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Google Gemini glasses: pre-orders open from $395, on sale 10 December in US and Korea

Google and Samsung's first Gemini glasses, with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster frames, have camera, speakers and no display, and Google leads with privacy protections for bystanders.

audiotale.net team

· 5 min read

Written by AI from the sources linked below. How we use AI

On this page
  1. Key points
  2. What happened
  3. Background
  4. The numbers
  5. What it means
  6. What we don't know yet
  7. What to watch next
  8. Sources

Google opened pre-orders on 12 November 2026 for its first Gemini glasses, made with Samsung and designed with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Prices start at $395 for Warby Parker frames and $449 for Gentle Monster frames, and the glasses go on sale on 10 December in the United States and South Korea only. They are camera-and-speaker glasses with no display, which puts them closer to Meta's Ray-Ban line than to a heads-up screen, and Google leads its launch material with privacy protections aimed at the people the camera might point at.

Key points

  • Pre-orders opened on 12 November 2026; sales start in stores and online on 10 December, according to Google.
  • Warby Parker's three styles (Alden, Reid, Wren) start at $395; Gentle Monster's six designs start at $449. One outlet, The Next Web, puts the Gentle Monster range at $449 to $489.
  • Google lists about 41 grams, up to nine hours of battery, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera and open-ear speakers.
  • Availability is limited to Google Accounts from the US and South Korea, and to users aged 18 or over; Warby Parker models are US-only.
  • Google says bystanders' faces are designed to be blurred before Gemini processes an image, and that an outward LED lights when a photo or video is taken.

What happened

In a post dated 12 November, Shahram Izadi, Google's VP and general manager for XR, announced the collections and opened pre-orders online and in-store at Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. Hands-on demos are offered at select Gentle Monster, Warby Parker and Google Store locations, and Google says guided demos are available at more than 360 Warby Parker stores.

The Gentle Monster collection has six designs in colours including dark red, pink, grey and yellow, with tinted, clear, blue or brown lens options. Warby Parker offers Alden, Reid and Wren in optical or sun versions, in Pine, Saddle and Jet Black. Prescription lenses are available for most frames.

You wake the assistant by saying "Hey Gemini" or tapping the frames. Google lists turn-by-turn directions from Google Maps through the speakers, real-time speech translation across more than 70 languages, music and audiobooks from YouTube Music, Spotify, Apple Music and Audible, and messages, calls, calendar checks, grocery lists and reminders. Two accessibility services are included: Guided Vision, which gives conversational audio descriptions for people who are blind or have low vision, and Aira Explorer, which streams the camera feed to a human visual interpreter. Google says Guided Vision is not a medical or mobility device, and that at launch both services, and Audible, need an Android phone.

Compatibility is broad: Pixel 7 and later on the September 2026 Android 17 update or newer, recent Galaxy S, Z Fold and Z Flip phones on One UI 9.0 or higher, and iPhone 13 Pro and later. Samsung also published its own announcement of a December release; we could not open that page at the time of writing, so nothing here relies on it.

Background

Google unveiled the glasses at its I/O conference in May 2026. Popular Science reported at the time that they were built with Samsung and Qualcomm, with frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, and that the first generation is audio-only, with display-equipped versions described as a separate track. The glasses run Android XR, the same platform as Samsung's Galaxy XR headset. Google had shared no prices or exact ship date in May; the nearest comparison Popular Science drew was Meta's Ray-Ban Display, which starts at $799 and does have a screen.

The numbers

Launch prices of Google's Gemini glasses by frame maker (starting price)US$
Launch prices of Google's Gemini glasses by frame maker (starting price) (US$)
US$
Gentle Monster449
Warby Parker395

Source: Google, 12 November 2026 announcement

Google states the starting prices; the upper end of Gentle Monster's range is reported only by The Next Web, so we do not chart it. The hardware figures from Google are 41 grams, nine hours per charge and a case that recharges the frames up to seven times (these vary with use and settings, per Google), plus a 12-megapixel camera with image stabilisation, HDR and spatial audio capture.

What it means

For buyers, the price places the glasses between Meta's lower-priced camera glasses and its display model, and the choice of frame maker decides the entry point. The 10 December date and the two-country limit mean most of the world cannot buy them yet; Notebookcheck notes Google has not said whether or when they will reach Europe.

For privacy, this is the part Google chose to put first. Its separate privacy post lists the protections: camera visuals sent to Gemini are not saved to Gemini History and are not used to train models or target ads; data on the glasses is encrypted, as is data in transit; faces of bystanders are designed to be automatically blurred before Gemini processes the image; directional microphones favour the wearer's voice; and a physical switch turns the glasses off. An outward-facing LED lights when a photo or video is taken for the gallery, and sensors are meant to detect if it is covered and then block capture. Apps must ask before first using the camera, and Play policy bars apps that livestream or identify faces in real time. Buyers must agree not to record people without permission or in sensitive places, and Google can disable glasses for violations.

Google's wording is careful: these are things the glasses are "designed" to do, and Notebookcheck points out that redaction is a design goal, not a guarantee.

For developers, the camera-permission model and the Play rules are the early signal of what apps for these glasses will be allowed to do.

What we don't know yet

  • Whether face redaction and the no-training promise apply to photos and videos saved to the gallery, or only to images Gemini analyses. Google's post describes the promise for Gemini visuals; Notebookcheck flags the gallery case as unclear.
  • How long camera data is kept in the cloud, and whether the LED lights when only Gemini uses the camera (Notebookcheck lists both as unclear).
  • The chip. Google's page does not name it; The Next Web reports a Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1, which we have not been able to confirm from Google or Samsung.
  • A European date, and whether display versions will follow.
  • Independent hands-on results; at the time of writing we found no reviews.

What to watch next

First reviews and teardown tests of the LED and face-blur claims, once units ship on 10 December; the "coming soon" Private AI Compute processing for the glasses that Google's privacy post mentions; any regulatory response, since camera glasses have drawn scrutiny elsewhere; and a second hardware generation with a display.

Sources

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