Smart glasses mature?
The smart glasses category has long been a category of experimentation, starting with Google Glass many years ago, then passing through a phase of glorified speakers and now appears to be back to screens and more usability. Even Realities used CES to show off its G1 smart glasses, which launched a few months ago. The glasses have a pair of waveguide displays that support a resolution of 620 x 200 for displaying basic text and basic graphics. The glasses are designed to be a companion to your other devices, throwing up directions on the small screens if you are in navigation mode on your phone. The glasses also support translation (seemingly a must have show-off feature now) and your smartphone notifications. Most importantly. Thanks to the basic display, the battery life has a claimed span of 1.5 days on a single charge.
That contrasts nicely with RayNeo’s new X3 Pro AR frames, which also previewed at CES. The X3 come with a full color AR display but has a battery life of just 30 minutes under heavy use. Somewhere in-between these two sets of glasses is the correct sweet-spot, balancing affordability with battery life and functionality. One could argue that spot is currently occupied by Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses… at least for now.
The Circana Take:
- Expect to see the smart glass market grow in options in the next year as more companies attempt to find the perfect balance between weight, size, battery life and functionality.
- Meta clearly has a strong head-start with solid distribution, an iconic sunglasses brand and a strong price point. But this market is just beginning to evolve, and the next 24 months will be a key time of innovation.
Put a ring on it?
Ultrahuman added a new smart ring to is portfolio, the Ultrahuman Rare. It is a luxury smart ring, priced at an eye-watering $1,900. From a spec perspective, this is the same as Ultrahuman’s Ring Air, which costs $350. The difference is the build material: the Rare is made from 18 karat gold (there’s also a platinum version for a couple of hundred dollar more).
The Circana Take:
- Ultrahuman’s approach is not new, but the past attempts at evolving “tech” into jewelry have not fared well. Take Apple’s Watch Edition, for example, which was priced at $10,000 and didn’t make it beyond Apple Watch Series 3 before being quietly dropped.
- Logically there should be a market for expensive versions of smart rings (and watches for that matter) as they are, after all, jewelry. The catch is that if you spend a few thousand on a non-tech ring, it becomes a family heirloom over time. By comparison, a “tech” version slowly degrades over time and a few years down the line the battery – or other components – stop working.