This year's Google I/O show is a little different from the rest. It begins this week with The Android Show and culminates in the usual set of festivities next week, starting Tuesday, May 20. It'll be easy to watch Google I/O 2025 from afar, but attendees are getting something special if Android president Sameer Samat has anything to say about it.
As The Android Show 2025 wrapped up, Samat put on what appeared to be a pair of Google and Samsung's upcoming smart glasses, complete with tinted lenses. As Samat put on the glasses, he teased that Google I/O 2025 would be full of more Android announcements, "and maybe even a few more really cool Android demos." Clearly, we're getting an up-close look at Google and Samsung's new smart glasses this year.
You can see the moment in the video below at the 20:27 timestamp.
My biggest takeaway from this brief moment is that Google looks to be making glasses with different style options, similar to Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. The frames look to be roughly the same size as Meta's best smart glasses, with temple arms slightly thicker than a standard pair of Ray-Bans. I made a quick side-by-side of me wearing the transparent Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses next to Samat wearing the upcoming Google Smart Glasses.
We most recently saw these glasses at TED 2025, where Google product leads debuted features like live translation, Gemini integration, and the ultra-futuristic memory feature that can remember where you left items, like your keys. Those glasses had transparent lenses, though, while the pair Samat is wearing has full tinting.
There's no release date for these glasses yet, but they are thought to be made by Samsung and currently called Project HAEAN. They are scheduled to launch later this year alongside Samsung's mixed reality headset.
It's widely expected that Google will deliver substantial info on Android XR, the new version of Android meant for smart glasses, VR headsets, and more, at Google I/O 2025. Google initially revealed Android XR back in December at a special event, detailing the basic UI and showing off Samsung's Project Moohan headset for the first time publicly.
And while the headset itself promises to deliver cutting-edge visuals and a new UI built from the ground up for the Gemini era, it's the smart glasses that many people seem to be most excited about.
Google Glass debuted well over a decade ago and caught many people's attention, and while that product was well ahead of its time, Google has learned a thing or two about XR since then.
Google's smart glasses are said to have a small screen in the lens, similar to the upcoming Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses 3. While you can see things on the screen, it's likely that Google wants users to directly interact with the glasses by using Gemini, while Meta is using a hybrid model where Meta AI drives some interaction, while a wearable wristband lets users directly interact with the UI using hand gestures.
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