Google hasn't given up on Wearables for your Face

For each piece of technology that transforms the world, another ten ideas disappear into the ether. A good example from recent days is Mark Zuckerberg’s $70bn pet project, the Metaverse. It was supposed to be a social network in VR, but left both users and shareholders unimpressed - so unimpressed, in fact, that parent company Meta’s stock value climbed 4% when executives finally admitted they were giving up on the project. 

We only have to go back a few years for another high-profile flop - Google Glass. However, this fairytale project seems to have a better ending. The search giant revealed in late 2025 that it has another wearable in the works, due for launch in 2026, presumably because Apple and Meta do, too. 

Augmented Reality

Derided for everything from privacy violations to making its wearers look silly, Google Glass lasted just a year in its testing phase, from 2014 to 2015. 

However, a related Investopedia article mentions an Enterprise Edition of Google Glass that remained in production until 2023. This variant genuinely filled a niche. It leveraged augmented reality software to show important data to engineers while working, such as checklists and manuals. Volkswagen, General Electric, DHL, and Boeing all showed an interest. 

The latter hints at part of the issue with Google Glass, i.e. it had to fight hard to find a purpose. Other wearables, such as smartwatches, managed to provide much the same functionality as smartphones, albeit in a minimalist form. 

The Apple Watch even managed to offer a platform for games, including casino slots. Popular developer Microgaming demoed "some gambling games", to quote PocketGamer, at 2014's Mobile World Congress. The site mentioned spinning a roulette wheel by tapping the watch face.

While casinos with support for smartwatch play do seem to exist, the hobby is still most commonly played in the ‘classic’ way, on mobile devices and PCs. Providers of UK slots online list The Walking Dead Cash Collect, Big Bass Splash, and Mighty Wild Panther as the most popular games on the market, and the smartwatch is yet to make an impact as a platform for these games.

Project Aura

Google Glass’ resurrection won’t happen as fans might expect. The company isn’t going it alone this time. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, plans to partner with eyewear brand Warby Parker, in a move that echoes Meta’s push into the wearables market (Meta owns Ray-Ban). 

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Details are scant at the moment, but news agency Reuters mentions the Android XR platform and Google’s Gemini AI in reference to the new wearable. Interestingly, the connection with Google Glass seems to be a media invention. It might do the search giant well to distance itself from its earlier hardware, if only in name. 

Yet, there’s more to Google’s wearables story. Google I/O, the company's showcase event, also talked about Project Aura, another device that's being marketed as something between a VR headset and a pair of smart glasses - "chunky sunglasses", to quote The Verge.

This brings us back to an idea that circulated long ago, that Google Glass was just an experiment. Could we see the fruition of some deeply laid plans with Project Aura and the Warby Parker partnership, or will the problems that haunted Google Glass stick around for another decade? We’ll find out next year.