Fashion gets you to wear them. AI makes you keep wearing them.
En un mercado donde la moda dicta tanto como la tecnología, Samsung ha dado un paso calculado hacia el futuro de las gafas inteligentes, anunciando alianzas con Warby Parker y Gentle Monster para lanzar dispositivos con Android XR el próximo año. La compañía reconoce que Meta, respaldada por el peso cultural de Ray-Ban, lleva ventaja en credibilidad estética; pero Samsung responde con algo más profundo: la integración del ecosistema Android y la inteligencia artificial multimodal de Gemini. Es la vieja tensión entre el estilo heredado y la ambición tecnológica, resuelta esta vez no con una sola apuesta, sino con dos estrategias de diseño simultáneas.
- Meta domina el mercado de gafas inteligentes gracias a Ray-Ban, una marca con décadas de autoridad cultural que Samsung no puede replicar de la noche a la mañana.
- Samsung contraataca con una doble alianza: Warby Parker para el consumidor cotidiano y Gentle Monster para el público que busca diseño vanguardista, cubriendo así un espectro estético que Meta no ofrece.
- La integración con Android XR y la IA Gemini convierte cada teléfono Android del mundo en un posible compañero de estas gafas, ampliando el campo de batalla más allá de la moda.
- Samsung adopta un ritmo anual de lanzamientos de wearables —el Galaxy Ring, el S25 Edge, y ahora las gafas— para instalar la idea de que los dispositivos portátiles son inevitables, no experimentales.
- El veredicto final lo tendrán los usuarios: las gafas que ganen serán las que la gente quiera ponerse cada mañana y no quitarse en todo el día.
Samsung sabe que tiene un problema. Las gafas inteligentes Ray-Ban de Meta se han convertido en el referente de un mercado donde el estilo importa tanto como la tecnología. La alianza entre Meta y Luxottica —propietaria de Ray-Ban y Oakley— fue un golpe maestro: Ray-Ban es un nombre que la gente reconoce y, sobre todo, que quiere llevar puesto. Para cualquier rival, eso es una ventaja formidable.
Pero Samsung no se rinde. En su evento 'Worlds Wide Open', la compañía presentó asociaciones con dos marcas de gafas que definirán su estrategia: Warby Parker y Gentle Monster. La primera apela a un público amplio y accesible; la segunda, de origen surcoreano, opera en un registro completamente distinto, conocida por diseños de vanguardia que desafían los límites del eyewear. Juntas cubren territorios que Meta, con una sola marca, no puede abarcar.
Las gafas llegarán el próximo año con Android XR, el nuevo sistema operativo de Google para realidad mixta, y con Gemini como motor de inteligencia artificial. Aquí reside la verdadera apuesta de Samsung: mientras las Ray-Ban de Meta viven dentro del ecosistema cerrado de esa compañía, las gafas de Samsung se conectan con el universo Android al completo. Cada teléfono Galaxy, cada Pixel, cada dispositivo Android se convierte en un compañero potencial.
Samsung también juega a largo plazo. La compañía ha anunciado un nuevo dispositivo wearable cada año —el Galaxy Ring, el Galaxy S25 Edge, y ahora estas gafas— con una cadencia pensada para hacer que los wearables parezcan inevitables. Lo que ocurra después dependerá de la ejecución: Meta tiene impulso y reconocimiento de marca; Samsung tiene profundidad de ecosistema y ambición en IA. Ganarán las gafas que la gente quiera ponerse cada día.
Samsung has a problem, and it knows it. Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses have become the gold standard in a market where fashion matters as much as function—maybe more. The partnership between Meta and Luxottica, which owns Ray-Ban, Oakley, and several other storied eyewear brands, was a masterstroke. Ray-Ban carries weight in the world of style. It's the kind of name people recognize, the kind of glasses people actually want to wear in public. For any company trying to break into smart glasses, that's a formidable advantage.
But Samsung is not backing down. At its "Worlds Wide Open" event, the company unveiled more than just the Galaxy XR headset powered by Google's multimodal Gemini AI. It announced partnerships with two eyewear brands that will shape its assault on the smart glasses market: Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. These are not household names in the way Ray-Ban is, but they are deliberate choices that reveal Samsung's strategy.
Warby Parker appeals to a broad, mainstream audience—affordable, accessible, the kind of frames you can order online and have delivered to your door. Gentle Monster, by contrast, operates in a different register entirely. It's a South Korean brand known for avant-garde design, for pushing the boundaries of what eyewear can look like. Together, they cover different terrain. One reaches for the everyday consumer; the other targets the fashion-forward. Neither is Ray-Ban, but together they offer something Meta's partnership does not: diversity of aesthetic.
The glasses themselves will arrive next year, running Android XR, Google's new operating system built from the ground up for mixed reality. This is where Samsung's real advantage lies. While Meta's Ray-Bans are undeniably stylish and increasingly capable, they exist within Meta's ecosystem. Samsung and Google, by contrast, have something deeper: integration with the broader Android world. Every Pixel phone, every Samsung Galaxy device, every third-party Android phone becomes a potential companion to these glasses. Gemini, Google's AI engine, brings multimodal capabilities—the ability to understand and respond to text, images, voice, and context in ways that could make these glasses genuinely useful, not just fashionable.
The smart glasses market, as it stands, is not really about the glasses themselves. It's about whether people will actually wear them. That requires two things: they have to look good, and they have to do something worth doing. Meta solved the first problem by buying Ray-Ban's credibility. Samsung is trying to solve both at once—partnering with brands that have their own design authority while building in AI capabilities that could make the devices indispensable.
Samsung is also playing a longer game. The company announced that it plans to release a new wearable device each year—the Galaxy Ring last year, the Galaxy S25 Edge this year, and now these smart glasses next year. It's a cadence designed to keep the product category in the conversation, to make wearables feel inevitable rather than experimental.
What happens next will depend on execution. Meta has momentum and brand recognition. Samsung has ecosystem depth and AI ambition. The glasses that win will be the ones people actually want to put on their faces—and keep there.
Notable Quotes
Smart glasses are a market where style is everything—people won't wear glasses in public that don't match who they are— Industry analysis cited in Samsung's strategic positioning
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does Samsung need fashion brands at all? Can't they just make good glasses?
Because smart glasses aren't really about the technology yet. They're about whether you'll wear them in public. Ray-Ban works because people already trust it, already want to be seen in it. Samsung needs that same permission.
So Warby Parker and Gentle Monster give them that?
They give them different kinds of permission. Warby Parker says "this is for everyone." Gentle Monster says "this is for people who care about design." Meta only has one voice—luxury, style, established. Samsung is trying to speak to multiple audiences at once.
But Meta still has the more famous name.
True. But Samsung has something Meta doesn't: the entire Android ecosystem. Every phone, every device, every integration point. That's not flashy, but it's powerful. It's the difference between owning a beautiful store and owning the entire supply chain.
So this is really about AI, not fashion?
It's about both. The fashion gets you to wear them. The AI—Gemini's multimodal capabilities—is what makes you keep wearing them. Meta has AI too, but Samsung's is woven into a much larger system. That could matter more than we think.