AI Glasses with Display: Google and Magic Leap Show Prototype
Magic Leap supplies the waveguide display for smart glasses based on Android XR. It could compete with the Meta Ray-Ban Display.
An image of the AI glasses prototype.
(Image: Magic Leap)
Magic Leap and Google unveiled sleek AI glasses with a display on Wednesday. The two companies are also extending their partnership in the field of augmented reality (AR) for another three years. The collaboration began last year.
According to Magic Leap, the prototype shown is a reference design for Google's new Android XR operating system, for which the first device was released just last week: the mixed-reality headset Samsung Galaxy XR.
The smart glasses, which rely on a completely different technology, combine a waveguide display developed by Magic Leap in the right lens with a microLED projector from Google subsidiary Raxium. Google acquired Raxium in 2022.
MicroLEDs are considered an important building block for AR glasses as they offer exceptionally high luminance and energy efficiency. At the same time, they can be built more compactly than other AR projectors. The production of microLEDs is extremely complex, costly, and therefore difficult to scale. The Meta Ray-Ban Display therefore relies on a projector based on the proven LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) technology, while Meta's more advanced AR glasses prototype, Orion, uses microLEDs.
Android XR: Smart glasses are likely to follow a headset
The AI glasses prototype was demonstrated at the FII investment conference in Riyadh, organized by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). The kingdom's sovereign wealth fund has been the majority owner of Magic Leap, an AR pioneer with a turbulent history, since 2022.
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The company, which has failed multiple times, no longer manufactures its AR headsets and now positions itself as a technology partner that licenses its waveguide displays and AR expertise. In its blog hints that the collaboration with Google is not exclusive and that the company is working with other partners on smart glasses with displays. The waveguides for the Meta Ray-Ban Display are produced by the German specialty glass manufacturer Schott.
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Google has demonstrated AI glasses with integrated screens multiple times this year. At I/O 2025, the company announced, together with eyewear manufacturers Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, that they are working on stylish AI glasses with optional displays. According to recent statements, Samsung is the hardware partner.
Even though no products have been announced yet, the information available so far paints the following picture: While Samsung is developing the hardware and Google is contributing software with Android XR, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker are likely responsible for the design and marketing of the AI glasses. Magic Leap and Raxium, in turn, are providing the underlying AR technology.
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