Smart Glasses Craze: Is the Industry Losing Control?

If it feels like everyone is talking about smart glasses lately, it’s not just your imagination. There’s Meta, of course, which is by far the biggest gravitational force in the smart glasses game right now with its Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses and Meta Ray-Ban Display. But there are also the likes of Google, Lenovo, and TCL, all of whom are in various stages of entering the field. And the thing is, some of those companies aren’t just talking about smart glasses or even just making them; they’re going all in and throwing other products overboard in an attempt to shed weight and win the smart glasses boat race. Take Asus, for example, which just recently announced that it won’t release any new phones in 2026. The reason? Well, Asus doesn’t say it outright, but there’s a shiny new toy to play with, and you wear it on your face. According to Asus’ chairman, Jonney Shih, who spoke at a recent Asus event, phones are out in 2026, but new categories like AI glasses are in. If that story sounds familiar, well, that’s because Asus is far from the only company to let smart glasses suck the oxygen out of the room. Even Meta, which has made something of a reputation for pouring money into unproven categories, seems to be turning away from other hardware ambitions to pursue smart glasses. This past year, it used its annual Meta Connect event, which was traditionally focused on VR, to talk about anything but VR. Instead, it showed off the Meta Ray-Ban Display, new Ray-Ban-branded AI glasses, and new Oakley-branded smart glasses. And if that wasn’t enough, Meta also just laid off about 1,500 workers in its Reality Labs division and killed pretty much every first-party VR studio that it owned. The pivots don’t stop there, though. Apparently, Apple wants a little taste of the “forget everything and chase smart glasses” pie. Late last year, it was reported that Apple had actually shelved plans for a lighter, less expensive Vision Pro to focus on smart glasses. According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple’s efforts will consist of not just one but two pairs of smart glasses, one with a screen and one without. Those gadgets could start coming out as soon as next year. I don’t think anyone should be surprised by a big pivot from a tech company looking to capitalize on a new trend, but one has to wonder what’s being lost in the process. Asus turning away from phones, for example, may not seem like a big deal on the surface, but that lack of interest could actually wind up hindering phones as a category. Sure, Asus ROG phones might not be the most popular in the world, but the company has pushed the boundaries with battery life and mobile gaming. Popular or not, phones are more interesting with Asus in the mix.