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Google will enlist its own EssilorLuxottica in a bid to level up its incoming smart glasses\u2019 cachet. According to Reuters, Google is partnering with Gucci to make Android XR glasses in the latter company\u2019s styling\u2014a similar approach to Meta, which sells its own version of Ray-Ban\u2013 and Oakley-branded smart glasses.<\/p>\n
The news comes courtesy of Gucci CEO, Luca de Meo, who says the Gucci and Google smart glasses won\u2019t arrive until 2027. That means they probably won\u2019t be included in the initial launch of Google\u2019s Android XR smart glasses, which are set to be unveiled in full this year. While the strategy is similar to Meta\u2019s, it\u2019s also a bit bougier. Ray-Bans aren\u2019t cheap glasses by any means, but Gucci occupies a much more luxurious space in the fashion and eyewear world.<\/p>\n
Those Gucci-branded smart glasses would also be notably more premium than Google\u2019s current slate of initial offerings in the space, which includes collaborations with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster.<\/p>\n
There aren\u2019t many details on how its Gucci glasses will look or whether they\u2019ll 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 first pair of smart glasses. In some ways, it\u2019s just as much a piece of the Meta playbook as it is Apple\u2019s. Since 2015, Apple has been selling an Apple Watch with Herm\u00e8s branding at price points above $1,000. I\u2019m going to assume Gucci smart glasses would err toward a similar premium.<\/p>\n
Whether anyone wants luxury smart glasses is an open question, but rumors have suggested that Meta might be considering a similar partnership with Prada, a fashion brand that, like Gucci, is also solidly in the luxury space. Those rumors have obviously yet to materialize, though, and with the way things are going with Meta\u2019s reputation in the smart glasses world, maybe they never will.<\/p>\n
As Snap CEO Evan Spiegel recently noted, the partnership between Meta and EssilorLuxottica has mostly benefited Meta. Ray-Ban-branded glasses might be good for sweeping Meta\u2019s name under the rug, but it\u2019s also made Ray-Bans synonymous with poor privacy practices and have gutted margins on the company\u2019s non-smart Ray-Bans. Maybe Google will fare better on the reputation front, but given its history of hoovering up user data and the fact it was the company responsible for spawning the word \u201cGlasshole,\u201d I won\u2019t be holding my breath.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n