Nothing Might Get Into Smart Glasses at the Worst Possible Time

Smart glasses are a hot category for big tech, and Nothing wants a piece of the action. According to a report from Bloomberg, the company best known for its eye-catching audio hardware and Android phones is now considering dipping its toes into AI smart glasses, with plans to launch a pair in the first half of 2027.

Nothing’s reported smart glasses sound similar to pairs like the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses Gen 2. They’re slated to have cameras, microphones, and speakers; they won’t have a built-in display of any kind. Bloomberg says the smart glasses will couple with phones to offer AI features—computer vision and the like. Interestingly, the report also says that Nothing wants its smart glasses to “help automate tasks and offer a more personalized experience.” What that means in practice is anyone’s guess, but it sounds useful in theory?

One thing that Nothing might bring to the smart glasses table that sets them apart, though, is its signature design. Nothing’s calling card is its use of see-through materials and Teenage Engineering-inspired design—elements that Bloomberg says the company plans to bring to the smart glasses form factor.

On paper, smart glasses make sense for Nothing. The company already has its own ecosystem of phones that can power a pair and a unique focus on design that could make the smart glasses more appealing style-wise. It also has long been a formidable presence in wireless audio, which is one of the core capabilities of smart glasses, and that’s not even counting its experiments with AI—another key aspect of smart glasses as they’re currently envisioned.

The issue isn’t whether Nothing is well-suited to make a pair of smart glasses, however, it’s what will happen in the meantime while it readies a pair. Meta is already pushing forward in the space with several pairs, one of which has a display in the lens, and other titans like Google and Samsung are also in varying stages of launching their own pairs. Even Apple is rumored to be dabbling with the idea of launching smart glasses—one with a display and one without.

What I’m getting at is that by the time Nothing’s reported smart glasses launch, it might take more than a penchant for design to make them really work or feel worth the expense. Then again, the way things are going with privacy and public perception, thanks largely to Meta, there might not be much of a market for computerized glasses by then anyway.