Best Smart Glasses in 2026: Wait for Google
Key takeaways
- Editors' Note, April 29: This list reflects my current choices for best smart glasses, but more are expected from Google and others this year.
- Meta s smart glasses have proven to be a relatively big success, and for good reason.
- The sub-category of "display glasses" currently involves a range of glasses-like wearable displays that need to be plugged into a device to work.
Editors' Note, April 29: This list reflects my current choices for best smart glasses, but more are expected from Google and others this year.
Meta s smart glasses have proven to be a relatively big success, and for good reason. The normal-looking glasses have a familiar Ray-Ban and Oakley look but include surprisingly good onboard audio for phone calls and music listening, as well as a camera that records photos and wide-angle vertical video clips up to 3 minutes in length. A side trackpad and shutter button control the glasses manually, but you can also use voice controls to operate everything. They come in a large range of styles and colors, and optional sunglass lens finishes and prescription lens support.
The sub-category of "display glasses" currently involves a range of glasses-like wearable displays that need to be plugged into a device to work. Viture Beast is my new favorite, boasting the most impressive list of features and AV performance to date. Much like Xreal's One series of glasses, Viture's float a micro OLED display anywhere you're looking. The Beast's 1,500 nit 1,920x1,200-pixel displays are bigger and brighter and higher-res than other glasses, impressively vivid, and Harman-powered speakers boom very loud.