91探花

Smart glasses, for tech companies, are becoming much bigger and heavily invested in. Meta is leading this race right now, with it investing heavily in wearable technology that could one day take over many smartphone functions.

Bloomberg鈥檚 Mark Gurman, Apple鈥檚 second-generation smart glasses may come with two different modes where the functionality changes depending on the connection. What we鈥檙e gathering from that is that Apple is designing its glasses to adapt to how people already use their devices.

The company鈥檚 first-generation glasses, rumoured to arrive in 2026 ahead of a 2027 launch, will not feature an in-lens display. Instead, they will include speakers for music playback, cameras for taking photos and videos, and voice control. Gurman said Apple may also add health features, continuing its focus on wellness tools already seen in the Apple Watch.

These glasses would directly compete with Meta鈥檚 Ray-Bans, which have already launched with an in-lens display. Meta鈥檚 current version allows users to take photos, record videos, livestream and even interact through voice commands using the built-in Meta AI assistant. The early reception has been mixed, as users enjoy the convenience but are still a bit skeptical about privacy and other such factors.

Regardless, wearable technology is beginning to bridge the gap between mobile and hands-free living. Many users find appeal in being able to capture moments or access information without reaching for a phone. But this leads to a bigger question鈥� could they ever replace smartphones completely?

听

Could Smart Glasses Replace Smartphones In The UK?

听

Smartphones have become deeply rooted in everyday life. Data from Statista shows that in 2024, 93% of UK mobile users owned a smartphone, and 100% of adults aged 16 to 24 had one. As of early 2025, there were 88.4 million mobile connections across the country, equal to 127% of the population. So, many people have more than one device, such as personal and work phones.

The transition from mobile to wearable technology would therefore require a complete change in habits. People use phones for everything: online banking, entertainment, messaging, you name it. Statista reported that 89% of people went online using their mobiles in 2023, compared to just 28% in 2009. Even children have joined this digital culture, with 61% of those aged 8 to 11 owning a smartphone in 2024.

Convincing users to give up a smartphone for glasses would depend on things like design, convenience and of course, the cost. On the pricing side, phones already cost a great deal. Uswitch data from 2025 shows that the average monthly contract for a Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold was 拢65.40, while Apple鈥檚 iPhone 16 Pro Max cost 拢58.40 a month. That means the jump to smart glasses would not necessarily need to be drastic in price, but they would have to feel worth it.

For Apple, that may mean designing glasses that fully connect to other Apple devices, making them as natural to use as an iPhone or MacBook. With Meta, it could mean improving the accuracy and usefulness of the built-in assistant. The issue here is that people expect their phones to do everything. Smart glasses would need to do all of the things seamlessly, or at least integrate so smoothly with phones that they eventually replace them without users even noticing.

Remember, though: when smartphones first arrived, few imagined how quickly they would replace cameras, MP3 players and even credit cards. The same could happen here, but only if the experience feels smoother than reaching into a pocket.

听

What About The Issue Of Privacy?

听

Then there鈥檚 the issue of privacy. Last year, Meta faced heavy criticism over how data captured through its Ray-Ban smart glasses was handled. The glasses have a small LED that lights up when recording, but privacy regulators said it was too subtle to notice. Images and videos taken using the device are uploaded to Meta鈥檚 cloud and processed using AI, which the company says helps train its systems.

Meta has published guidelines for responsible use, such as telling others before recording or live streaming and turning the glasses off in private spaces. But privacy concerns have not gone away.

Lets find out whether experts think these smart glasses actually can replace smartphones鈥�

听

Our Experts:

听

• Dewi Lawrence Gale, Founder,
• Rich Pleeth, CEO and Co-Founder, Finmile
• Kari Dowiak, Founder/Designer, Memor铆 Eyewear
• Andrei Komissarov, Founder & CTO, DEVAR, OpenWay.AI
• Rory Bokser, Head of Product, Moken.io.
• Steven Athwal, CEO and Founder, The Big Phone Store
• Aleksandr Kochetkov, Chief Product Officer of Engagement, NOVACARD

听

Dewi Lawrence Gale, Founder,

听

听

鈥淚t wouldn鈥檛 be too far-fetched to see smart glasses replacing our phones. The technology already exists. You can track a workout, follow directions, or take a call without even looking at your phone. What鈥檚 really missing is mass adoption, but that won鈥檛 take long.

鈥淥ur lives are filled with work, family, and constant notifications, and most of us spend too much of our free time staring at screens. It feels inevitable that soon we鈥檒l be wearing our tech instead, a pair of glasses we won鈥檛 want to take off.鈥�

听

听

Rich Pleeth, CEO and Co-Founder, Finmile

听

听

鈥淪uper interesting topic, I think for some things, smart glasses will absolutely replace phones, but not for everything. In specific use cases such as watching a movie, on a plane or train, definitely, reading directions while cycling, brilliant. Capturing a photo hands free, makes total sense.

鈥淏ut scrolling Instagram, typing an email, I don鈥檛 see that replacing the phone just yet, the tech has a long way to go, we are in the dumb phone era, think the very first Nokia you鈥檙e dad had, we will be making huge strides over the coming years with Google, Apple and Meta. It鈥檚 an incredibly exciting time. At Finmile we are looking at replacing the phone for all deliveries with smart glasses, we estimate we can speed each delivery up by over 40%, no getting your phone out, no having to find the parcel, the glasses highlight which parcel in the truck, then records the whole movement from scanning to delivery to eliminate mistakes.

鈥淥ne thing is for certain, it鈥檚 exciting.鈥�

听

Kari Dowiak, Founder/Designer, Memor铆 Eyewear

听

听

鈥淒o I think smart glasses could really replace smartphones?

鈥淣O WAY.

鈥淲e are too addicted to doom-scrolling before bed 鈥� can鈥檛 properly have your face in the pillow while wearing smart glasses.

鈥�+many other, more obvious reasons.鈥�

听

Andrei Komissarov, Founder & CTO, DEVAR, OpenWay.AI

听

听

鈥淪mart glasses won鈥檛 replace smartphones instantly. They鈥檒l first become a side-by-side screen. Real change will begin when they combine three crucial layers: contextual awareness, constant connectivity, and seamless AI assistance.

鈥淛udging by what we鈥檙e seeing in the augmented reality industry, people are already adapting to spatial interfaces. On our AR content creation platform, AR scenes keep users engaged for 2鈥�3 minutes on average versus about2.5 seconds for a banner; people already prefer spatial content when it鈥檚 one tap away. It鈥檚 not about novelty but about habit formation. People are learning to process information spatially, not on a flat screen.

鈥淔inally, user behaviour is already changing: 40% of Generation Z say they prefer to receive information through a voice or visual interface rather than typing on a phone. When smart glasses achieve a high level of comfort and continuity, like smartphones did 15 years ago,they won鈥檛 simply compete with phones. Will glasses replace phones? In the next 5鈥�7 years, they will likely replace many phone functions: navigation, translation, social media, e-commerce, and gradually become the primary screen. They will gradually replace the idea of a single screen.鈥�

听

Rory Bokser, Head of Product, Moken.io.

听

听

鈥淪mart glasses will not replace smartphones. Not now, not later, not even as a niche!

鈥淭here鈥檚 a hard limit on social tolerance for people talking in people鈥檚 faces or waving their arms at thin air while blinking command inputs. Until you can cram a full-blown APU, a battery that lasts more than 2 hours, a 5G antenna, and a visual privacy layer into something that weighs less than 100 grams and fits 80 percent of face shapes, this is an accessory. The physics do not care about the dream.

鈥淪martphones overtook every other device because they killed dozens of devices: camera, GPS, flashlight, even barcode scanners. Smart glasses have yet to kill anything. At best, they complement.

鈥淯ntil they hit a utility-per-gram ratio on par with smartphones while being comfortably wearable for 8 hours straight, they will remain an expensive novelty.鈥�

听

Steven Athwal, CEO and Founder, The Big Phone Store

听

听

鈥淢obile phones taking off like they did was a one-in-a-million event. I watched it happen. It changed everything. How we communicate, shop, navigate, how we think. That kind of cultural shift doesn鈥檛 happen twice, certainly not with a pair of glasses.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e too established, too practical, and too deeply embedded in every part of society to be replaced by something less versatile. A phone is a screen, a wallet, a camera, a hub for your digital life, and it fits in your pocket. Glasses may be able to compete in similar ways, at the cost of fragility. Imagine accidentally sitting on or losing a pair of glasses that have your entire life ingrained onto them鈥�.

鈥淵ou鈥檝e also got a generation being told to cut down their screen time, and now we鈥檙e saying, 鈥楽trap one to your face all day鈥欌�� It comes off as a bit tone-deaf. People will experiment, sure, early adopters always do, that won鈥檛 mean it鈥檒l become the next smartphone.

鈥淪imilar to how people said that VR gaming was going to replace consoles and PCs, but how many people would you say actually use a VR headset daily? It鈥檚 a similar/ the same sentiment. I think smart glasses are going to end up in the same space, as interesting tech, with limited use.

鈥淪mart glasses will complement phones, and not replace them, as I just can鈥檛 see that kind of lightning striking twice. There鈥檒l be a niche of smart glasses users, most modern tech will have some kind of user-base鈥� it won鈥檛 come close to phones. However, that鈥檚 just my opinion as someone who鈥檚 watched mobile phones so closely for so long, I am always happy to be proven wrong and see where tech goes next.鈥�

听

Aleksandr Kochetkov, Chief Product Officer of Engagement, NOVACARD

听

听

鈥淎ny innovative device requires the joint efforts of marketing and engineering teams. If a player enters the market and proves that their product is truly affordable, stylish, and convenient 鈥� then yes, it can become popular. However, I don鈥檛 think the replacement will happen immediately 鈥� for quite long time this device will complement rather than replace traditional smartphones.鈥�