AI glasses were everywhere at CES. The hardware is converging fast. So what's actually going to determine who wins? Camera, mic, lightweight frames, conversational AI, real-time translation. A dozen companies are shipping some version of this, and the core experience is starting to feel standardized. Some are trying to differentiate by going vertical (for example, focusing on gaming). Others are focusing on specific geographic regions. Here's what I think will actually separate the winners: 1. Distribution and partnerships. Can people find you, and can they actually try the glasses? Meta has Ray-Ban stores everywhere, giving them brand recognition plus a place where anyone can walk in and experience what they're buying. Beyond retail, partnerships that let people interact with glasses in context show off capabilities a spec sheet never could. Discoverability plus hands-on trial is a powerful combination. 2. Capabilities that give developers a reason to build for this form factor. Mobile became valuable because it had unique capabilities desktop didn't: touch, GPS, camera, always with you. That gave developers a reason to build specifically for mobile instead of porting desktop apps, and that's what created the rich app ecosystem that drove adoption. Glasses need the same. Of the AI glasses I saw at CES, there was minimal focus on the developer ecosystem. Even the lightweight AR glasses are mostly floating screens in 3D space. If every pair just mirrors your phone or puts a screen in front of your face, there's no real differentiation. And nothing for developers to build against that they couldn't build for existing platforms. What changes the equation is spatial and contextual awareness. Glasses that understand what's around you, what's relevant, and can do things in the space. That's what turns glasses from a gadget into a platform. #CES2026 #AR #AI #XR #Wearables #AugmentedReality #AIglasses
Jim Toepel
1w
With rare extent (apple's silicon advantage) the hardware tech will iterate towards table stakes. Fashion, Software Ecosystem, Killer Differentiated Applications, Ease of Sharing, are what change hearts and minds.
The pattern usually isn’t a single killer app, but a shift in where interaction disappears. Phones won by compressing dozens of small behaviors into something people carried everywhere. Glasses win when they do the same, quietly folding utility into moments that already exist.
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I have three different pairs of AR / XR glasses. I'm still waiting for that killer app that I can't live without. Context aware glasses would be awesome!
AI glasses would benefit from being built by companies that already manufacture phones, and control the ecosystem (or via tight partnerships), because this will enable a natural migration of capabilities from the phone to the glasses. This allows phones to become smaller and less central without being fully replaced, but the priority needs to be a seamless user experience across both devices. AR glasses are a different kettle of fish.