With the Samsung Galaxy XR on my head, it looks somewhere between a Meta Quest and Apple's Vision Pro. It's big, weird and definitely not something I'd wear outside. But this expensive new mixed reality headset, a partnership between tech giants Samsung and Google, is just the first phase of their plan.
The next step is smart glasses designed for everyday wear, inside and out.
Something's happening inside the Galaxy XR that's unlike any other VR headset I've used. It's eye-opening and maybe a little scary. Gemini AI can see what I see -- and not just around me in the real world through cameras embedded all over the headset. As my second set of eyes, Gemini AI can also see the virtual screens I'm browsing. It's easy to imagine it living invisibly inside innocuous glasses, too.
And that's exactly the plan, according to Samsung's COO of Mobile Experiences, Won-Joon Choi, and Google's head of Android, Sameer Samat. In exclusive conversations, they told me what's coming next. We still don't know the price and availability of the next wave of smart glasses, but we know they're coming.
Google and Samsung are working with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to make AI glasses that would compete with Meta's Ray-Ban and Oakley EssilorLuxottica partnership. The Galaxy XR is a doorway to that -- a hint, really, of how AI will evolve not just on glasses but between glasses, phones, watches, rings and more.
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CNET's Patrick Holland trying prototype Google and Samsung glasses at Google's developer conference this year. James Martin/CNET
Figuring out contextual AI that can "see"
Meta and Google have discussed so-called contextual AI as the next big step forward in assistive AI agents. Contextual, in this sense, means being aware of more things that you're doing: apps you're using, places you're visiting and, most significantly, what you're looking at or listening to in the moment.
Meta's glasses have Live AI modes that can tap into the camera and microphones. Google's doing the same on the Galaxy XR headset with Gemini AI, while it is also adding awareness of open apps, virtual experiences and the real-world environment. We've already seen hands-on demos of what Google and Samsung's future glasses can do.
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