Google Wants to Put Gucci Smart Glasses on Your Face

Google will enlist its own EssilorLuxottica in a bid to level up its incoming smart glasses’ cachet. According to Reuters, Google is partnering with Gucci to make Android XR glasses in the latter company’s styling—a similar approach to Meta, which sells its own version of Ray-Ban– and Oakley-branded smart glasses. The news comes courtesy of Gucci CEO Luca de Meo, who says the Gucci and Google smart glasses won’t arrive until 2027. That means they probably won’t be included in the initial launch of Google’s Android XR smart glasses, which are set to be unveiled in full this year. While the strategy is similar to Meta’s, it’s also a bit bougier. Ray-Bans aren’t cheap glasses by any means, but Gucci occupies a much more luxurious space in the fashion and eyewear world. Those Gucci-branded smart glasses would also be notably more premium than Google’s current slate of initial offerings in the space, which includes collaborations with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. There aren’t many details on how its Gucci glasses will look or whether they’ll be different from other Android XR offerings in any way other than styling, but it does tell us a bit about how Google plans to position its fi