwise niche category.

All frame designs are priced the same, and you can choose from six color options across the Wayfarer and Headliner frames, or seven in Skyler. Plus, two new designs have also recently been released for prescription wearers: Blayzer and Scriber. There are two model sizes too, although exclusively for the Wayfarer style; one for larger and one for smaller heads. Certain frames also offer the option of a low nose-bridge model.

• Value: 4/5

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) review: design

• Broadly the same as first-gen glasses
• Slightly heavier
• Still IPX4 splash-resistant

Little has changed outwardlythat the eye can see between the first and second-generation Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The case is the same, they’re available in the same styles with the same lenses (Prescription (-6.0 to +4.0), Transition and Polarized) – in fact, all that’s noticeably changed here is the weight, which goes up 2.8g, from the 49.2g of the first-generation to 52g, likely on account of the larger battery and improved camera hardware.

There’s some disappointment in this sameness. For example, these still only have an IPX4 rating, so they’re splash-resistant but not splash-proof — and something that’s worn on your head, which is the first place to get wet in a sudden downpour, should have the best possible protection here.

I don’t love how the Wayfarers look on me, which did kind of ruin my holiday shots. I went for the Wayfarers as they’re a more unisex design, and I could share them around with my colleagues, but the boxy shape and thick frames make me look like Carl Fredricksen from Up. Broadly speaking, I think at least one of the three styles will suit most people (I’m more of a Skylar girl, myself), but even Meta can’t entirely escape the fact that these glasses need to be decently boxy in order to squeeze in all that tech.

The fit is still super-comfortable, though, and that 2.8g weight increase hasn’t made the glasses unwearable — though first-timers may find them a little heavy on the nose bridge. On the upper-left corner when you’re wearing the glasses / looking at the glasses from the front, as on the first-gen, is the 12MP camera lens, and on the upper-right is the indicator light that lets passers-by know you’re filming or taking a photo. The placement here bothers me — most smart glasses clearly weren’t made with women in mind, because if you have bangs as I do, you’ll find a great many shots get interrupted by your hair.

Also as on the first-gen specs, the shutter button is on the top of the right arm, and the invisible touchpad is on the outer side of the arm, which lets you control things like music and Meta AI. On the left arm is the power switch.

From afar, these features are discreet enough to be almost invisible, and that continues right the way through to the embedded mics and speakers. In fact, the only way you can tell these are smart glasses at all is from the camera lens and the light — I’ll let you decide whether that’s a good thing, or a menace to society.

• Design: 5/5

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) review: Performance

• AI is broadly reliable
• 12MP camera is still limiting, but decent
• Battery boost is much appreciated

I took the Ray-Ban Meta (2nd generation) smart glasses on vacation with me to Rome, Italy, hoping the beautiful and historic city would offer lots of opportunities for that neat little 12MP camera to capture some great first-person perspectives as I explored the landmarks.

I didn’t necessarily want to like the process — I’m deeply concerned by the privacy implications of guerrilla video and photo capture — but I can’t think of a better way to really capture a moment than to record pretty much the exact perspective you had when you experienced it. Plus, with news in late 2025 about new targeted ads using Meta AI conversations and alarming reports about footage captured on the glasses, including intimate moments, being viewed by contractors, the privacy-conscious may well want to keep all Meta products at arm’s length.

That aside, the quality of photos and videos captured by the Ray-Ban Meta (2nd generation) will naturally pale in comparison to the main camera on any flagship smartphone from the past few years. It’s only a 12MP camera, after all. Still, I think there’s something quite rustic and charming about the photos and videos taken by the Ray-Ban Meta, especially if you work around its limitations.

You’re limited to vertical shots, and framing your shots is tough, given there’s no display or preview. Shooting at night will garner middling results, and colors can also often be a little diluted, but broadly speaking the results are great for capturing the moment.

You’ll need to put some thought into what video settings suit the action, too: 1080p at 30fps is a little better stabilized, but naturally less detailed and well-balanced, than 3K HDR videos. You can see examples of this in our Ray-Ban Meta (gen 2) video review.

The most noteworthy upgrade for me is to the battery. With double the on-device battery and a solid 16-hour boost to the case charge compared to the first-gen, these can comfortably last you through a whole weekend away, or you could get by with a few quick charges if you’re travelling for a week or two. That’s a huge win while only adding a few grams to the weight.

Inside the glasses’ arms are two open-ear speakers, through which you can hear Meta AI’s responses and music; these are louder, bassier, and have less sound leakage compared to the first model, according to Meta. I’d say that all tracks — the quality here is pretty great, though there’s still a good amount of leakage. I still wouldn’t personally wear these while sitting next to a stranger and listening to tunes full blast, but if you’re lying on a beach or on a walk, they’ll work a treat.

Speaking of Meta AI, the assistant is pretty handy to have around, and has seen some improvements since we reviewed those original specs back in 2024. Broadly, the AI suite works as expected, including newer features; I tried using Live Translation to quickly unpack what someone was saying, and while it’s not super-accurate or snappy, it gets you by when you’re abroad and you’ve been neglecting your Duolingo sessions.

When I visited the Colosseum, Meta AI served as my stand-in tour guide, telling me about the different landmarks I was looking at, and chatting up a storm about Ancient Rome. However, I did experience some hallucination; I asked if the massive structure had ever been used for anything beyond entertainment, and Meta AI told me all about its past as a housing complex.

I pressed for more information – including when this happened, and all of a sudden it said that had never been the case. Such issues were infrequent, but it does show why you should generally take AI-generated information with a pinch of salt.

The worst part of the AI suite is, unfortunately, the app you have to use to pair your Ray-Ban Meta. The Meta AI app is brimming with AI slop, and I hate that there’s no one-touch button to get straight to your media if you’re a Ray-Ban user. Every time I accidentally open the Vibes feed, I shudder.

• Performance: 4/5

Should I buy the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2)?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

How I tested the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) review

I used the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) for a month, including during a trip to Rome, Italy, wearing them on any day where it was bright enough to use sunglasses. I filmed and shot photos indoors and outdoors, day and night to see how well the 12MP camera could capture the action.

I made sure to try all of their AI features, testing their battery and performance over longer periods to assess comfort, usability and battery life.

I ran the Meta AI app from my iPhone 15 Pro.

• First reviewed: April 2026

• Leaked renders show what the Samsung Galaxy Glasses might look like
• They don't have a screen and they look a lot like Ray-Ban Meta glasses
• However, they reportedly run Android XR with access to Gemini

Meta is probably the biggest name in smart glasses right now, but it might not be for much longer, because Samsung has a pair of its own smart specs on the way. And based on a new leak, they look very similar to the Meta Ray-Bans — but with at least one clear advantage.

Android Headlines has shared renders of what it claims are the Samsung Galaxy Glasses, and for the most part, they look like an ordinary pair of specs — the only real sign that they’re not is the camera lenses at the edges of the frame.

But this is a design that’s also very similar to a lot of Meta’s smart glasses, which likewise have a camera at each side and, in some cases, similarly shaped lenses.

Their capabilities also sound similar, with Android Headlines explaining that this first pair of Samsung smart glasses likewise lacks a screen, but that, as they run Android XR, you’ll be able to talk to Gemini to do things like translate signs and take pictures, while Google Maps will be able to give you directions through them.

It’s a similar idea to the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, but with those specs, you’re stuck with Meta’s AI, which isn’t as capable or popular as Google’s, so Samsung could have a big advantage there.

Of course, Meta has Ray-Ban and Oakley branding for its glasses, which is probably more appealing than the Samsung branding here, but we already know that future Samsung frames will be made in collaboration with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, so Meta’s branding advantage might not last for long either.

And if you’re disappointed that there’s no screen on these glasses, you shouldn’t have too much longer to wait for a model with a display, with those coming in 2027, according to Android Headlines.

But this first screenless pair will probably land before the end of 2026, and they're rumored to cost between $379 and $499 (roughly between £280 / AU$525 and £370 / AU$695), which puts them roughly in line with Meta’s pricing.

So, will you buy a pair of Samsung Galaxy Glasses based on what we know so far? Take part in our poll below to let us know.

If you do want to buy these Samsung glasses, you might be able to do so in July, as that's when the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Flip 8, and Galaxy Watch 9 will likely launch. Though Android Headlines speculates that the Galaxy Glasses could get teased then and go on sale later.

Personally, I think they look promising, but I'll probably hold out for the model with a screen next year, even though those are sure to cost even more — with leaks currently putting the display-toting model at between $600 and $900 (around £440 / AU$835 to £665 / AU$1,250).

• 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.

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.

• Meta is raising prices for its Quest 3 and Quest 3S virtual reality headsets
• The company blamed "significantly" higher costs for the price rises
• Users are disappointed but say the products are still good value for money

The Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S are phenomenally good virtual reality (VR) headsets — in fact, they’re some of the best VR headsets money can buy. Part of that lies in the strong value for money they represent, but that’s just hit something of a road bump, as Meta has announced it’ll be raising the price of both devices as soon as April 19 — just two days from now.

According to a post on the Meta website, the price increases will affect both the Meta Quest 3 and the Meta Quest 3S in many markets around the world. Meta said the changes have been made because “the cost of building high-performance VR hardware has risen significantly,” with the sky-high cost of memory modules almost certainly the main culprit.

The 128GB model of the Meta Quest 3S will now cost $349.99 / £319.99 / AU$569, while the price of the 256GB edition is rising to $449.99 / £409.99 / AU$729. The 512GB Meta Quest 3, meanwhile, will soon set you back $599.99 / £549.99 / AU$969.

That’s a significant price escalation across the board. For comparison, buy one of the above headsets today and you’ll pay the following:

• Meta Quest 3S 128GB: $299.99 / £289.99 / AU$499.99
• Meta Quest 3S 256GB: $399.99 / £379.99 / AU$669.99
• Meta Quest 3 512GB: $499.99 / £469.99 / AU$799.99

The Meta Quest 3 is more negatively affected than its more budget Quest 3S sibling, with the former’s price rising by as much as 20% in US dollars.

That’ll be an unwelcome change for VR fans, and with Meta barely giving any notice, there’s not long to pull the trigger if you want to avoid the price hike.

Still a good deal?

Unsurprisingly, many people aren’t happy with the news. Over on Reddit, for example, one user lamented: “That’s too bad, price increases make VR harder to get started in. Hopefully things get better but I wouldn’t hold my breath on Quest 4 coming out soon and/or being as good of a deal as the Quest 3 was.”

Meanwhile, another sarcastically added that the move “Will definitely drive VR adoption along with axing their first party studios.” Other readers expressed little surprise over the change, with user Alarikun saying: “this was inevitable. They were heavily subsidizing the costs of the hardware to try to get more people into VR.”

That said, several users argued that even with the price rises, the Meta Quest series still represents a good deal. One Redditor contended that “while the price increase isn’t fun, it’s still the best value headset out.” That was mirrored by another post, which argued that although the Quest 3 series is “still the best value in VR,” its price change could lead Valve to “release the Frame with a higher cost than expected.”

If you’ve been on the fence about buying a Meta Quest VR headset, now might be the time to make a move. With the RAM crisis still causing misery, today’s prices might be the cheapest you’ll pay for quite some time.

• Apple's Greg Joswiak has hinted about some potential smart glasses
• He was joined by Apple's John Ternus in a new Tom's Guide interview
• Both also claimed that Apple isn't looking to merge Mac and iPad

Two of Apple's most influential executives have hinted that the tech giant could be working on some smart glasses, as rumors predicted earlier this week.

Greg 'Joz' Joswiak (Apple's SVP of worldwide marketing) was joined by John Ternus (SVP of Hardware engineering) in a wide-ranging interview with Tom's Guide, which covered everything from the MacBook Neo to Apple's recent 50th anniversary.

But it was their comments about a potential Meta Ray-Bans rival, which Bloomberg suggested could appear later in 2026 ahead of a 2027 launch, that were the most illuminating. When asked about smart glasses being the next wave of computing, Greg Joswiak said that "there’s some inevitability to combining digital and physical worlds."

Of course, Apple has already done that to an extent with the Apple Vision Pro, but it was telling that Joswiak's "inevitability" remark came in response to a question about the future of spatial computing.

Naturally, he wasn't willing to elaborate much further. "I can't give you a timeline for when spatial becomes, you know, anything else," he said. "But it's an inevitability of digital and physical worlds coming together."

The timing of the comments is apt because Bloomberg's report earlier this week gave us some more details about its rumored smart glasses. It claimed that Apple is developing its own Meta Ray-Bans rival, internally code-named N50, and that they're being tested in four different styles, including a large rectangular frame (like Ray-Ban Wayfarers) plus some oval or circular options.

Apple talks Mac vs iPad

The interview also covered the age-old Mac vs iPad debate and where the MacBook Neo sits in that divide — and Apple again stressed that it's not looking to merge the two platforms.

When asked about iPadOS becoming more Mac-like recently, Apple's John Ternus (who has been touted as a future CEO) claimed that Apple still thinks of them as separate experiences.

"There’s never been this idea of mashing these two things together," Ternus said. "There's this narrative outside that there is, but that's never been the case," he added. Anyone who's tried iPadOS 26.4 might disagree, but for now, Apple continues to push the narrative that many people want both, which is obviously good news for Apple.

Naturally, neither of the execs would be drawn on the prospect of a touchscreen MacBook Pro, which has also been strongly rumored to be launching by the end of 2026. But one thing's for sure — Apple is going to be asked these questions a lot later this year, particularly if the rumored smart glasses and OLED MacBook Pro are indeed finally made official.

• Meta has been urged to scrap its rumored Name Tag feature
• In an open letter, privacy advocates have said the facial recognition tech is dangerous
• Meta hasn't announced Name Tag yet, but a statement suggests the feature may still be coming to Ray-Ban glasses

Over 70 organizations are asking Meta to cancel its controversial Name Tag AI glasses feature plans — out of fear it could supercharge the threat of stalkers and abusers.

While not yet officially announced, a report came out last year suggesting that the company wants to develop an always-on AI system with the ability to recognize people’s faces and other details from your life, like where you left your keys. The story was amplified earlier this year when The New York Times reaffirmed Meta’s rumored plans.

What’s more, the NYT report included a leaked Reality Labs memo that suggests Meta knows the tool is controversial, as it apparently plans to launch Name Tag “during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.”

The document also highlighted possible plans to launch the tool at a conference for the blind to help promote it as an accessibility tool.

Despite some possible advantages to Name Tag, various organizations, including the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and Electronic Privacy Information Center, have signed an open letter urging Meta to protect the public’s privacy by never releasing Name Tag or a feature like it.

“Facial recognition technology built into inconspicuous consumer eyewear represents a serious threat to privacy and civil liberties for every member of our society, and particularly for historically marginalized and vulnerable groups,” the letter explains.

It added, “People should be able to move through their daily lives without fear that stalkers, scammers, abusers, federal agents, and activists across the political spectrum are silently and invisibly verifying their identities and potentially matching their names to a wealth of readily available data about their habits, hobbies, relationships, health, and behaviors.”

In response, Meta issued a statement saying, “Our competitors offer this type of facial recognition product, we do not. If we were to release such a feature, we would take a very thoughtful approach before rolling anything out.”

The issue some may have with that response is that Meta doesn't promise to never introduce facial recognition to its specs, just that it would do it the right way. However, this comes off the back of reporting that Meta contractors are seeing a lot more of our AI smart glasses’ photos and videos than we might have realized.

This second smart glasses era has so far managed to dodge the major complaints that plagued Google Glass in terms of privacy, but that has changed. If Meta, Google, and even, possibly, Apple want things to go back in a more positive direction, they need to be careful and make stronger guarantees that the public is being taken seriously.

Smart glasses are still something of a novelty — fun but arguably a lot less useful than our phones, smartwatches, and earbuds. If public backlash continues to grow, a second smart glasses decline will likely follow — and I say this as someone who thinks the tech could be awesome and would like to see it flourish.

We just need to make sure privacy protections are taken seriously. Otherwise, I imagine it won’t be long before governments or members of the public start taking action.

• Apple is working on smart glasses that should be revealed later this year, according to leaks
• AI AirPods and an AI pendant are also planned
• Apple's privacy-first approach could help it win with AI glasses

Every tech company and its dog is cramming AI into whatever system it can, and while Apple has been slow to get off the starting line, its rumored AI glasses, AI-focused AirPods, and AI necklace could help it snatch victory from the jaws of defeat — all thanks to one major long-term focus: privacy.

While a couple of these gadgets have been teased previously by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (behind a paywall), who often shares reliable Apple insider info, he has just revealed more details about Apple’s plans to create its first smart glasses.

According to Gurman, Apple is developing display-free smart glasses that will compete directly with the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2. These smart specs, internally code-named N50, will apparently help you capture photos and videos, play music, catch up on notifications, and interact with Siri. The latter will finally, according to reports, get a big upgrade in iOS 27.

The rumored AirPods and pendant could similarly rely on tech like cameras and microphones to capture information from your surroundings to provide insight and assistance, such as visual reminders.

Gurman doesn’t share release dates for any of the trio, but says the smart spectacles should appear later this year, with a launch due in 2027. He also claims that Apple's smart glasses are being tested with four designs: a large, rectangular frame (like the Ray-Ban Wayfarers), a slimmer rectangular design (like Tim Cook's specs), larger oval or circular frames, plus a "smaller, more refined" version of the latter.

But despite these rumors that Apple will try to eclipse its rivals with a "higher-end build", I still think they're going to have their work cut out for them, for a few reasons.

Not plain sailing

For starters, this delayed Apple glasses rollout could damage the perceived utility of its tech compared to its rivals — especially as by the time it debuts AI specs, Apple’s competitors are expected to have a generation or two of AR / display glasses released.

From experience, AR and display glasses (which can overlay your vision with various details, including live translation, shared play environments, or HUD elements like a map) are also a significant step up from display-less AI specs in terms of their usefulness and capabilities.

The less-than-stellar Apple Intelligence rollout also gives me cause for concern. Apple still hasn't really proved that it knows what it's doing with AI.

The other potential pitfall is that Apple is said to be going it alone design-wise, rather than linking with a brand like Ray-Ban or Warby Parker, like Meta and Google have. As a fashion accessory, the look of smart glasses is almost as essential as their usefulness, and several brands I’ve seen try to design their glasses in-house have struggled to make something that looks good.

That said, if any brand can buck that trend, it’s arguably the tech design champion that is Apple.

And the Californian tech giant also has one major smart glasses strength that could still win me over, even as an Android fan: privacy.

Privacy, privacy, privacy

Visual reminders are seen as the next big advantage AI wearables can leverage. That is, they can take in all of the information about your life and help you remember things like people’s names, where you left your keys, or what needs restocking in your fridge.

The issue is, while this level of AI assistance is undeniably useful, it’s equally invasive — essentially requiring the wearable to have an always-on view of your life. Otherwise, it could miss vital context that would make its advice useless.

Meta and Google's practices have come under fire in the past for their data privacy, and what information is or isn’t shared with their AI — most recently, Meta has fallen into hot water over how many more videos and images than people realized are being shared with Meta and reviewed by contractors.

Apple, on the other hand, has always made a big effort to promote privacy with its tech. And in the world of AI — where some tasks require personal information to be processed on servers rather than on your device — it created Private Cloud Compute to ensure that user data is kept private even when it is used by Apple’s remote servers.

I’m firmly in the Android ecosystem, and if you’ve seen our podcast you know I have a bit of an ‘Apple-hater’ persona. Still, I’d currently trust Apple glasses over any other brand as things stand — and with the privacy advantages I expect them to offer I’d even be willing to put up with worse performance and specs if it meant knowing my personal data was secure.

We’ll have to wait and see what Apple reveals — as with all leaks, we must take teases and speculation with a pinch of salt — but I’m uncharacteristically excited to see what Apple has up its sleeve. Meta and Google (and the rest) should watch out.

• Meta just debuted a new AI: Muse Spark
• This improved LLM more closely matches ChatGPT and Gemini
• It's launching on Meta's smart glasses and social platforms soon

Meta’s VR scaleback came with the promise of renewed effort in its glasses and AI divisions, and today we’re seeing the first glimpse of what this focus means, as Meta debuts Muse Spark.

A new Meta LLM, Muse Spark is described as offering “competitive performance” across a range of metrics including reasoning, health, and agentic tasks. Meta shared performance scores for Muse Spark that shows its performance in these areas is solidly amongst the pack — either matching, surpassing or being just behind its Gemini and ChatGPT competitors in each of those fields.

Meta’s announcement report gets quite into the weeds about the testing, scaling, and training Muse Spark received with the promise that we should look forward to “increasingly capable models” on the horizon.

The report also highlights the safety of Muse Spark, such as its refusal to be used to discuss chemical and biological weapons, which might bring this new AI into the government-usage conversation dominated by OpenAI and Anthropic.

Regardless, the interesting aspect of this new AI is that it’ll soon be rolling out to Meta glasses and software users — at least in the US where Meta usually introduces new software features first.

Meta promises that Muse Spark will debut on Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and its Ray-Ban and Oakley smart specs “in the coming weeks” which should bring some serious performance boosts.

Exactly what this boost will look like is yet to be seen in practice on Meta’s glasses, but we have experienced the Muse Spark update on other platforms — and we expect the AI glasses roll-out might see improvements to conversational performance, image and video editing (perhaps with improved generative elements), and improved health data assistance.

Though this comes on the back of the growing backlash to Meta’s AI and glasses, it doesn’t seem to address some of the biggest concerns folks have (primarily data privacy, especially for images and videos). Perhaps the major improvements and utility of the new Meta AI will win people over, however, as Meta’s lacking ability compared to its rivals was a growing frustration — that does at least seem to have been addressed.

We’ll have to wait and see how Muse Spark unfolds, but some of my Meta interest is returning. Let’s see if it can live up to, and maintain, the hype.

Meta’s smart glasses are pretty great; in fact, they’ve been one of my favorite gadgets released in the past few years. The Ray-Ban and Oakley styles are beautiful, the audio and camera quality are solid, and the AI assistive tools are genuinely useful when I travel.

But I rarely wear mine anymore — and I’m considering picking up some ‘dumb’ sunglasses as we head into the UK’s summer. I don’t really want to wear them anymore after a few recent Meta developments, and it turns out I’m not alone.

A BanRay movement is appearing with assets to help promote the banning of smart glasses from spaces, and the arguments made for why such a movement needs to exist are compelling.

I love smart glasses, and even I acknowledge the wild west world we currently live in needs to change.

One battle after another

It's been a tough few months for Meta. The realization it has squandered its XR lead, and set fire to billions of dollars, and killed the metaverse dream before it began has seen it effectively shelve its Horizon Worlds platform in VR.

Next, a joint investigation by Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten revealed to many that their private glasses-recorded videos might not be so private. Instead, any video, audio, or photo recordings taken using hands-free voice controls have been shared with Meta's servers and possibly reviewed by contractors, with reviewed content apparently including credit card details, people using the bathroom, and couples having sex.

Most recently, Meta has been found guilty of exploiting addiction in teens to grow its social media platforms. Meta has expressed plans to appeal the landmark loss, but it's a serious blow to Meta no matter the end result — especially with thousands of similar trials remaining (and if the ruling sticks, I expect even more will follow). In the court of public perception, it’s another arrow in the anti-social-media movement’s quiver.

On top of all this, you have AI glasses that seriously step over the line — such as boasting completely secretive recording abilities — price hikes for recent smart glasses that make them less appealing from a value perspective, and general AI frustrations — as AI struggles to live up to the hype while creating component shortages and contributing to the aforementioned cost hikes.

I’m not surprised that an anti-smart glasses movement has finally formed, even if it took a few years to kick off.

My own hype has waned

I’ve previously been a massive smart glasses fan, but while I still think there’s something useful to the tech, I’m also increasingly frustrated by it.

Price hikes with not much in the way of substantial upgrades to warrant them are one, and the enshitification of Meta’s AI app is another — it used to just be a glasses control center, which was ideal. The all-in-one Meta AI platform is too bloated with tools I don’t want or need.

Plus, while I knew Meta’s AI policy meant it could see images and videos taken with the specs, my impression was these would be those used by features like look and ask — where the glasses use the camera to get context for a question I have like “what’s the name of this landmark” or “translate this sign” — I for one didn’t realize hands-free voice controls to start the camera also shared footage with Meta.

This feels extra frightening next to Meta’s plans to have your glasses camera always on. The argument is that this will help you remember where you left your keys or identify people you’ve met before (things I’m terrible at), but it simply sounds like a privacy nightmare, especially as all this data will be sent to the Meta AI cloud to process the AI functions rather than being kept private on the device.

The end result of all these issues is that unless I have a pair to test for a review, I probably won’t be wearing my Meta Ray-Bans on the regular anymore — I’m going to invest in a pair of regular transitions instead.

A glimpse at the future?

Do these woes spell the end of smart glasses before they've truly arrived?

Of course not. While some of us are losing faith, clearly, this is a field many tech companies want to explore, and changes could win me back.

Android XR, while headed up by Google, which itself isn’t a bastion of privacy (and whose platform YouTube was also successfully sued for social media addiction), might offer some privacy solutions if it uses your phone for more on-device AI processing. This approach is much more private than Meta’s server approach and could eliminate some major data protection concerns.

Better regulation would also be a massive help. Forcing glasses to always make it obvious they are filming, imposing privacy safeguards, or tweaking regulations so folks don’t abuse their tech in public and private spaces are a few possible avenues, and would make it easier to punish companies and individuals that step over the line.

For now, however, we’re in the AI and smart glasses wild west. Hopefully things will change for the better, but right now I’m worried we might be headed the way of Google Glass after all.

Rokid AI Glasses Style: two-minute review

At first glance the Rokid AI Glasses Style should be nothing but a slam dunk.

Officially starting at $379 (around £285) but discounted to $299 (around £225) at Rokid’s own store, these glasses are cheaper (assuming you get the lower price) than Meta’s Ray-Bans, while boasting specs on-par or ahead of its rival.

These AI glasses run ChatGPT 5 for insightful answers to your questions (provided you have an internet connection), a solid 12MP camera for first-person shots, real-time translation over 12 languages — including English, Japanese, German, French, Korean and Chinese — and a promised 12-hour long battery life. In our tests they lasted a fair few hours, but regular calls, taking photos and video, AI use and music will drain the battery more quickly (my experience was closer to around five to six hours of charge per session).

The only slight let down was audio. It’s fine but you won’t get a song’s true flavor through these as notes are lost — especially in the bass department. That said, this is true of other smart glasses of this kind, though I do feel some brands have a slight edge (i.e. Meta).

However, the initial price isn’t what it seems.

For a start, it doesn’t include a charging case — that’s an extra $99 fee, unlike its rival, which includes the charging case for free and it’s a real game changer. Additionally, while it’s not uncommon for premium lenses to incur an added charge, especially prescription lenses, the price of Rokid’s glasses doesn’t even include basic clear lenses.

They’ll set you back an additional $59, shaded cost $89, polarized are $109, and my recommended option photochromic transition lenses (more on that below) also cost $109 — and that’s also not included the added cost of any coatings you might want to add to reduce blue light or reflections.

Plus, while I’m being negative, I’ll mention that Rokid’s frames also look and feel cheap. You could confuse them for the 3D specs you get given before a movie. As much a fashion accessory as a useful gadget, the design of smart glasses is crucial — something rivals like Meta has realized with Ray-Ban and Oakley designs, and Google with its Warby Parker and Gentle Monster collaborations.

All that’s to say that while Rokid’s AI Glasses Style make a strong opening impression, the feeling you’re being nickel and dimed, coupled with the lackluster look, left me disappointed.

Rokid AI Glasses Style review: price and availability

You can pick up the Rokid AI Glasses in the US (they also ship to Canada, the UK, and EU) from Rokid's own store for $379 (around £285), though they’re seemingly always on sale for $299 (around £225). This price doesn't tell you the full story however.

Firstly, lenses cost extra, and I'm not just talking about prescription lenses. Clear lenses are $59, shaded lenses are $89, while polarized options will set you back $109, and photochromic lenses that can swap between clear and shaded are $109 too.

My advice with smart glasses is always pay more for photochromic lenses. That way you can use the glasses in clear, sunny, and cloudy weather — as well as indoors. You don’t want your smart specs to only be usable sometimes.

There's additional costs for various additional coatings like anti-glare, and then you'll also need to pay more for a charging case if you want one — it sets you back $99.

Rokid is one of those brands that seems to run frequent deals, which keeps these specs from getting too out of hand financially, but what initially seem to be budget-friendly specs can still quickly spiral into the mid-range or beyond territory. At which point some of their deficiencies — especially in the design category — feel less than excusable.

• Value: 3/5

Rokid AI Glasses Style review: design

At a distance, Rokid AI Glasses Style follow the Wayfarer style that many smart specs adopt — not simply Meta’s Ray-Bans. But, ironically when you consider their name, upon closer inspection they miss the mark style-wise, while their core rival oozes cool.

The black plastic frame and flat lenses adopted by Rokid’s specs remind me of movie theatre 3D glasses, not a premium fashion accessory you’d be proud to be caught wearing in public.

I also don’t love that there isn’t a physical power off switch on the glasses’ frame. When I, say, go to the bathroom while wearing my smart glasses, knowing I have physically toggled them off puts my mind at ease that I am indeed conducting my business in private. Without this switch, I have to trust the Rokid glasses aren’t watching — and while I know Rokid will say the specs aren't spying, I still feel uncomfortable.

Rokid’s specs also get a knock points-wise when it comes to the lack of charging case. Unless you pay extra that is.

This case is super handy for recharging your smart specs on the go. On a day out, there are plenty of easy opportunities to recharge your frames with a case — say when you pause for a coffee or lunch — to make them feel like genuinely all-day companions. You could find a socket and use the USB-C charging cable, but that’s significantly less convenient.

Speaking of battery life, while Rokid promises 12 hours of use per charge, my experience using them for regularly calling people, taking photos, asking the AI questions, and playing music saw them last for around half that — about five to six hours.

That’s still not bad in fairness. And as I’ve noted with smart glasses in the past, at least when they do run out of charge, you still have a handy pair of shades.

Before talking about lenses, I will give one definitely positive design comment: the nose pads help to improve the comfort and secure fit of these specs. I wish my Ray-Bans had something similar — I have a large pair and in the summer when my face is covered in a mixture of sweat and sun cream, I constantly have to readjust where they sit on my face. With these Rokid glasses, I could leave them in place for a whole day.

They were comfortable to wear the entire time too.

Now, rounding the design section off: a comment on lenses. I was sent a shaded pair of Rokid AI Glasses Style to test, and in the UK Winter / early Spring these things are next to useless. It’s too dark outside to wear sunglasses, and you can’t really wear them indoors either — unless you’re in the minority of folks who wear sunglasses all-year round.

If you’re getting a pair, get completely clear or — ideally — photochromic lenses that morph between clear and shaded in harsh sunlight. That'll mean you have specs you can use in any conditions.

• Design: 2.5/5

Rokid AI Glasses Style review: Performance

If the Rokid AI Glasses struggle in terms of design and price, performance is where they solidly hit the mark.

Rokid’s AI assistant is powered by ChatGPT 5, which I found meant the specs were able to provide useful, insightful info on a range of topics — they even helped me find a new restaurant to try in Brighton’s Lanes after I asked for food recommendations. As someone who regularly uses my smart glasses as a tourist, they were more than capable of being your personal guide in both familiar and unfamiliar places.

I can’t speak for the full quality of their translation abilities, though tests at trade shows have proven they have a solid grasp of Chinese, and the 12-long list of supported languages — which includes English, as well as essential European and Asian languages — does put them ahead of some key rivals (read: Meta’s specs).

The microphones pick up clear audio and AI commands even in windier conditions, making voice notes is super easy, and navigation through the Rokid App is handy when it works properly — it sometimes misheard me and wanted to send me to Nottingham train station rather than my nearest one.

All of these tools can be activated hands-free using voice commands, but you can find recordings, photos, and additional information like a route map in the Hi Rokid app.

Speaking of photos, the Rokid AI glasses’ camera is, in a word, fine. The 12MP snapper is a little better for video, but it can be handy for snapping a quick first-person shot — especially if you haven’t got the hands to take your phone out of your pocket.

The audio is also fine. The bass lacks oomph, tracks feel noticeably emptier than they would with headphones and, at medium to louder volumes, there’s noticeable sound leakage if people are near you. But for casual tunes while you explore a city, these specs will serve you fine with open-ear audio that won’t take you out of the moment you’re in.

• Performance: 4.5/5

Should I buy the Rokid AI Glasses Style?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

How I tested the Rokid AI Glasses Style

I used the Rokid AI Glasses Style for a month, wearing them on days it was bright enough to use sunglasses and not look too odd in late Winter / early Spring. I also did some at-home testing where I didn’t mind how silly I looked.

I made sure to try all of their features, and took them on a couple of day trips to test their abilities over longer stretches of time to judge their comfort and battery life.

I ran the Hi Rokid app from my trusty Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.

• First reviewed: April 2026

• Meta has two new smart glasses on the way
• Blayzer and Scriber Optics shapes are designed for people who wear prescription lenses
• The glasses don't come cheap

Meta just debuted a duo of new AI glasses styles in its Ray-Ban smart specs lineup, and they’re designed for folks who have prescriptions with designs aimed at “all-day wear.”

These new Blayzer and Scriber Optics shapes support “nearly all prescriptions” at launch (-6 to +6, with support for folks with astigmatism too) and according to Meta, they’re the company’s most comfortable AI glasses yet with overextension hinges, interchangeable nose pads, and optician-adjustable temple tips which will all allow you get a more tailored fit from your smart specs.

I already think the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses I own are comfy, but I do have a couple of fit tweaks I would make if I could — the changeable nose pads, for example, would be a big help for making my specs fit better. The only downside is that these new glasses are a fair bit pricier than Meta’s standard Ray-Ban smart glasses

The glasses are available right now in the US starting at $499, while in the UK and Australia, they’ll launch on April 14 for £429 / AU$709. Oh, and that’s before you pay extra for your prescription lenses (which cost different amounts based on how strong your corrective lenses need to be), and for add-ons like them being transition lenses that go shaded when you’re in bright light.

By choosing all of the most expensive options, I found a pair costing $1,024 on the US preorder page — though it did seem you could get a pair in the $599 to $799 range if you don’t go all-out and have less severe vision correction needs.

But hey, at least you get a unique Dark Brown charging case — a change from the tan and limited edition black cases we’ve seen previously.

If you’d rather splurge on Meta’s other glasses, a few new lens and frame options are on the way to those.

The Oakley Meta Vanguards are getting their first transition lenses, which is a massive win for the glasses, since their always shaded options weren’t ideal for darker days. They’re being joined by Black and Rose Gold lenses too.

Meanwhile, the Oakley HSTN specs are getting Dark Golf and clear-to-brown transition lens options for you to choose from.

• Rec Room is shutting down in June
• The popular metaverse platform struggled to turn its success into profit
• Snap is reportedly buying up some Rec Room assets

Rec Room — a popular VR multiplayer platform that reached over 150 million players during its lifetime — is shutting down in June as the company explains, "Our costs always ended up overwhelming the revenue we brought in." But it might live on in AR.

This follows the semi-shutdown of Meta’s Horizon Worlds metaverse. That title will live on in full on mobile, and will be playable in VR — but the once-flagship immersive experience on Quest headsets won’t receive updates or new content, as Meta shifts its focus to smartphones and glasses.

For Rec Room, a similar shift seems to be on the cards too.

While not much is revealed in the School’s Out for Rec Room blog post, which details the final days for the platform — such as 80% discounts, the removal of some RR+ membership exclusivity for certain items and for cashing out tokens, and the ability to download your created rooms as a standalone Unity app (only via the Steam PC build) — it’s being reported that the team’s efforts may be reborn in a form under Snap.

The Snapchat and AR glasses-maker has reportedly acquired some Rec Room Inc. assets, including a few employees, according to Geek Wire. It hasn’t been confirmed what they’ll be doing, but based on my experience with Snapchat’s specs, I have an educated guess that these former Rec Room developers will help make Snap’s AR software the virtual playground I’m dreaming of.

The metaverse’s AR future?

I’ve loved VR multiplayer, but having experienced AR multiplayer with Snap’s Spectacles, the in-person digital experience is a cut above, even in my admittedly limited demo.

Peridot multiplayer let a group of us see and interact with each other’s virtual pets, we could draw and create 3D art together in the room, and while not a game per se, multi-person AR translation with floating subtitles under each speaker felt like magic.

Even though the actual gameplay of these apps wasn’t mindblowing, the virtual and real blended experience was a delight — and my mind was racing with what the future could hold.

With a pair of AR smart specs, you could turn a park into an AR paintball arena for you and your friends, turn your living room into a jungle adventure, or your back garden into a tennis court — the list goes on.

An AR version of Rec Room, with its blend of premade and user-generated content, could be a killer AR app. Rather than waiting for someone to make the AR game you’ve been wishing for, you’d have the tools to simply build it yourself.

Now, there’s no promise that this is what Snap has planned, but from my conversations and demos with the team there, it’s clear the company has lofty AR aspirations — so this kind of move wouldn’t be out of the question. We’ll just have to wait and see what it has up its sleeve when its glasses debut later this year.

• Engo has revealed the engo3 smart glasses, with an AR heads-up display
• Designed to display vital stats in your lens as if they were floating 3m in front, the smart glasses don't capture content or play music
• The glasses are compatible with Apple and Garmin watches, among others

Engo has revealed the engo3 smart glasses, a device designed to show you an augmented-reality view of your vital stats during a run.

Using Engo's 'light AR technology', the engo3 specs use a custom interface to take data from smartphones and wearables — which exact models, we're not sure, but we know the list includes Apple and the best Garmin watches — and show the data as if it were hovering around 3 meters in front of you. The info displayed includes 'heart rate, pace, cadence and more' as well as cues for customisable structured workouts such as interval training.

While they do share a similar outward design to Meta's Oakley Meta Vanguard specs, their functionalities are very, very different. The Vanguard glasses can takes information from Garmin watches, but will either read it out to you via the in-built speakers or overlay it on top of footage taken by the onboard camera. You never see it as a heads-up display.

On the other hand, the engo3 glasses don't have an onboard AI assistant and can't play music, serve you notifications or capture content like the Vanguards do. They're purely about workout guidance.

The engo3 press release addressed this as a deliberate choice, stating: 'ENGO's approach focuses on the following: to optimize weight, the user experience, and battery life. This means no camera, no sound, and no superfluous features that could add weight or distract the user.

'This choice goes against the grain of many smart glasses that offer a multitude of additional options, often a source of distraction.'

The engo3 offers up to 20 hours of battery life. Available now, they cost $399 USD / £299 (around AU$575).

Analysis: What I wanted out of the Oakley Meta Vanguards

When I first unboxed the Oakley Meta Vanguards, I was telling another runner friend about the Garmin integration. Initially excited at the prospect of seeing her stats in the glasses, I had to let her down and tell her it's only overlaid on the footage the Vanguards take.

The engo3 specs, which eschew the other smart glasses frippery in favor of the Iron Man-style heads-up display, is much more like what people have in mind when they think of futuristic smart glasses. I'm excited to try them.

We reviewed the Engo 2 smart glasses back in 2023 and found them clever, but underbaked — here's hoping now, in the age of smart glasses, tech has evolved and the sequel has succeeded where its predecessor couldn't.

The Samsung Galaxy Glasses, as leaks are calling them, aren’t 100% official, but Samsung has teased the arrival of Android XR specs for later "this year," according to Jay Kim (Samsung's executive vice president of mobile). When they land, they'll sit alongside its Galaxy XR headset — and rumors have started filling in the juicy details.

I expect we’re still at least a few months from a full-on reveal, given we only just had the launch of its Samsung S26 line-up, though I wouldn’t be surprised if Samsung keeps us waiting until much later in the year. But who says we can't start building up our excitement now?

Here I’ve rounded up several leaks related to the Samsung Galaxy Glasses’ apps, display, battery, and more to clue you into what the smart specs might include at launch.

1. They’ll boast a display

According to a new leak via SamMobile, the Samsung Galaxy Glasses will boast a 245mAh battery which is almost identical to the battery capacity of the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses. This suggests Samsung’s specs will also boast a screen, something that matches the prototype Samsung glasses we tried last year.

Previous leaks have teased a smaller battery capacity, however, which could hint at two pairs — a Galaxy Glasses standard model and a Galaxy Glasses Ultra that comes without or with a display, respectively. This is supported by the two leaks giving the glasses similar but different model numbers: SM-0200P and EB-0200.

2. Transition lenses are included

I’ve tested several AI smart glasses, and if I’m honest, you shouldn’t be getting a pair without transition lenses.

Why? Clear lenses are great for when you’re inside or are wearing your specs on mildly sunny or darker days outside, while shaded lenses are ideal when it’s the height of summer and days are bright outside, but neither is ideal in some conditions.

Transition lenses give you the benefits of both in one pair of glasses, maximizing the amount of use you can get out of your tech. Imagine if you could only use your phone on some days of the week — that would be frustrating — and without transition lenses, that’s how it would feel to use your smart glasses, so this rumor that Samsung’s Galaxy Glasses come with transition lenses is one I’m hoping is correct.

3. They have an in-built camera

A camera may seem to be a smart glasses standard, given it’s a key feature of the Ray-Ban Meta specs, but there are plenty of smart glasses that ditch the camera for simpler audio-only AI interactions. So it wasn’t a given Samsung would include one. Thankfully, it apparently will.

Rumored to be a 12MP snapper (the usual resolution for glasses), this thing is likely less than ideal for capturing photos, as — from my experience with other smart glasses models — it’s hard to line up a shot, and if you wear a cap like me, it always gets in the way.

But for first-person video or those moments where your phone isn’t accessible, a camera in your specs is a superb tool and solid alternative to the best action cams — especially when you factor in the other benefits glasses offer.

It’s also handy for providing context for your AI, being able to ask it to analyse what you can see in your environment. This is the AI tool I most often use with my Meta Ray-Ban specs, and it’s a must-have tool for all smart specs. So expect to see this and other AI tricks on Samsung’s tech.

4. They’ll support XR-optimized apps

This next one comes via some hidden Spotify code, and the Android XR developer page, which tease Android apps will get XR integration.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watches already do something similar with wristwear-optimized versions of phone applications, but a big difference is that those apps run directly on your watch — meaning you don’t need your phone. Your glasses would instead receive projected data from your connected phone, which would free up computing power and help the specs conserve battery.

This may change, but for now, leaks also suggest that the Samsung Galaxy Glasses won’t come with data connectivity — something they’d need to be more standalone — hinting at this first iteration being an accessory to your existing Samsung smartphone. Sorry, AI phone.

• Meta's CTO says Horizon Worlds will live on in VR, for now
• You won't be able to make new worlds, but can enjoy existing games
• He says it will remain live in VR in this way for the "forseeable future"

It seems reports of Horizon Worlds' death were greatly exaggerated — Meta has announced it won’t be killing the VR version of its metaverse after all.

Earlier this week, Meta announced that it would be ending support for the VR version of Horizon Worlds and making it into a mobile-only app, sending out an email to all Quest users that they only had until June 15 to enjoy their favorite created worlds before they’d be gone forever.

Now, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth has said they’ll be keeping the app live for VR users in a limited capacity after all. In response to someone saying they were “heartbroken” about the closure, Bosworth said in an Instagram AMA, “I have a little bit of good news here for you.”

“We have decided, just today in fact, that we will keep Horizon Worlds working in VR for existing games,” he revealed, though Bosworth added that new games won’t arrive in VR, and said that, for Meta, “most of our energy is going towards mobile” because “that’s where most of the consumer and creator energy already was.”

He ended the segment by explaining that this limited version of Horizon Worlds will be live for “the foreseeable future.”

Best of both (Horizon) Worlds

For me, even as someone who never liked Horizon Worlds, this is the ideal scenario.

As I outlined when the cancellation was announced, even if Horizon Worlds was never massively popular, there will be plenty of folks who have crafted their perfect VR worlds, or curated a list of their favorite VR games and hangout spots, who were now having that ripped away from them.

These users will still have access to all of that content now, though, thanks to this U-turn. Meanwhile, those of us who hated having Horizon Worlds shoved down our throats won’t be faced with Meta’s constant over-promotion in VR.

Though I wouldn’t be surprised if Horizon Worlds doesn’t survive even in mobile phone for much longer. Maybe my perception is wrong, but against mammoth titles (Roblox and Fortnite) with similar custom game design elements, is there space for Meta’s platform to win over a significant number of users?

I’m unconvinced, simply from the perspective that I never hear anyone talking about Horizon Worlds — this cancellation story is the most buzz it has had in years — meanwhile, I can’t escape references to Roblox or Fortnite in the gaming space, and I have never even touched Roblox; it’s just a gaming behemoth.

We’ll need to wait and see how Horizon Worlds develops, but at least for now, VR players will be able to cling onto their worlds for a little longer.

• Meta's smart glasses are getting update v23
• It will bring new snow sports stats to users with a Garmin watch
• Other upgrades improve conversational and translation abilities

Meta’s smart glasses are getting their v23 update right now, and the standout upgrade would have been perfect at the Winter Olympics — it's too bad that it's landed just a little too late. Nifty translation and conversational improvements are on the way too.

The standout upgrade is new snow sports integration. As a Meta article explains, with the aid of a Garmin device your glasses will be able to tell you about your current skiing or snowboarding excursion — such as how far you’ve travelled, your last run’s max speed, the steepness of the slope, and your personal records.

As with the running integration you can also create shareable auto-captures which overlay interesting data from key moments onto clips your smart specs capture automatically.

As with Meta’s glasses’ other fitness features, you’ll need to pair your specs with a compatible Garmin watch — so if you rely on a different brand of smart band or don’t own one at all you’re out of luck. You’ll also want to have your phone in your pocket with the Meta AI app installed, and make sure it’s paired with both your watch and specs.

With all that ready to go, when you next hit the slopes you’ll just need to start a snow sport activity on your Garmin device, and it’ll start capturing all the data you need and creating a neat auto-capture — just note that colder weather will drain your glasses’ battery more quickly than you might normally expect.

New translation tools are headed to the glasses too — if you’re in the early access program that is. These are Hindi, Arabic, Russian, Swedish, and Finnish, with Meta promising more to come.

Meta’s translation is arguably its glasses least impressive AI feature compared to rivals — not because of inaccuracies but because the language selection is much less broad compared to other specs.

This update should help to alleviate those ongoing woes somewhat; I just wish it was coming to everybody and not just a select few.

Lastly there’s the promise of a more conversational Meta AI. Once you engage with 'Hey Meta' you won’t need to keep saying the wake word to keep the conversation flowing — but at the moment this is only if you live in the US or Canada.

Overall this update is more minor — especially as the biggest upgrade requires you to own a Garmin device on top of your smart glasses — but hopefully Meta’s renewed AR / AI focus will mean we see bigger improvements down the line.

• Meta just announced that Horizon Worlds VR is shutting down on June 15
• The platform will still be live for mobile users
• Fans have mixed feelings about the announcement

Meta’s VR scale-back is heading into phase two as the company has revealed its timeline for the full closure of its Meta Horizon Worlds metaverse. At least the VR version of it.

In an email sent out to Meta account holders — this writer included — Meta revealed that starting on June 15, 2026, we’ll no longer be able to build, publish or update VR worlds. What’s more, we won’t be able to access Meta Horizon Worlds using VR headsets; instead, the spaces will be exclusive to the Meta Horizon mobile app.

That is, provided they’ve been optimized for mobile.

What’s more, starting on March 31, Horizon Worlds and Events won’t appear in the Quest Store, and Horizon Central, Events Arena, Kaiju, and Bobber Bay will no longer be available to enjoy in VR.

On the one hand, this move is being cheered by many VR fans. Horizon Worlds has never been overly popular, and its increasing prominence in Meta Quest feeds — pushing out third-party software many would rather see — has been a major criticism amongst many.

As one Reddit user put it under a post about the announcement, “So that means that those world thingies won't be mixed up with my games anymore? I see that as a win.” They are far from the only person with that mentality.

Good? Maybe not

At the same time, I can’t help but agree with others who share this positivity but feel a twinge of sadness, with comments like “I'm glad it's gone but I'm worried about what it means for Quest and VR as a whole” summing up this sentiment succinctly.

For a start, this is a major VR shutdown. While Horizon Worlds might not have been the most popular, it was a major platform from arguably the most important company in the space: Meta — as its headsets make up the vast majority of those in the hands of VR users.

This is therefore a serious reversal of its VR approach, and while Meta has said it’s still dedicated to the medium, it does feel like the end of an era.

I also feel sorry for this title’s loyal base, folks who would have spent hours crafting their perfect VR hangout space and have now lost that work, as exploring on mobile just won’t be the same.

Maybe there are only dozens of those people, but if your favorite VR software just shutdown you’d be upset — while I’m not a fan, there will be plenty of people out there who adored Meta Horizon Worlds and who seriously don’t want to see it go.

• A London judge says a claimant used smart glasses to cheat in court
• The claimant was being fed answers in real-time from the smart glasses
• The evidence was dismissed for being "unreliable and untruthful"

It sounds like a deleted scene from Suits, but a judge in a London High Court case has revealed that a claimant recently used smart glasses to get real-time coaching on their answers — and then later blamed ChatGPT.

The insolvency case, which centered around the liquidation of a Lithuanian company co-owned by Laimonas Jakstys, took place in January, but was recently reported by Legal Futures (via 404 Media) when the judgment was published. And it's full of fascinating, if slightly comical, clashes between a courtroom and new technology.

The judge first noticed something was awry when Jakstys started pausing before answers. "Right at the start of his cross examination, he seemed to pause quite a bit before replying to the questions being asked," Judge Agnello KC noted in the judgement.

After this happened a few times, the defense lawyer, Sarah Walker, said she could "hear interference coming from around Mr Jakstys," and this was backed up by the interpreter. The judge asked the claimant to remove the glasses before continuing with the cross-examination, but that was just the start of a comical turn of events.

While the interpreter was later translating a question, Mr. Jakstys' mobile phone apparently "started broadcasting out loud with the voice of someone talking", the judgment notes. "There was clearly someone on the mobile phone talking to Mr. Jakstys. He then removed his mobile phone from his inner jacket pocket. At my direction, the smart glasses and his mobile were placed into the hands of his solicitor," wrote Judge Agnello KC.

Amusingly, Jakstys turned up to court wearing the glasses the following day, but was then told to turn them off. "When asked, Mr. Jakstys denied that he was using the smart glasses to receive the answers that he was to give in court to the questions being asked. He also denied that his smart glasses were linked to his mobile phone at the time that he was giving evidence before me," the judge added.

Unfortunately, the evidence didn't back this up. According to Jakstys' call log, he'd called and received calls from someone marked on his phone as "abra kadabra", including one just before he went into the witness box. When pressed on the identity of "abra kadabra", Jakstys claimed it was a taxi driver. But the judge understandably wasn't convinced.

'A career first for me'

The smart glasses, the pausing before answers, and the mysterious "abra kadabra" contact — this case has all the ingredients of a CSI-style Netflix documentary. But there was one final twist.

When asked about the voice blaring out from his phone when his smart glasses had been removed, "his explanation was that he thought it was ChatGPT". Understandably, Judge Agnello KC concluded that this "lacks any credibility".

Jakstys also seemed to mysteriously struggle without his glasses. "Once Mr Jakstys was [sic] no longer had his smart glasses, he hesitated quite a bit before providing answers to questions. Frequently, he was asked a question and he would pause for some time before asking for the question to be repeated or he would say he did not understand the question. This occurred frequently when it was clear to me he simply did not know what his reply should be," concluded Judge Agnello KC.

The inevitable result was that Jakstys' evidence was rejected "in its entirety". Summing up the testimony, the judge concluded "he was untruthful in relation to his use about the smart glasses and in being coached through the smart glasses".

But the case naturally also raises broader questions about the clash between our longstanding institutions and technology that's quickly overtaking them. As the barrister Saara Idelbi noted about the case on LinkedIn, "This time it was a human coach. Next time, it will be AI. This case shows us how dangerous smart wearables can be.”

The defense lawyer Sarah Walker also told Legal Futures: “This was a career first for me but, with technological advances, may well be something that litigators have to deal with much more frequently in the coming years."

• Spotify could be developing a smart glasses version of its app
• Its interface could include a 'Now Playing' screen as well as synced lyrics
• As it's early days, you'll still need to have your smartphone nearby

Out of all the best music streaming services, Spotify has launched pretty much every feature you can imagine, but now it could be taking its streaming experience even further — into the world of smart glasses.

You read that right. A smart glasses version of the audio streaming platform could be on the horizon, which is perfect timing as we know Google and Samsung are currently working on their own XR wearables.

There’s also evidence to support this. In a teardown conducted by Android Authority, new lines of code were spotted in the latest beta of the Spotify app for Android, heavily suggesting that Spotify has started working on developing the foundation for its own smart glasses app. As per the teardown, it appears that Spotify for smart glasses will have two of its most-used features from the standard mobile app.

Firstly, this includes the ‘Now Playing’ screen that displays the current song and its details, a tool that’s crucial to the Spotify experience. Lyrics are also integral to how music listeners engage with Spotify, and the teardown suggests that this will also make its way to the Spotify smart glasses interface — which is by far the more exciting of the two. It’s one way to take your solo karaoke sessions to the next level.

As it stands, it looks as though Spotify is starting small with its venture into smart glasses. Right now there’s no indication that you’ll be able to manage Your Library, create playlists, or browse for music, podcasts, and audiobooks using the headset itself. As for tap functions for volume control, and skipping and pausing songs, this isn’t set in stone so it’s best to take it with a pinch of salt — which brings me to the main caveat.

If Spotify does go ahead with its smart glasses launch, it’s likely that you’ll still need to have your smartphone on hand to use Spotify. On Google’s Android XR developer page, the company explains this further in the following statement:

“The AI glasses experience is built on the existing Android Activity framework API and includes additional concepts to support the unique aspects of AI glasses. Unlike XR headsets that run a full APK on the device, AI glasses use a dedicated activity that runs within your phone's existing app. This activity is projected from the host device to the AI glasses.”

We don’t know how long it will be before you’ll be able to use Spotify in its full capacity on smart glasses, but with that in mind, it makes sense that the audio streaming giant is starting small. By focusing on two of its most-used features first, it gives the company a chance to gauge consumer takeaways following the launch, and build up accordingly.

We all know that Spotify prides itself on new product features (it’s just rolled out a new Taste Profile tool and has plenty more in the pipeline), so if I were to put money on it, I’d guess that Spotify would want to mirror the very best parts of its mobile experience in its smart glasses app sooner rather than later, in order to be ready to fully embrace a new era of wearable tech.

In the marketing for every VR headset and pair of XR glasses released you'll almost definitely see someone using the device on an airplane, because when you're crammed into a metal box thousands of feet above the Earth it's nice to imagine you're somewhere else – exploring some far-off place or enjoying a movie on a giant virtual screen many times larger than the one built into the seat in front of you.

So tech testers like me always love to try these things out on planes. After giving Meta, Xreal, RayNeo, and a few other XR gadgets a crack while I'm in the air, I thought it only fair I give the Nintendo Virtual Boy its turn.

Turns out that the headset is awful on the ground, and even more terrible at 30,000ft.

The Virtual Boy made its debut in 1995, and it is famously terrible. Nintendo is a company of big swings in the gaming console space, resulting in major wins like the Wii, Switch, and Game Boy, but also flops like the Wii U and GameCube. While those ‘failed’ machines have plenty of silver linings, however (I adore my GameCube), the Virtual Boy stands alone as uniquely and wholeheartedly shit.

Decades ahead of its time, the Virtual Boy was bulky, expensive, lacking in software, and, to top it all off, headache-inducing.

I'm not testing the original; however, I gave the new and not at all improved version a whirl in the air — it's a Nintendo Switch 2 accessory for Switch Online members to enjoy the new Virtual Boy virtual console collection.

Before I rag on the hardware too much, let's start with my first (and singular) kind word on the Switch 2's Virtual Boy: it works offline. With the app installed, I could play the complete VR collection without a WiFi connection, which is ideal given how expensive and slow the signal can be on a flight. Game streaming over the internet would be a non-starter.

Not cleared to fly

Now for the negatives. Strap in.

Or, ironically, don't. That's because my first gripe is how you wear the headset, or more accurately, how you don’t wear it. Far too bulky to be comfortably strapped to a head, the original Virtual Boy perched on a stand so you could peer into its lenses, and while the new model is much lighter, it still relies on a stand.

Resting it on my tray table, the headset's height is quite low, forcing me to hunch over in my seat to see what's going on. It's uncomfortable, and I look even more like a weirdo than VR headset users usually do.

Then there's the game selection. Much like the original, there aren't many (at launch, there are seven), and to make matters worse, they're not all that fun either. Galactic Pinball and Warioland are okay, and there's a charm to Red Alarm, but generally, I wasn't enthused to be spending my time in VR.

The airplane became the escape.

The games also gave me a headache, which didn't help the titles in the entertainment department — quite the opposite. And I say that as someone who regularly uses VR and XR tech who is generally fine with motion sickness and not feeling ill in XR, especially for more mild experiences like these.

Maybe it's all the red, which is generated by a colored filter placed over the games by the Virtual Boy add-on. Imagine if everything were a vivid primary red all the time, you'd probably get cranky too.

That's to say nothing of the space it took up in my carry-on, which could have been spared for something more useful. Oh, and to top it off, I got stopped at security and had to fully unpack my bag because of the stand.

While testing it, I also had one inescapable realisation: I could just be playing on my Nintendo Switch 2. I have to bring the console with me to use the Virtual Boy, and instead of this terrible experience, I could instead enjoy the likes of Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, Pokémon Legends Z-A, or Super Mario Wonder, among others.

All that's to say: leave the Virtual Boy at home. Heck, leave it on the store shelf unless you're a major VR fanatic or have an affinity for weird 90s tech. This Switch 2 Virtual Boy is a novelty, peaking at shelf decoration, not a flight-ready gadget.

It’s often said that if at first you don’t succeed, you should try again. With Nintendo’s Virtual Boy rerelease for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, I wonder if it maybe should have ignored that advice.

On the one hand, the Virtual Boy accessory for the Switch and Switch 2 is the ultimate novelty. The plastic recreation oozes an iconic 90s energy that somehow infected even me — someone born years after the Virtual Boy was discontinued — with a synthetic nostalgia that had me falling in love with its outer design. And as a VR fanatic, it’s a delight to experience one of VR’s earliest consumer interpretations.

On the other hand, Nintendo’s dedication to its history means it has left the headset and its games practically unchanged — which isn’t a good thing here. The Virtual Boy’s game library is as small and terrible as ever, and comfort very much feels like an afterthought.

So the question you have to ask yourself is this: do you want to spend $99.99 / £66.99 / AU$139.95 on a 10-minute novelty that will spend a lot more time on your shelf as a sculpture than on your face?

I firmly believe the answer is an emphatic 'No.'

Nintendo Virtual Boy: Price

The proper Virtual Boy accessory will cost you $99.99 / £66.99 / AU$139.95, though if you simply want to experience the Nintendo Classics collection and don’t want to waste too much money, there’s also a cardboard version that costs $24.99 / £16.99 / AU$29.95. You can pick up either from Nintendo's online store.

While this review isn’t generally positive about the Nintendo headset, if you are going to get one of the accessories, I believe you should at least get the proper non-cardboard version. I don’t believe you should get either for what it’s worth, but the properly recreated model looks rad and could be repurposed as shelf decoration when you’ve finished playing with it after a few short sessions.

• Value score: 1/5

Nintendo Virtual Boy: Design

When Nintendo debuted this VR headset back in 1995, it promised the Virtual Boy would “totally immerse players into their own private universe." It certainly achieved this, though I do prefer my universes with a lot less red and a lot less nauseating.

It turns out plenty of other folks didn’t like what the Virtual Boy was delivering either. Despite predicting millions of global sales by the end of 1995, Nintendo shipped a mere 350,000 units in the US that year, and only around 770,000 globally by the time it was discontinued in 1996.

One of the big issues with the headset was, and still is with this Switch recreation, its design.

Too bulky to even attempt to wear on your head like a Meta Quest 3 — especially if you’re a kid, Nintendo’s typical target audience — Nintendo opted to have the original Virtual Boy rest on a stand. Despite being a lot lighter, the Switch accessory version can also only be perched on a roughly foot-tall stand at its max height. A design decision that created its own comfort conundrum.

After you’ve struggled to search for an appropriately tall table and/or a stack of books to place the headset on top of, you then have to hunch over to press your face into the console so you can peer into its stereoscopic worlds. This is not a comfortable way to sit for very long, and there’s no other alternative.

Here’s where you brush up against the next poor design decision: the red displays.

To act as a cost-cutting and processing power-saving method, the Virtual Boy’s screens were entirely red, and to mimic this, the Switch accessory uses two planes of red plastic — one for each eye. Opening up the headset, you slot your Switch or Switch 2 with the Virtual Boy software open to play games through this red filter to mimic the classic’s ruby hue.

If you think VR is nauseating at the best of times, just imagine what it would be like if your entire vision were merely shades of red.

Let’s just say my play sessions maxed out at 10 minutes before I needed a lie down — and I can usually stomach hours-long VR gaming if using other headsets.

Though I will say the Switch’s Virtual Boy add-on isn’t a total design flop.

As I mentioned in the intro, the classic Nintendo headset feels definitively like a gadget of the 90s, and half of that is how it looks — something this model recreates perfectly. Unboxing it in our office, even as someone who grew up in the 00s, I did feel like I was living out one of those grainy home videos of a kid ripping open their Christmas gifts.

There’s something magical about the Virtual Boy’s appearance, even if it’s not the most practically useful, though that’s where my praise ends.

• Design score: 2/5

Virtual Boy: Software

The original saw 22 games released before it was canned entirely, but for now, the Nintendo Switch version only has seven: 3D Tetris, Galactic Pinball, Golf, Red Alarm, Teleroboxer, The Mansion of Innsmouth, and Virtual Boy Wario Land. With the March catalogue update for Mario Day, they’ll be joined by two more: Mario Tennis and Mario Clash.

All of these titles are accessed via the Nintendo Classics software included with your Switch Online + Expansion Pass membership, which will cost you $49.99 / £34.99 / AU$59.95 for 12 months.

The smallish collection size isn’t ideal, but it could be overlooked if there were a definite must-play or two amongst the selection. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything exciting enough to make me want to push through the discomfort of using the system.

Wario Land is fun if you’re a fan of Mario’s doppelganger, and I liked Galactic Pinball well enough, but titles I had hopes would be fun — Tetris and Red Alarm — lacked not only entertainment but made me want to hurl. It turns out a spinning red teris board just isn’t the best way to play the game if you like keeping your lunch in your stomach.

You can extract maybe 5 to 10 minutes of novelty from each title, and you might return to a handful when you want to subject your friends to this hardware, but none of them sell this accessory as a bona fide gaming machine.

• Software score: 1/5

Nintendo Virtual Boy: scorecard

Should you buy the Nintendo Virtual Boy?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

How I tested the Nintendo Virtual Boy

I used the Virtual Boy for two weeks for this review, though my sessions admittedly didn’t last too long, as it kept making me feel ill. I relied on my Nintendo Switch 2 and its base Joy-Cons to experience this add-on’s VR experiences and used it in our office, at home, and even took it on a flight — it’s even more awful in the air, terrible VR and turbulence don’t mix.

First reviewed March 2026

Read more about how we test

• Samsung has been talking about its upcoming XR smart glasses
• An increasing number of AI wearables are now being launched
• We should see the Samsung specs launch sometime during 2026

We know that Samsung is busy working on a pair of smart glasses — we've even seen them in prototype form — and now company executive Jay Kim has revealed a few key details about what we can expect when the product launches.

Speaking to CNBC (via 9to5Google), Kim said that more tech companies are now exploring the potential of smart spectacles, which are now often referred to as AI glasses because of the intelligent assistants accessible through the devices.

"Everybody talks about what's the next AI device... and I know I've been looking at many different types of devices," says Kim in the interview. "Glasses, obviously is one of them and everybody's looking at it."

Kim also talks about the potential of XR (Extended Reality) on glasses, which are much more lightweight than XR headsets — meaning they're easier to wear all day. Samsung unveiled its own XR headset back in October.

Cameras and phone connections

The details that Kim revealed about the Samsung XR specs include that there will be an "eye level" camera on board, and that they will require a connection to a smartphone. That's pretty standard for the best smart glasses on the market at the moment.

According to Kim, it's important for the on-board AI to understand what the user is looking at to provide information, and that's what the Samsung smart glasses will aim for. However, the exec wouldn't confirm if the glasses would have a display or not.

Samsung is partnering with Qualcomm and Google in developing this device, and Kim confirmed that it's going to be launching before the end of the year — something that Samsung hinted at when it was unveiling its XR headset.

There are plenty of other smart glasses rumored to be in development to take on the likes of the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2. Apple is apparently preparing to launch a product in this category, for example, amongst several other wearable AI devices.

• Meta contractors claim your smart glasses can see more than you think
• Meta's privacy policy does warn that your glasses share images and videos with the company
• This follows a growing trend of privacy concerns over smart glasses in public and in courts

When Meta warned us that it could see footage captured by its AI smart glasses, it turns out it wasn’t kidding. As part of a new investigation, Meta insiders claim to have seen intimate details of our lives, from bank cards to filmed sex scenes.

In a joint investigation published by Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten (behind a paywall), Meta contractors told journalists they’re seeing a lot of sensitive data.

This includes “someone going to the toilet, or getting undressed”, with one contractor noting they saw a video where “a man puts the glasses on the bedside table and leaves the room.

“Shortly afterwards his wife comes in and changes her clothes.”

Even though they realize the sensitive nature of the content they're analyzing, the staff claim they’re not in a position to push back on what’s happening, saying: “You are not supposed to question it. If you start asking questions, you are gone.”

When you agree to use Meta’s AI, you’ll see a warning that as part of its terms of use, you agree to let the company see and “review your interactions with AIs, including the content of your conversations.” This is buried in the full TOS agreement, but a similar warning flashes on screen as part of the smart glasses set up process.

The trouble is, even if you'd rather not share anything with Meta’s team you don’t have much of a choice. To use the AI, you have to allow data sharing, otherwise you’re locked out of the features.

What’s more, given the compact size of Meta’s specs, there isn’t much room for on-device processing. AI requests and data are sent to a server — meaning even if you make the information private, it’s near impossible to prevent it being shared with Meta in some capacity.

But Meta might need to find a solution.

The beginning of the blowback

I’ve noted previously that Meta’s smart specs have so far managed to dodge the privacy fears that plagued Google Glass, but recently that's changed.

This report isn’t the only example of a changing sentiment towards smart glasses. Earlier this year the BBC reported on cases of women being filmed secretly and harassed by people wearing smart specs, and the judge in the ongoing social media addiction trial against Meta (and YouTube) threatened Mark Zuckerberg’s entourage with contempt after members wore smart glasses into the courtroom despite recording being banned (via Fortune).

There are also growing concerns over expanded tools Meta and others want to bring to their AI wearables. Facial recognition, and even something mundane like remembering where you left your keys would require your specs to capture a lot of data that many (myself included) aren’t very comfortable with.

There are also growing concerns over what data is and isn’t shared with AI, with smartphone manufacturers making a big deal over on-device AI — models that are small enough to live on your phone, meaning data is never sent to a server.

With Apple and Samsung said to be working on their own smart specs, there is room to leverage their phone’s on-device AI for a privacy win. Their smart glasses could use your phone’s AI for many tasks, and only use a server when necessary — giving them improved offline functionality, but also some added security for your data.

Meta, without a phone of its own, doesn’t have the same luxury of on-device AI to push back on the privacy argument.

One potential solution to Meta’s woes would be greater user privacy control. Messages and some specific images taken by the glasses for context will need to be shared with Meta, but there should be an option to not share content captured outside of the Meta glasses’ Look and Ask feature.

And as the AI needs to analyze more and more data to make tools work, Meta may want to implement something similar to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, which serves as private server for Apple Intelligence.

Because even if people are agreeing to their data being shared, let’s be honest, most of them don’t realize what they’re signing away. And when they see stories about Meta contractors apparently seeing them in the bathroom, they’ll understandably get scared and want to switch to a different platform.

With Android XR expected to step into gear this year, those alternatives might be here soon, and if they can crack AI privacy in a way Meta hasn’t, I can see plenty of folks jumping ship. I know I will.

Drawing in 3D inside an Apple Vision Pro with the fairly excellent Logitech Muse accessory is making me rethink what I know about art.

I've been drawing for most of my life, and I'm an okay, if not passable, draftsman. As a child, I worked with crayons, graduating to pens and pencils in my teens, and charcoal and paint in college. In the late 1980s, I started drawing on the computer using a mouse, and later a Wacom tablet and digital stylus. For the last dozen years or so I've been drawing on the iPad and with an Apple Pencil.

When VR arrived, I tried a few 3D drawing apps, but struggled with the interfaces and, especially, using the controllers to place lines in virtual three-dimensional space.

I've even tried it in the Vision Pro, usually pinching my thumb and index finger to indicate where the point of my virtual drawing implement is supposed to be; it's never been a great experience.

Now, though, the arrival of the Logitech Muse ($129.95 / £119.95 / A$229.95) for Vision Pro is set to change the creative experience in Apple's spatial computing headset.

The cigar-sized, Bluetooth digital drawing accessory, which arrived on my desk last week, months after Logitech first announced it, is custom-built for Vision Pro, and can work with a variety of native visionOS apps.

Roughly the same length as a standard Apple Pencil, the all-black Logitech Muse is considerably thicker, but it achieves some level of ergonomic comfort thanks to its light weight and tapered cylindrical shape. There are two buttons on one side and one large button on the back end, which I only used in combination with one of the other buttons for pairing with my Vision Pro.

Getting started

Setup is straightforward. I charged it via the exposed USB-C port, and when it was done I held those two buttons down until the Logitech Muse buzzed into life.

Inside my Vision Pro (M5 edition), I navigated to the Bluetooth settings, located the Muse in the listing, and paired it with the headset.

Logitech recommended a few different test apps, including Spatial Analogue, an almost CAD-level project-based design app for collaborating on complex projects. In it, I could use the Muse to mark up designs. I drew some straight lines in 3D space, but none of it got my creative juices flowing.

I gave Crayon a shot, but it kept telling me to put down the Logitech Muse for better control of the interface. Finally, I loaded AirDraw, a powerful 3D art tool that seems almost perfectly built for the Logitech Muse.

Drawing in space

Your experience drawing within AriDraw is defined largely by the menu choices you make. You can have smooth, continuous lines that float in space, for instance, or ones that react to gravity and drop to the floor as soon as you stop drawing.

To start drawing a line, you hold one of the two side buttons. In AirDraw, the one nearer the plastic tip created a thinner line, and the larger button made a larger blob. AirDraw also provides ample controls to choose line thickness, which was also, in my experience, defined by the speed of my stroke. I appreciated that my gold ink blob appeared to emanate directly from the Logitech Muse tip. I tried, by the way, to move quickly enough to keep my lines relatively thin.

Many of the lines, colors, and line skins offer highly reflective surfaces. If you look closely, you'll notice that the lines are reflecting your environment, as the Vision Pro's many cameras deliver real-world details to the app.

Drawing in three dimensions is a challenge, especially when I switched from drawing a rudimentary gold cage to trying my hand at drawing a human head.

First, I switched the color to a non-reflective black, and then chose the thinnest line thickness. To help orient myself, I held the Muse over a tabletop and drew a circle that would serve as the head's base.

I forced myself to step back and stop looking at the lines from a typical forward perspective and started looking from side to side, and from the top down. This let me see my project as more of the wireframe I hoped to construct.

Next, I drew a series of vertical lines trailing from that base to the neck and then to the back, sides, and front of the head. Next, I moved to one side and drew an ear, and then circled 180 degrees and drew another ear on the opposite side.

It was not great, but as some of it started coming together I got excited, realizing that if I thought and worked differently, I could make 3D VR art, and I do credit Logitech Muse with the result.

There's no way I could have ever achieved even this rather messy result by pinching my fingers and tracing out lines; my vision would've been partially occluded by my fist. The pen made it easier to see where the digital ink would appear, and whether or not I was achieving the desired result.

I'm not saying that the Logitech Muse finally makes the Vision Pro worth it — the headset is still far too expensive for most consumers. However, digital artists looking to push the envelope, and perhaps create one-of-a-kind 3D artwork, might be intrigued — and if they give it a try, I'd wager they won't want to stop.

According to recent reports, Apple is going hard on the next generation of AI wearable technology. So far, even the best Apple Watches have been largely limited to health and fitness and a few communication features as an extension of your phone, while its AirPods Pro 3 have been enhanced with heart-rate detection and live translation.

Now Apple is taking its wearable AI smarts one step further, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, with a trio of wearables sporting AI cameras to provide 'contextual information' for its revamped Siri AI chatbot. The devices will function like the Meta Ray-Bans AI glasses, which let ask Meta a question based on the world around you and interpret your request as best they can.

Gurman reports that Apple is making its own AI glasses to take the fight to Meta, developing its frames in-house (rather than collaborating with an established glasses maker like Ray-Ban) with "an advanced camera system with a high-resolution camera that's able to capture photos and videos, as well as a second camera that provides visual information to ‌Siri‌ and environmental context" according to MacRumors.

It's reportedly focusing on build quality to distinguish itself from Meta, which likely means the glasses will be a premium product. With multiple sizes and colors set to be available, MacRumors says Apple is aiming for an "all-day AI companion".

The other two devices are expected to be an AI wearable pin – along the lines of the disastrous Humane AI Pin and other devices that have flopped in previous years – and AirPods fitted with cameras.

Both devices are expected to have lower-resolution cameras designed for information rather than taking high-quality photos, with included microphones for speaking with Siri. Gurman adds that a speaker for the AI Pin is being considered, but isn't confirmed. The devices would reportedly act like 'the eyes and ears' of an iPhone, linked to Siri on your phone rather than using on-device AI.

Will Apple fare any better than Humane?

Apple has struggled to make ground with splashy launches in areas of innovation in recent years, notably with the Apple Vision Pro. It's not that the device wasn't good; rather, the world wasn't ready for it (and it's expensive). However, if these rumors are true and we see the first hints of these devices in 2027, I have the feeling that Apple's smart glasses or AI wearables will do significantly better.

Apple has historically done well in fields others have broken ground in. It's not often been a true trailblazer – it lets others take the initial risks, then aims to produce an improved model. Look at how long Apple has taken to launch a foldable phone, for example: something we know it's currently working on. With its smart glasses Apple will look to fix the mistakes it sees Meta making, ironing out the pain points of the form factor and launching when potential customers have become used to the new concept of smart glasses.

Likewise with an AI pin or pendant. The Humane AI Pin was its own device, and it flopped, with a strange LED-display system on a device designed to completely replace the user's phone. Apple doesn't need to replace the iPhone; by all accounts it wants to add to it, keeping it as a hub in your pocket while reducing the need to take it out all the time. AirPods with AI cameras would be a similar concept.

It's all about making technology easier to use, and reducing friction between the user and their gadgets. That's one thing Apple has always excelled at, and I see no reason why these rumored devices wouldn't be successful.

The start of 2026 hasn’t felt all that great if you’re a big believer in VR. Meta, the de facto monarch of the space, given its popularity and, until recently, major support for the sector, decided to kick the year off with a round of layoffs, leading to the shutting down of some of VR’s most talented game studios and cancellation of some hotly anticipated titles like an Arkham Shadow sequel.

It’s not just Meta. An industry-wide slowdown has sent a wave through the VR community, which has seen third-party studios lay off staff, and Valve – seen as a possible prodigal savior of VR – has indicated that the Steam Frame might be impacted by the ongoing RAM crisis, i.e., don’t expect it to be cheap.

As things look bleak I’ve taken stock of my VR experiences over the past few months and realized that even if the VR’s ‘mainstream’ success is a thing of days gone by (at least for a while), it’s a great time to lean into what VR does best: the weird and wonderfully immersive thanks to accessories that put your Wii-era tennis racket to shame.

At the forefront of my mind is the half-an-arcade cabinet sitting in our office right now that I’ve been testing on and off for the past few months: the Arcade2TV-XR. The accessory is admittedly too large for my cramped apartment, but I wish I could find space for it at home because the arcade-like experience it delivers is a blast.

It boasts a full button and joystick setup for two players, on a suitably sturdy support base to withstand minor beating from a sore loser slamming their fists, but you won’t find a screen. This is where you’d rely on your TV, monitor, or VR headset display to watch the action of your game unfold for either single-player or one-on-one gaming endeavors.

It can even double as a pinball cabinet with the right software, with buttons on the side that act as flipper switches. As someone who has tried to lean on a virtual pinball machine or too after too long a VR session, it’s nice to finally have something I can lean on. It makes the immersive experience a whole tier better.

I’ve had a blast testing it out. While it isn’t the cheapest accessory out there – costing $499 / £499 / AU$717 (though it’s currently on sale for $399 / £399 / AU$573) – it’s worth remembering that even though it excels in VR, it can be used for flat gaming too. So it can elevate your PC and console’s fighting games and couch co-op gaming when you’re not looking to go solo in XR.

This versatility is also deployed by other excellent VR accessories I’ve tested – like the bHaptics vest and arm haptics – bringing exciting immersion-boosting tech to a wide range of gaming experiences while still focusing on VR.

I’d highly recommend picking up an Arcade2TV-XR if it ticks the boxes for what you’re after from a gaming accessory, and I hope other VR gear takes its lead. Find ways to appeal to a wide audience with flat gaming support, but focus on the weird and wonderful of VR, elevate the experiences we have to new heights and help us rebuild this space stronger than it was before.

• YouTube finally goes native on Apple Vision Pro
• No more clunky Safari workaround
• The Vision Pro's entertainment lineup is getting stronger

The Apple Vision Pro has become an entertainment powerhouse – but one major app has always been missing: YouTube. That changes today.

Google’s ever-popular video platform is arriving as a native app on visionOS for the Apple Vision Pro – and it’s available in the App Store right now as a free download.

Essentially, YouTube is playing catch-up. Most of the best streaming services have offered native experiences on the platform since launch, complete with immersive environments designed specifically for visionOS. But YouTube, the internet’s largest video platform, wasn’t among them.

The workaround was opening the classic web version of YouTube in Safari. It worked, but it was never picture-perfect. Meanwhile, services like Disney+, HBO Max, and Paramount+ fully embraced the Vision Pro, offering custom environments that let you immerse yourself even further – whether that’s watching Frozen in a Disney theater, seeing Larry David wrap up Curb Your Enthusiasm in a world inspired by Game of Thrones, or watching SpongeBob in Bikini Bottom.

For a headset that excels at dropping a massive, super high-resolution screen wherever you are, YouTube always felt like a missing piece. Now, it’s finally part of the experience.

It’s a free app on Vision Pro that brings a tailor-made YouTube experience to the platform. That means you can have the app as a floating window in your space or immerse yourself in a custom theater to watch all your favorite videos – be it the TechRadar channel or any of your favorite creators. For me, that means Bruce Springsteen and a collection of fan-shot videos, as well as Disney Parks ride-throughs.

Once you download the app, open it, and sign in, it’s essentially the classic YouTube experience within visionOS. That means you’ll be able to find your liked videos, the channels you subscribe to, and all of your playlists. Additionally, every single video playable on YouTube is watchable on Vision Pro – including long-form and short-form videos at various resolutions, as well as 3D, 360, and VR180 videos.

While we’ve seen custom environments from other streaming services, it’s unclear whether YouTube will introduce its own. At launch, though, it appears you can use the native Theater immersive view as well as Apple’s other built-in environments.

Even without a custom backdrop, YouTube’s arrival on visionOS is still a significant step. It’s not just access to thousands of videos – it also removes an annoying workaround that was previously required. YouTube is the internet’s default video platform, and it’s meaningful to see it land here.

It’s also notable that YouTube is arriving on Vision Pro after being available at launch on the Android XR platform, including Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset.

Thus far in 2026, Apple and its partners have been steadily boosting the content you can consume on Vision Pro. We’ve seen the first NBA games broadcast in Spatial Video, a tease of F1 arriving in some form, more content made for Vision Pro, and now the arrival of YouTube.

This might even be a precursor to – hopefully – more exciting news at WWDC 2026, which is expected in June.

This week, we watched Alex Honnold free solo Taipei 101 on Netflix while terrible commentary played over the top, and Samsung teased its next major phone launch.

To catch up on all of this and more, we've rounded up the top seven most important tech news stories of the week here for you, with links to the full stories too.

When you're all caught up, you should also check out the 7 new movies and TV shows to watch this weekend.

7. Netflix proved it hasn’t figured out live events

This week, the world of streaming treated us to Bridgerton Season 4, Wonder Man, and Shrinking Season 3, among others, but the livestream sports event of the year also aired: Skyscraper Live, and fans were quick to let their anger be known at the end result.

It featured Alex Honnold, of Free Solo fame, and his attempt to free solo (climbing alone, without ropes or safety equipment) Taipei 101, which was, at one point, the tallest building in the world. The climb was a feat of human ability if nothing else, but the commentary – which was filled with nerves, and often spoke over Alex – was not well received.

Some declared the show “The worst live sports production I’ve ever seen in my life,” though one of the hosts has since come out to address fans’ frustrations.

• Read more: Here’s why viewers couldn’t get past Skyscraper Live’s 'insufferable' commentary

6. Xreal’s glasses got a 3D upgrade

Xreal’s smart glasses are impressive entertainment specs that’ll show your favorite shows, games, and movies on a giant virtual screen – provided they’re connected to a compatible device. Now, they can make that content 3D too.

That’s thanks to Real 3D, which just debuted on Xreal’s One and One Pro glasses, and it’s an incredible tool that works on any device or content, as all processing is handled on the glasses.

Admittedly, it’s a work in progress, but it just made some of the world’s best smart glasses even better – and made Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s comment about AI someday letting us “jump into” any video feel less far-fetched.

• Read more: XR glasses have had one major issue, and Xreal just solved it with a free update

5. We played Resident Evil 9

We have over four hours of Resident Evil Requiem under our belt, and now we’re confident that it’s on track to be the finest entry in the long-running survival horror series.

The return of Leon Kennedy had us worried, though. How can you create a sense of fear when your star is a one-man infected-slaying army? You pair him with a much less combat-capable partner.

Leon’s segments are like a New Game Plus run of the Resident Evil 4 Remake on steroids: you’re an ultra-powerful killing machine; meanwhile, new protagonist Grace’s sections are intended to deliver the serious scares. They're set in wonderfully intricate environments expertly built for tense exploration, desperate resource scavenging, and scrappy fights that always have you on the back foot.

• Read more: A sublime blend of masterful combat and hair-raising horror

4. OpenAI admitted to screwing up

ChatGPT’s most avid users are quick to air their frustrations when OpenAI messes up an update, and now CEO Sam Altman has conceded the company “screwed up” with ChatGPT 5.2.

The criticisms centered on the AI providing overly technical, complicated responses to questions, rather than the easy-to-digest answers AI users typically hope to receive.

“We did decide, and I think for good reason, to put most of our effort in 5.2 into making it super good at intelligence, reasoning, coding, engineering, that kind of thing,” Altman revealed. “And we have limited bandwidth here, and sometimes we focus on one thing and neglect another.”

Hopefully, OpenAI can learn from this error, however, and better manage which aspects of its vision it has to sacrifice as it pumps out successive iterations of its chatbot.

Speaking of making sacrifices, OpenAI also teased this week that it’s time to finally retire GPT-4o, and yet again, fans are furious.

• Read more: Sam Altman admits OpenAI ‘screwed up’ the writing quality on ChatGPT 5.2

3. Apple finally gave us a new AirTag

The original AirTag launched back in 2021 and quickly garnered an unwanted reputation as a stalking accessory. With those issues now largely sorted, Apple has launched a more powerful sequel with a better range and louder speakers.

A new Bluetooth chip lets you find the new AirTag from 1.5x farther away than with the previous version. That new speaker also means it’s 50% louder, which is handy if you’re trying to find keys that are buried deep inside a sofa.

While it isn’t exactly a bargain, the new AirTag keeps the same $29 / £29 / AU$49 price as the original.

• Read the full story: Apple's next-generation AirTags promise better range and a louder voice — maybe this is how I never lose anything again

2. Garmin leaked its Whoop alternative

The same week, Whoop blasted the Australian Open for its “ridiculous” decision to force tennis stars to remove its tracker, and following our testing a slew of fitness band alternatives, it appears Garmin’s own Whoop alternative just leaked.

Normally, we’d ignore leaks here until they’re confirmed launches, but the spoiler was shared by none other than Garmin itself.

Eagle-eyed Garmin fans were able to screenshot the page before it disappeared, cluing us into the 'Garmin Cirqa smart band,' which could be released in around '4–5 months,' which would be May or June based on shipping details.

Crucially, we didn’t get a price for the band, but even so, Whoop has some competition on the way.

• Read more: Garmin might finally be launching its Whoop competitor

1. Samsung teased the S26 Ultra’s biggest upgrade

Flagship smartphones have struggled to deliver dazzling new features in recent years, but the forthcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra appears to has bucked that trend. This week, Samsung teased the flagship phone’s new ‘privacy display’, which it calls ‘a new front line for privacy’.

What makes this display tech so interesting is that it lets you hide parts of your screen – like a private message – from onlookers while keeping it visible to you. The OLED screen apparently does this by emitting light in specific directions. We’re yet to see the tech in person, but if it lives up to the hype, it could be the most useful smartphone upgrade we’ve seen for a while.

• Read the full story: The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s privacy display could be the biggest upgrade in years – here’s how it works

• Meta teased "future headsets" at its recent investor call
• Zuckerberg also suggested Meta wants to use AI to let you jump into videos
• No definitive plans or timelines were provided

Based on recent layoffs many had been wondering if this was the beginning of the end for Meta’s VR plans, but the company has reaffirmed that it’s still working on new tech in the space – including new hardware and a possible AI integration that’s truly sci-fi.

Speaking to investors following its latest quarterly earnings report, CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn’t talk too much about VR, perhaps unsurprisingly, instead focusing on smart glasses for which sales have “more than tripled” in the last year.

Initially not a great sign for VR’s future. However, Meta CFO Suan Li turned our hopes around when responding to a question from Deutsche Bank’s Benjamin Black on Reality Labs.

She said, “We continue to have optimism in the future of VR,” adding, “We are investing continually – going forward, rather, in building future headsets.” She said this before putting a slight damper on our VR hopes by explaining what we already knew, that “consumer adoption of VR has generally been on a slower growth path than wearables, and we are rebalancing our Reality Labs portfolio to reflect this. “

No more detail than that was revealed about these “future headsets”, but leaks have pointed to two possible devices that will land in 2026 and/or 2027.

One would be a ‘Quest 4’ that’s a large but more typical upgrade on its predecessor, and again come with a higher end and slightly lower end model like we saw with the Quest 3 and Quest 3S.

Then there’s the headset I’ve dubbed the Quest Pro 2. It’s set to be ultra-lightweight – with a design more similar to glasses or goggles than a headset – thanks to the battery and compute power being transferred to a puck you carry in your pocket. It would also be more productivity-focused rather than putting an emphasis on gaming.

An AI upgrade

The other major improvement we could see in VR is an emphasis on AI. Of course this is to be expected in the AI age, but Zuckerberg highlighted a truly sci-fi future use case during the presentation: “There’s definitely a version of the future where any video that you see, you can like tap on and jump into it.”

Now, the way Zuckerberg describes this future, it certainly isn’t one that we’ll see next week or maybe even in the next few years, but this would be a further enhancement of the AI-led tools we’re already seeing. which can turn 2D scenes into stereoscopic 3D.

Beyond VR, Zuckerberg’s words also suggest it might be a tool we see come to mobile platforms – which is also now the main focus for its Horizon metaverse. Being able to generate worlds from pictures – from our digital memories – would be a powerful creative tool for these kinds of immersive social experiences across platforms, and could be the differentiating factor Meta needs as its AI models lag behind rivals such as ChatGPT, Gemini and others.

These vague hardware references and AI promises don’t give us a firm timeline of when Meta’s next VR developments will drop, but it at least teases a next step that feels less utterly miserable for us VR fans.

The question remains, however, if Meta can win back some favor, or if upcoming devices like the Steam Frame will eat Meta’s lunch, as I suspect it might.

• Mark Zuckerberg has been hyping up AI glasses in Meta's latest earnings call
• Sales of Meta models have tripled in the last year
• But Meta's metaverse company is losing a lot of money

There's no doubt the best smart glasses of today are better than they've ever been, but they're yet to really go mainstream – something Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg is confident will happen in the future, even as his digital metaverse company posted a hefty $6 billion loss for the last financial quarter.

Speaking on an earnings call (via TechCrunch), Zuckerberg went on the record as saying "it's hard to imagine a world in several years where most glasses that people wear aren't AI glasses" – comparing the wearable revolution he's anticipating to the move from classic flip phones to smartphones.

Zuckerberg pointed out that billions of people worldwide wear glasses or contacts for vision correction, which is a lot of potential customers. He also said that sales of Meta smart specs (including the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2) have tripled within the last year.

There's certainly plenty of interest from tech manufacturers: Google and Samsung have smart glasses on the way, with Samsung separately confirming that its long-anticipated AR glasses are coming later this year.

Apple is rumored to be working on its own pair, and earlier this week Snapchat developer Snap announced a new subsidiary called Specs to drive its future smart glasses products.

Meanwhile, in the metaverse...

Zuckerberg will be hoping that the smart glasses category turns out better than his efforts to date in making the metaverse happen: as CNBC reports, Meta Reality Labs posted a $6 billion loss for the last quarter of 2025, up from $4.43 billion the quarter before.

The metaverse, you may remember, is the completely virtual world that Meta hoped we would all be living in by now – it's partly why the company was renamed from Facebook to Meta. While a sizable number of us enjoy gaming in VR, there hasn't been much interest from users in spending a substantial chunk of their time as digital avatars.

Meta isn't completely giving up on the metaverse, and there have been suggestions that Horizon (which is the official name of Meta's metaverse) could become more of a Roblox clone, with more of a focus on mobile devices.

We'll have to see what happens, but those financial losses are continuing to go in the wrong direction. The future for smart glasses looks somewhat brighter, especially with the continuing advances in AI assistants to power them.

Xreal just launched what might possibly be its best update yet for its smart glasses, as you can now turn any 2D content into 3D. I’ve been giving it a try, and the effect is incredible, albeit still something of a work in progress at times.

The XR glasses are now able to do this via a tech Xreal calls Real 3D. It first debuted on the Xreal 1S glasses and has since landed on Xreal’s One and One Pro specs, too, thanks to an update.

Once switched on, the glasses will create depth in previously flat videos and games. Best of all, it works on any app and with any system, as it’s not handled by your phone, laptop, or console – Xreal’s specs handle all the 3D processing for you.

Starting with my phone before I even booted up any apps, I could see Real 3D in effect, as it turned my phone background – a picture I took of my fiancée in Pompeii – had a stereoscopic effect, as did my app icons, which were now floating above the page.

Actually moving into video, I tried both some animated projects – Eyes of Wakanda and Phineas and Ferb – as well as some live-action stuff – Rogue One and a YouTuber streamer’s latest VoD.

2D Animation is where the tech really shines. The better-defined edges of objects seemingly help the software distinguish items from one another better, whereas Rogue One occasionally had distortion around the edges of objects, and some layers blended incorrectly.

Eyes of Wakanda, with its more complex 3D animated style, slanted in between. Mostly great, but sometimes there would be noticeable errors in the glasses’ rendering. Regardless, I generally found Real 3D to be impressive, and I’ll definitely try to use it.

You can tweak the strength of the stereoscopic effect in the glasses’ settings. You can reduce the errors at the cost of 3D effect strength, or make the effect much stronger at the risk of it having a bit more trouble in more complex scenes.

With my video tests done, I switched over to my Asus ROG Xbox Ally X to boot up Sekiro and The Binding of Isaac. Much like with the shows, Isaac’s simpler 2D style was easier to get a great 3D effect from, whereas Sekiro could struggle at times.

Sekiro’s troubles were also impacted by some noticeable performance dips – such as a lower framerate and a subtle lag – that did make executing its more precise gameplay a little more challenging.

Exactly what XR needs

All this is to say that Real 3D is a very impressive tool, if still a work in progress, as my colleague Lance Ulanoff found it to be when trying the Xreal 1S specs. Despite its occasional slip-ups, I still loved using it, and I’m excited to see how Xreal evolves this tech over time.

I remember chatting with its team at an event a couple of years ago, where we bemoaned the lack of accessible 3D content for XR hardware. At the time, outside of Disney Plus on the Apple Vision Pro, you couldn’t simply buy or rent a 3D flick.

As another attendee in our conversation noted, the quiet part is that if you want 3D content for your glasses, you’d need to sail the seven seas.

This is obviously not ideal, especially for a medium like XR, which is well-positioned to leverage stereoscopic content. So I am so excited that Xreal has taken such an initiative with Real 3D and decided to forcibly drag 3D content to its platform while content makers drag their heels.

It’s definitely another arrow in the Xreal glasses’ already full quiver, and over time I'm sure Real 3D will only get better. The ball’s also now in the court of its rivals. Viture has something similar to Real 3D but it requires an on-device app, while many other glasses have no equivalent.

How to experience Real 3D

If you want to try Real 3D for yourself, you’ll need a pair of Xreal One, Xreal One Pro, or Xreal 1S glasses.

They’ll also need to be running the latest firmware. The easiest way to fix this is to head to Xreal’s Update Page on your PC, connect your glasses to your PC using their USB-C cable, and follow the onscreen prompts to install the update.

Once installed, connect your glasses to a compatible device and open up the glasses’ settings menu by double-tapping the red button on your frames. In the display settings, select Real 3D, and have fun with the new tool.

By returning to the settings, you can turn Real 3D off, but you can also turn it off by unplugging your glasses and reconnecting them to your device. Additionally, you can adjust the strength of the 3D effects.

• Meta finally addresses its VR layoffs
• The Reality Labs CTO also explains its new focus on glasses
• ... and suggested its metaverse has a new home on mobile

Meta Reality Labs’ CTO Andrew Bosworth has spoken publicly about the recent major VR layoffs at the company, and it really does sound like Meta isn’t fussed about VR anymore – but its metaverse sounds like a top priority still.

While in Davos for the annual World Economic Forum, Axios interviewed Bosworth, and almost instantly the discussion homed in on the major restructuring we’ve all seen from Reality Labs, which caused the division to shut down multiple VR game studios.

Bosworth explained that Meta’s VR approach has been to build a space with something for everyone, but this “lack of focus comes at the expense of user experience and a great expense in terms of development cost.”

So Meta’s new plan is, as Bosworth puts it, “We’re going to let VR be what it is, what it does great. We’re going to focus a lot more on the third-party content library, the ecosystem that’s developed there.”

Meta Reality Labs’ CTO then goes on to argue that Reality Labs isn’t downsizing. Instead, that investment is being shifted to focus on its glasses – the area it is seeing the most growth. This is consistent with previous comments Meta has made about its ongoing approach to Reality Labs’ efforts.

Something familiar on the Horizon?

What’s interesting is a part of Bosworth’s answer I cut out above. After discussing Meta letting “VR be what it is, what it does great,” and how that means pushing third-party development, he then adds, “and with Horizon we’re focusing a lot more on mobile.”

Horizon is Meta’s metaverse, and while it was initially envisioned for VR, it is also accessible on PC and mobile.

Interestingly, it also serves as Meta’s closest rival to one of its biggest social media rivals. I’m not talking about TikTok, I’m talking about Roblox.

Ask anyone under the age of 12 about this gaming platform, and you won’t be able to get a word in edgewise for about an hour. It’s this massive online gaming platform which, just like Horizon Worlds, offers a large amount of constantly evolving user-created spaces to explore and play in.

Both platforms have also, in recent years, seen a rise in sponsored and branded collaborations, as well as hosting major concerts and live events which take place in the virtual worlds.

To that end, they aren’t just games; they are a very interactive and adaptable form of social media that doesn’t simply chase fads – it spawns them. Though, as you might imagine, Roblox has a much bigger user base than Horizon based on available figures.

That said, with a shift to a more mobile-heavy focus as Bosworth discussed – the gaming platform most accessible to younger users who might not be trusted with a PC or VR headset – Meta is perhaps hoping to shorten the divide between it and Roblox.

Given the lackluster response to Horizon in VR, it's yet to be seen if these efforts will prove more successful in the mobile sphere, but at least VR fans can appreciate the silver lining that Horizon might not be pushed so heavily in VR going forward – and an upcoming update looks to confirm just that.

• Horizon Feed is being sunset by Meta
• The response is mixed as it's being replace by Navigator
• Some users wonder if this is a sign of more Horizon-related closures

Your Meta Quest 3 is getting a UI overhaul, again – and this might be an upgrade VR users will appreciate.

Currently, when you boot up your headset your default landing experience – the very first screen you see – would be the Horizon Feed. This social window highlights popular Horizon Worlds, apps, and what your contacts are up to; and it's a window that I and many other users instantly close, so that we can get into the actual games and content we want to access.

So Meta has announced that, starting with update v85, players will instead boot straight into the Navigator. This is the floating UI Meta adopted last year, which puts a greater emphasis on mixed reality with simpler floating icons, as well as a simple bar for swapping between your library, home, social contacts and the app store.

It’s not perfect, but Navigator is generally a much more useful intro screen that Horizon Feed, so hopefully this is an update most users will appreciate – even if it's not a major one.

Meta also announced that it will be be sunsetting the Horizon Feed entirely with this update.

People have generally not been a fan of this constant extra step of needing to close Horizon Feed when they use their headset.

This post from last year is literally titled “Tired of closing Horizon Feed + People window, every time on startup”, while another is asking for advice on how to “Remove Horizon Feed from Menu”.

It seems Meta is well aware of how little users want to engage with Horizon Feed, as in its announcement it said of the feature that “it historically has not driven strong entitlement conversion”; essentially, people generally don’t access the worlds or games it shows through the feed itself.

Some people are now hoping Meta will take things a step further, replying to the change saying “That makes me hopeful that one day, the doomed Horizon ecosystem goes away entirely. The Quest would be such a better device without it.”

Following the recent news of Meta shutting down studios as it shifts focus away from VR to its glasses, this prospect does seem more likely, although, even as someone who hasn’t been the most impressed by its metaverse efforts thus far, I’m worried that the end of Horizon ecosystem might be joined by a much wider Quest demise – something I don’t want, even if for now I’m pinning my VR hopes on the Steam Frame.

It’s a weird time in the world of VR, but this Horizon Feed news does at least start to return things to a state of normalcy. When we don’t know what will happen next, we can at least count on Meta to make yet another UI change.

• Palmer Luckey doesn't think the Meta layoffs will be a bad thing for VR
• The Oculus founder shared his thoughts on social media
• This writer doesn't share his optimism, unfortunately

We’re still reeling from Meta closing down multiple first-party VR software studios, but at a time when it feels like VR is on a serious downswing some are choosing to look on the bright side – and argue that this is in fact a good thing for the industry.

A loud voice in that crowd is Palmer Luckey – the founder of Oculus VR, who later founded military contractor Anduril Industries after being fired by Facebook in 2017 after it acquired Oculus – who took to social media to say that the layoffs are “Not a disaster.”

He added, “I think this is a good decision, and I thought the same back when I was still at Oculus.” He explained further down in his lengthy post that, “Every developer big and small, even the hyper-efficient ones, have had an extremely hard time competing with games developed by Meta-owned teams with budgets and teams that spend vastly in excess of earning potential.”

Luckey is not the first person to highlight these issues with Meta’s strategy. We know it has been throwing money at VR in a way that many other developers – both on the hardware and software side – simply can’t. In turn this has created a de facto one-party system.

Why buy anything other than a Meta Quest headset when it boasts the best software support, and the best hardware (or close to the best) for the price being charged?

Though when it comes to the Quest ecosystem specifically, the games produced from these studios were hardly “Crowding out the rest of the entire ecosystem” as Luckey put it. One, maybe two VR games a year from Meta itself aren’t drowning out the slew of amazing VR games and apps out there – but the deluge of Horizon Worlds and free slop software clogging up prime spots in the Meta Store and promotional carousels certainly are, and according to UploadVR reporting, many developers were complaining about this even a year ago.

While free-to-play titles will keep some users active, big tentpole attractions are what get people in – especially the likes of Batman: Arkham Shadow, or Marvel’s Deadpool VR with very recognizable IP. However with VR still in its relatively fledgling stage you need investment to make these tentpole titles happen.

Now without those teams making the easily recognizable franchises that convince people to dip their toes into VR, I can see VR’s popularity taking a nosedive.

What’s more, looking at crowding out from a hardware perspective you see Meta has also canned its third-party HorizonOS headsets – devices which would have seriously helped VR not feel like a one-horse race.

Taken individually I could perhaps understand the silver linings folks like Luckey are seeing. Looking at the bigger picture though, the dark clouds do look to stretch for miles in every direction.

A move in a new direction, or more missteps?

This is also not considering the smart glasses aspect of Meta's mistake, and how the VR expertise it just lost could have played a vital part in its alternative XR future.

Especially with display glasses seemingly set to become the next big thing, Meta will want content for its smart specs, and games and fitness apps will be essential here just as they were in VR.

Imagine being able to have a virtual Supernatural coach help you run through a workout in your local park in AR, or some kind of IRL AR multiplayer game which was developed using the spatial computing expertise of the very studios Meta just shuttered.

To that end this move, again, doesn’t seem all too sensible.

Meta has arguably made a lot of missteps with the Quest headsets. It's got a lot right too, but essential services like productivity and entertainment have fallen behind compared to the smart glasses rivals I’ve tested.

But as many have said, it feels like Meta has decided to refocus away from VR, and unlike Luckey I don’t believe this is good for the industry. I hope that I’m wrong, but the more I think about the wider space – in particular the rise of glasses over headsets – I can’t help but feel like this is a death knell for VR, with the space potentially set to hit an ice age that’ll last many years before we possibly things return to normal.

Maybe, hopefully, I’m wrong. There are still plenty of excellent third-party VR developers out there, and we have the Steam Frame set to land later this year, so perhaps they’ll keep the flag flying. I’m just not feeling all too optimistic right now.

Meta is turning its back on VR gaming. That’s the feeling many, myself included, are feeling after the reports that Meta has shuttered Twisted Pixel, Sanzaru, and Armature, the game studios behind Marvel's Deadpool VR, Asgard’s Wrath, and Resident Evil 4 VR, respectively (among other VR projects).

In addition, Supernatural – the excellent VR fitness app that was the linchpin of my VR exercise routine – will no longer be receiving updates or new content (via the Supernatural Facebook group and emails sent to users). It will, however, “remain active”, though questions remain about certain specifics – for example, will Supernatural’s licensed music catalog eventually dwindle to almost nothing, or will partnerships still be renewed?

This also all comes in the wake of the news from late last year that Meta had “paused” its Horizon OS partnerships with Asus and Lenovo.

In a statement to Engadget, a Meta spokesperson said, “We said last month that we were shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward Wearables. This is part of that effort, and we plan to reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables this year."

When I followed up with Meta to address claims it was turning its back on VR, I was told by a representative that “Meta doesn’t have anything to share on this.”

While Meta might not have much more to share on this matter, I do: it’s pretty clear Meta isn’t keen to push VR in quite the same way it once was.

The Oculus Quest 2 felt like the moment VR was waiting for. Aided, in part, by people being trapped at home due to COVID-19-era lockdowns, and its truly affordable price for a solid VR machine, the Quest 2 sold phenomenally well.

In less than half a year, it had sold more units than all previous total sales of all other Oculus headsets, and while it's hard to track precise figures for every machine, it seems that for a while the Quest 2 was seemingly even selling better than the Xbox Series consoles (via Android Central).

However, Meta’s golden goose didn’t last forever, and the Meta Quest 3 didn’t land with anything like the same splash, despite being such an awesome device in its own right.

And now Meta has a new favorite child: AI and its AI wearables like the (also hugely popular) Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and as it has said, it is shifting some of its investment and priorities towards this new venture.

Is VR gaming dead?

VR gaming isn’t dead yet, if not least because Valve has its Steam Frame headset due to land later in 2026, and while it won’t be as affordable as a Quest 3 (most likely) the fact it’s a Steam Deck for your face – so it kind of doubles as a Steam Deck and a pair of XR glasses to enjoy your games on a large virtual screen – as well as having all of its VR gaming potential makes me at least a little confident it will have a strong landing.

Plus, if Valve or Google are looking to bolster their XR gaming efforts – Google has its Android XR platform – I’ve heard a lot of talented folks are currently free agents.

Marvel’s Deadpool VR is a fantastic game for capturing the true promise of what it would be like to be Deadpool, and Asgard’s Wrath 2 is a superb, more open-world action adventure that VR doesn’t have enough of. Seeing the teams behind those games work on something for a VR headset with some PC power behind it could be incredible.

Or if Android XR wants a dedicated XR fitness platform, the Supernatural team knows what it’s doing, and I think there’s so much more to explore with fitness in XR – especially in AR. Plus, from a music licensing side of things, Google might have an even easier time, as it already has services like YouTube Music, which could open up an even broader suite of workout options.

We’ll have to wait and see how 2026 unfolds, but while this announcement is frustrating for Quest fans, I believe there’s still some potential for VR to have a stronger year than it did in 2025 – even if it is elsewhere.

Every year CES 2026 is brimming with technological marvels highlighting the gadgets of tomorrow, and in no other category does that feel more true than with smart glasses. So I’m finding the best smart glasses of CES 2026 and shouting them out here.

There are plenty to choose from. Following the success of the Ray-Ban and Oakley Meta collab, as well as the hype being driven by Android XR the field featured a lot of new players alongside several returning favorites.

These five have risen above the crowd, however. Be it thanks to innovations such as eSIM integration or HDR, or just sophisticated simplicity, these are the smart glasses to watch from the Las Vegas show.

RayNeo Air 4 Pro

• The best glasses for entertainment

If you’re after big (virtual) screen entertainment, the new RayNeo Air 4 Pro glasses will be tough to beat, especially at their very low $299 (UK and Australian pricing to be confirmed) price tag.

They still have a 1080p resolution limit, but in a first for these kinds of specs they offer HDR10 support on their micro-OLED panels, which are made even more vivid with 1,200 nits of brightness. The audio has been tuned up as well, thanks to the expertise of Bang & Olufsen.

The screen expertise of TCL, which makes these glasses, is on show here, and while they lack some of the bells and whistles of their rivals, these specs are also relatively inexpensive – and while I have yet to put them through TechRadar’s rigorous testing, I expect they’ll be a shoo-in for the best cheap smart glasses on the market if you want that entertainment focus.

Asus ROG Xreal R1 AR

• The smart glasses gamers will want to buy

Meta who? Following the breakup between Meta and its third-party HorizonOS partners it seems at least one has already moved on to a new collaborator, because Asus and Xreal have debuted these gamer-friendly specs.

Lenovo announced some smart glasses of their own (Meta’s other HorizonOS partner) but as they’re only a prototype and not the most interesting prototype at that, I’ve omitted them from this list.

Anyway, back to Asus, the R1 glasses are basically the splendid Xreal One Pro glasses with two benefits: a 240Hz refresh rate for buttery smooth gaming, and an included ROG Control Dock. The dock includes DisplayPortTM 1.4 and two HDMI 2.0 ports so you can switch between using the glasses with your PC or your console with just a single click.

We don’t yet know the glasses’ price but I expect they’ll be on the pricier end. The One Pro glasses cost $649 / £579, and I wouldn’t hold my breath for these Asus specs to cost any less (certainly not much less).

RayNeo X3 Pro – Project eSIM

• The biggest smart glasses innovation at CES 2026

TCL's AR glasses brand is back on this list again with something a little different. We’ve already seen the RayNeo X3 Pro glasses before – I saw them at CES last year – and they’re your run-of-the-mill AI smart glasses. They boast cameras, speakers and in-built microphones to facilitate AI interactions.

So why have they made this years’ list? This new model boasts an eSIM with 4G capabilities – so no external connection is required.

Now some big questions related to cost, battery life and, importantly, what apps and features the eSIMs will enable still remain – but in the prophesized post-smartphone world that smart glasses are said to enable, this is a much-needed step.

However well this Project eSIM model does, expect others to follow TCL’s lead.

Rokid AI Glasses Style

• The CES 2026 smart glasses to love if you're on a budget

I tried the Rokid Glasses at IFA in late 2025, and this new for CES model is basically those without a display, which is certainly no bad thing – especially when they’re so darn cheap.

The Rokid AI Glasses Style are just like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses. They even look a little like them too. You’ll find AI voice commands, a 12MP camera that can shoot in up to 4K, a 12 hour battery life and they’ll cost you less than Meta’s specs. Though Rokid’s glasses don’t come with a charging case by default, which gives them an edge price-wise against the Meta Ray-Bans which do. These cost $299, which is $80 less than Meta's option.

While not mind-blowing in any sense of the word, ecosystems are built on these more budget-friendly offerings. Cheaper options help to get new gadgets in the hands of folks who really want them but can’t afford to spend massive amounts, and so this cheaper option absolutely deserves a shoutout.

MemoMind AI glasses

• The AI smart glasses to watch from CES 2026

Rounding off my list are the XGMI MemoMind AI glasses. The projector brand is a newcomer to the space but has impressed testers with its useful AI features, comfy design, a lightweight display, and a decent battery life – a winning combination in the smart glasses world.

Early impressions are one thing, and tech is difficult to properly judge at a tech show. So while things certainly look positive my advice would be to wait for reviews. I remember being impressed by smart glasses at events like CES and then hating them when I have to spend longer than 10 minutes with them.

At $599, the MemoMind glasses are on the cheaper end of things for display glasses, but that’s still a fair amount to shell out.

None of this is meant to be overly critical of these new specs, of course. I’ve included them on this list because of how good an impression the glasses have left early on. Just maybe keep an eye on them for the next few months to see if they can maintain that positivity before hitting ‘buy now.’

TechRadar is extensively covering this year's CES, and bringing you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 live news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

It's no great secret that when it comes to wearable technologies, less is more. People don't want to wear bulky pendants, wrist bands, or glasses. They want light, minimalistic, and especially stylish smart wear that could easily be mistaken for their analog counterparts. It's a lesson, I think, that's driven home by Even Realities' Even G2 display smart glasses, which I tried at CES 2026 in Las Vegas.

I sat with company CEO Will Wang, who handed me a stylish and surprisingly light pair of Even G2 glasses ($599, prescription extra) that reminded me of the spectacles I once donned to look more like Stanley Tucci on Halloween.

As I turned them over in my hands, there was little indication that these weren't your typical glasses. The frames and even stems were thin. The only indication that these glasses were something more was the pair of pill-shaped protrusions at the end of each stem (they sit right behind your ears when you wear the glasses) and, when viewed at the right angle, a hint of an embedded waveform display smack in the middle of one lens.

Wang, who used to work for Apple and worked on the Apple Watch team, told me the Even G2 do not have much on-board computing power and instead rely on your smartphone for connectivity, heavy computing, and AI processing (or delivering some AI requests to the cloud).

There are no cameras on the frames; instead, the focus is on the waveform screen delivering utility to the wearer. Control is accomplished by using those touch-sensitive bulbs on the back end of the stems (mostly taps, swipes, and long-presses).

I was anxious, though, for a test drive, so as Wang continued to list off the features, I put on the frames. Initially, since they weren't set up for my prescription, the bright display was blurry, so I decided to put them on top of my own glasses – I'm not sure if this arrangement would have worked as well if the Even G2 frames weren't so light.

I was immediately shocked at the sharpness of the monochrome screen. Text and interface elements are a brilliant green, which gives the heads-up display the look of the highest-resolution CRT display ever.

The waveguide technology can make it look like you're viewing an up-to 40-inch screen floating in front of you.

Live translation, navigation, and more

While the Even G2 have no cameras to support gestures, you can pair them with the optional Smart Ring R1 ($249), which duplicates the gesture control interface found on the back end of the smart glasses (yes, it also does health tracking).

Wang started talking to me in Chinese, and I could read the real-time translation clearly without losing sight of Wang. While the translation is handled on the phone, the Even G2 do have some onboard processing to handle the audio processing, noise reduction, display management, and communication with your smartphone.

Next we tried turn-by-turn navigation. Even though the monochrome display does not produce a colorized and highly detailed map, I could see the arrow representing me and my orientation alongside my directions. When I turned my head, the frames picked up the direction and shifted my arrow accordingly.

The glasses support notifications and interface with your favorite LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

I found navigating the interface by using the touch-sensitive bulbs behind my ears simple, and the clarity of the interface removed any possible confusion.

Perhaps because the Even G2 keep the adornments to a minimum, battery life is claimed to be strong, with Even Realities promising up to two days from a full charge.

Obviously, Even Realities is not the only smart glasses company working toward lighter, better-looking, and longer-lasting smart display glasses, but most of those glasses, especially the more exciting ones with full-color displays and embedded cameras, still have that extra bulk, especially in the stems, and usually shorter battery life. These are much more like secret smarts, and without the potential privacy issues revolving around always-on-your face cameras.

The Even G2 are not cheap, and the Ring adds hundreds more to the price (as does the cost of a prescription); but I came away thinking that Even Realities is on the right track, and that wearables competitors could learn a thing or two from the company.

If, like me, you're not in the US and have been patiently waiting to get your hands on the new Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses then I have some bad news: the global rollout has been put on “pause” according to Meta itself.

Dropped halfway down an otherwise run-of-the-mill CES 2026 blog post as if it were a nonchalant aside comment in Meta’s conversation, this frustrating detail means that the “early 2026” launch of the Meta specs outside of the US won’t be happening – or at least it won't be as early as we'd hoped.

Instead, Meta explains that us folks in the UK, Canada, France, and Italy (as well as other regions Meta said it would expand availability to) will have to wait while it focuses on “fulfilling orders in the US”. Worst of all for those of us outside the US, it doesn’t say when the rollout will resume.

I reached out to Meta directly, and a representative told me: “We’re really pleased with the reception of our new wearables products,” however, at this time they “don’t have anything further to share” with respect to the international expansion pause, nor its plans to improve US fulfillment of the Display glasses.

Not the start to 2026 I wanted

Meta’s pause to its international Display glasses distribution is not how I hoped 2026 would kick off in the XR field. I was genuinely looking forward to trying a pair out in the next few months, and I'm devastated that I'll need to wait for some unknown amount of time before that’ll change.

It’s surprising that Meta would tease a rollout only to go back on its word, though that would speak to the unprecedented level of interest in its Meta Ray-Ban Display specs it described in its blog post.

While impressive, the Display specs aren’t cheap – before applying extra costs like prescriptions they’ll set you back $799, over double the cost of the standard $379 / £379 / AU$599 Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 glasses. What’s more, we know the last consumer wearable truly comparable to Meta’s Display glasses, Google Glass, was something of a flop.

With both points in mind, it’s not a surprise that Meta would be conservative about the level of interest in its new Display-equipped glasses. Sure, lots of people might book up free demo slots, but then they might instead just buy the much cheaper display-less smart specs, if they buy anything at all.

I imagine most people do still opt for one of those latter two options, but clearly far more people than expected have decided to splash out on the Meta Ray-Ban Displays. Long wait times will only frustrate customers, so it makes sense for Meta to focus on its one existing market while it ramps up production – as the alternative would be to launch them globally and end up making a much larger group of people annoyed that they can’t get the smart glasses they’ve ordered.

Of course, understanding Meta’s reasoning does nothing to alleviate the annoyance I, and I’m sure others, are feeling about the pause.

The only silver lining I can offer is that I imagine Meta won’t want to delay things for too long. With Google's Android XR glasses snapping at its heels there’s a risk that, if it holds off for too long on a global launch, one of Google's glasses partners – who are working on both display and display-less smart specs – could swoop in and steal the international market from under Meta’s nose.

We’ll have to wait and see how things progress, but I have a feeling (read: desperate hope) us non-US folks will get our hands on the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses before too long. Let's hope I'm not still saying that this time next year.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 live news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything we've seen.

You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok for the latest from the CES show floor!

• Asus announces ROG XREAL R1 AR gaming glasses at CES 2026
• These glasses will pair with its ROG Ally handhelds, plus PCs and consoles
• They'll land in the first half of 2026, but no price has been announced yet

Reports of the death of Asus' XR plans have been greatly exaggerated, and at CES 2026 it announced a partnership with XREAL to deliver the ROG XREAL R1 AR gaming glasses – giving the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X a run for its money in the naming department.

These smart glasses are what we’ve come to know from XREAL, but this time there's a focus on Asus’ PC tech. You can connect them directly to a compatible device (such as a ROG Ally) using the USB-C cable to have that device’s display shown on a giant virtual screen (171 inches at 4m), or use the included ROG Control Dock.

This dock includes DisplayPortTM 1.4 and two HDMI 2.0 ports so you can seamlessly switch between using the glasses with your PC or your console. Asus promises this will happen with a “single click”.

As for the glasses themselves, it looks like we’re in for a treat. They boast full-HD (1,920 x 1,080) Sony 0.55-inch micro-OLED displays with a 700 nits peak brightness and 57-degree field of view. This is identical to the XREAL One Pro glasses I loved, so I imagine the XREAL R1 glasses also rely on the same optical engine which is sleek and boasts a crystal clear image better than other similar smart specs I’ve tried – I’ve contacted XREAL to clarify this however as the press release I’ve been sent doesn’t confirm my suspicion.

The big upgrade for these specs, however, is their 240Hz refresh rate – the highest so far from this kind of wearable display. This plants the specs firmly in the 'made for gamers' camp, as a buttery smooth frame rate is required for any kind of elite-level player.

You’ll also get the usual Bose-tuned audio and the electrochromically dimmable lenses we’re used to seeing from XREAL. Based on my experience that means headphones are useful but not a must-have unless you’re travelling, and these specs should be suitable to a wide range of environments.

Lastly, we know the new Asus ROG XREAL R1 AR gaming glasses will “ship globally in the first half of 2026,” but neither XREAL nor Asus has revealed how much they'll cost when they do. Based on their similarity to the XREAL One Pro specs, I wouldn’t hold my breath for anything less than $649 / £579, but we’ll have to wait and see.

And that’s not all we might have to wait and see about when it comes to Asus’ XR plans…

A sign of more to come?

The press release I received ahead of today’s Asus XREAL announcement makes no mention of “Android XR” at all – so there isn’t yet a link between Asus and the ‘new’ kid on the block in the XR space – but the degree of separation between Asus and Android XR is a lot less than it was.

That’s because XREAL has announced Android XR specs are on the way, and given the utility Android XR looks set to bring to smart glasses of all kinds I wouldn’t be surprised if Asus has some Android specs on the way – either through working with XREAL on another ROG-branded pair, or a more in-house design.

While we can only speculate, it wouldn’t be surprising if this ROG Xreal R1 product is what played a part in the divorce of Asus and Meta’s Horizon OS. For Asus, glasses perhaps make better sense as an addition to its ecosystem than a whole VR headset – existing as an upgrade for its ROG handhelds rather than a headset replacing them in some way (kinda like how the Steam Frame headset is sort of a wearable Steam Deck).

For Meta, it could be that the Asus Xreal partnership – especially due to the Xreal’s proximity to Android XR – stepped over a line where was no longer comfortable.

We likely won’t ever know why Asus and Meta split up. Instead, we can just get excited for the Asus ROG XREAL R1 AR gaming glasses, and patiently hope this is the first of many Asus smart specs.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

Apple’s dream of a future where we’re all swiping and swooping through virtual and augmented reality versions of macOS and iOS might be at an end. That’s because poor sales have reportedly forced Apple to cut production and reduce the marketing budget for the Apple Vision Pro by 95%, according to market intelligence group Sensor Tower, as reported in the Financial Times.

I doubt this will come as a huge surprise to many who’ve been following the technology world over the past year or so, as the Vision Pro not only launched at a hefty $3,499 in the US, but was also limited to Apple platforms. This classic walled-garden approach is nothing new for Apple, as it has worked wonders for the tech giant in the past; yet this time it looks like it hasn’t paid off.

In response to this news, Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff noted, “I actually thought they cut back production last year, but maybe they imagined the M5 upgrade would make a big difference. (Narrator: It did not.).”

And I was in a similar thought boat to Ulanoff, as I also felt there had not been much chatter around the Vision Pro or visionOS last year, and I can’t really recall seeing anyone actually use the mixed reality headset.

In many ways, it’s a pity, as you’ll see in our Apple Vision Pro review, the technology in the headset is rather impressive. Equally, it did give the impression of a first-generation device aimed more at developers than a gadget for consumers, and thus a headset destined for a second generation, likely stripped back of some of the most advanced tech but given a more palatable price. This didn’t happen.

That’s not to say Apple’s work in augmented and mixed reality is over, as the Cupertino company currently has a few Vision Pro-centric jobs posted. But these appear to be more software-based, and I’d bet that whatever’s next for Apple’s AR won’t involve a three-grand headset.

Still a niche

Sadly, I think virtual reality is still a somewhat niche proposition, with augmented reality being more of a feature people might use in phone apps – think Pokémon Go – than with headsets. And cost is clearly a big factor, with our selection of the best VR headsets mostly looking at more affordable systems; the Meta Quest 3 being the standout.

And another sad point is, I’ve seen this before with the PlayStation VR 2. A fantastic virtual reality headset stuffed with smart tech and a couple of very impressive games, yet it failed to galvanize the vast amount of PS5 owners, with one of the core reasons surely down to its launch price being the same as an actual launch PS5.

I want nothing more than to see VR, AR, and mixed reality really become something special and widespread. But until price, accessibility, and software experiences can be refined and opened beyond the Meta Quest, I don’t think that future will crest the horizon.