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Featured in this article

Best Smart Glasses for Every DayRay-Ban Meta Glasses (Gen 2)

$409 Best Buy

Best AI Glasses With No CameraEven Realities G2 Smart Glasses

$599 Even Realities

Best Smart Glasses for Picture QualityViture Beast Glasses

$689 $549 (20% off) Amazon

Best Smart Glasses for Sound QualityXreal One Pro

$649 $599 (8% off) Xreal

The idea of smart glasses has been around for decades, but the technology is finally catching up. The best smart glasses let you listen to music, answer texts hands-free, or teach you about the world, even as you're looking at it. And they're getting more popular: Meta and Ray-Ban sold more than 7 million pairs of smart glasses in 2025. Google, Samsung, and Apple are releasing their own versions soon. Even better than helpful smart glasses becoming more available is that these specs can also make you look fabulous.

Before you pick your pair, you should know that smart glasses are hugely varied, even more so than many other product categories that we test. Some are glorified headphones for everyday wear; others have very specific use cases, like for sports, gaming, or working. They also come at a wide variety of price points, specs, and designs.

Reviewer Simon Hill and I have tested just about every pair of smart glasses on the market. In addition to our recommendations, I also explain what you need to know about this category and give a quick history lesson about the space. Think you might need something else instead? Don't forget to check out the rest of our buying guides, including the Best Meta Glasses and the Best Virtual Reality Headsets.

Table of Contents

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- Other Smart Glasses We’ve Tested

- Don’t Bother

- What Makes Smart Glasses So Special?

- What Are the Different Types of Smart Glasses?

- What Does HUD, DoF, and FoV Mean?

- How to Troubleshoot Your Smart Glasses

- Are Smart Glasses a Privacy Risk?

- When Did the First Smart Glasses Arrive? A Brief History

- Should You Buy Now?

- What's Up Next

Updated April 2026: I updated my recommendation for the Even Realities G2 and added the Viture Beast, the Engo3, and the Modo Eyefly. I also added the sections “What Makes Smart Glasses So Special” and “What's Up Next,” and checked links and prices.

- Best Smart Glasses for Every Day

Photograph: Boone Ashworth

Courtesy of Ray-Ban

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Ray-Ban

Meta Glasses (Gen 2)

$409 Best Buy

$409 Amazon

$379 Meta

$459 Ray-Ban

Arguably, the success of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses is what spurred the current AI glasses boom. These are the updated version of the OG Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarers that were the category's first certified hit. The second-generation Ray-Ban Meta glasses let you choose different frames, including the Wayfarer ones, and lenses (including prescription lenses), and they look the most like regular glasses. They don’t have any virtual screen—instead, you get a 12-MP camera, open-ear speakers, and five microphones. There’s 32 GB of storage, and they run for around eight hours when fully charged, with a case that can add another 48 hours. They have an IPX4 water resistance rating, so they'll be OK in light rain. The photo quality can’t match the latest phones, and videos are limited to one minute in length, but the quality is much better than what the originals offered, enabling you to record in up to 3K at 30 frames per second. You also get a host of AI features, including the ability to ask about what you are seeing and live language translation. But using these features requires you to connect to a smartphone, and Meta AI needs an internet connection.

As the sales numbers reinforce, these are the best and most popular smart glasses available. If you go to any outdoor or sporting event, you will undoubtedly see people wearing these to record snippets for TikTok or Instagram. The glasses have given rise to a new term, “pervert glasses”. More than 70 organizations have formed a coalition to demand that Meta kill facial recognition, an upcoming feature dubbed “Name Tag” in Meta's house. If you’re OK with all this, you're not alone—millions of people are as well! I like these glasses, but only with a lot of precautions, like disabling the Vibes videos and keeping my photos and videos off the Meta AI cloud. Smart glasses with cameras can also provide audio descriptions and answer questions about what you are seeing, which may be useful for folks with vision loss. The glasses also have an integrated Be My Eyes service that doesn't rely on AI.

SpecsCamera: 12-megapixelBattery Life: 8 hours (case provides 48 hours)Water Resistance: IPX4Storage: 32 GBAudio: Custom built open ear speakersWeight: 51 grams

- Best AI Glasses With No Camera

Photograph: Chris Haslam

Photogr

Best Smart Glasses (2026): Meta, Viture, Xreal, and More | WIRED