Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 powers every pair of Samsung’s new Intelligent Eyewear, and it’s the chip that lets frames weighing about 41 grams run a 12MP camera, four microphones and Gemini. Preorders opened today across 30 designs from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, and both collections reach stores on December 10. Warby Parker starts at $395, while Gentle Monster runs $449 to $489 and also launches in South Korea.
Built around the AR1 Gen 1
Qualcomm designed the AR1 Gen 1 for lightweight, battery-efficient glasses that run AI on the frames themselves. Dual 14-bit image signal processors sit behind the 12MP camera, and a third-generation Hexagon NPU with the Qualcomm Engine for Visual Analytics takes on the AI work on the glasses. Qualcomm says the eyewear is built on Snapdragon to deliver “the performance required for more contextual and helpful experiences.”
The glasses don’t try to do everything alone. Samsung’s split-computing setup hands part of the processing load to the connected phone, which is how the frames stay light without giving up the battery. Say “Hey Gemini” or tap the frames to start a conversation, and touch controls on the temple handle the rest.
Two collections, one spec sheet
Gentle Monster built six frame designs and stretched them across 16 variations, in square, round, cat-eye and oval shapes. Frames come in black, dark red, gray, pink and yellow, with tinted, clear, blue or brown lenses depending on the design, and most frames take prescription lenses. Prices run $449 to $489, and the collection launches in South Korea as well as the US. Its online store takes preorders in batches, and the first runs November 12 to 15.
Gentle Monster Intelligent Eyewear
Six frame designs · 16 variations · Gemini built in
Price: From $449
Where to buy: Preorder at Gentle Monster
Warby Parker kept its own shapes. Alden, Reid and Wren come from the brand’s best-known silhouettes, built in lightweight, flexible nylon with a semi-transparent inner temple that shows off the hardware inside. Each comes in Pine, Saddle and Jet Black, in optical and sun versions, with a range of widths and custom clip-on sun lenses made for the collection, and prices start at $395.
Warby Parker Intelligent Eyewear
Alden, Reid and Wren · Optical and sun
Price: From $395
Where to buy: Preorder at Warby Parker
Prescriptions are a real part of this launch. Warby Parker offers single-vision, progressive, precision progressive, readers, blue-light-filtering, light-responsive and anti-fatigue lenses, plus polarized or tinted prescription sun lenses. Polycarbonate covers +4 to -8, 1.67 high-index stretches that to +5 to -8, and 1.74 ultra high-index isn’t offered on these frames.
Gemini does the talking
There’s no display anywhere in these frames, so everything runs through voice and the open-ear speakers, and you can ask Gemini about the landmark in front of you and keep going with follow-up questions. A whiteboard photo can turn into a summary in Samsung Notes, Google Maps reads out turn-by-turn directions, and real-time speech translation covers more than 70 languages. You can also share what you’re seeing during a call, hands-free.
Calls, texts and notifications ride the same path, with Gemini grouping and summarizing notifications, reading important updates aloud and sending your voice replies back.
Guided Vision adds conversational audio descriptions of what’s in front of the wearer, built for people who are blind or have low vision. Say “Hey Gemini, open Aira Explorer” and the camera feed streams to a professionally trained human visual interpreter. At launch, both need a compatible Android phone.
The hardware, shared across both collections
A 12MP HDR ultra-wide camera sits at eye level, shooting 3,024 x 4,032 stills and 3K video at 30 frames per second, with HDR video supported up to 2K. Four microphones and two open-ear speakers handle the audio, while 2GB of memory and 64GB of storage back the AR1 Gen 1. Every frame gets the same kit.
Battery life runs up to nine hours on a charge, and the case adds up to seven full recharges for up to 72 hours in total. The frames weigh about 41 grams, with Gentle Monster’s designs running 39.6 to 43.9 grams and Warby Parker’s 40.4 to 42.6 grams before prescription lenses.
| Weight | Glasses about 41 g (39.6 to 43.9 g Gentle Monster, 40.4 to 42.6 g Warby Parker) · Case 194.5 g Gentle Monster / 166.8 g Warby Parker |
|---|---|
| Processor | Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 |
| Camera | 12MP HDR · 3,024 x 4,032 stills · 3K video at 30 fps · HDR video up to 2K |
| Audio | 2 open-ear speakers · 4 microphones |
| Battery | Up to 9 hours · Up to 72 hours with the case |
| Memory / Storage | 2GB / 64GB |
| Controls | Touch, voice |
| Assistant | Gemini · Bixby with Galaxy phones only |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E · Bluetooth 5.4 |
| Water resistance | IPX4, glasses only |
| Compatibility | Galaxy S, S FE and Z series on One UI 9.0 or later · Pixel 7 and later on the September 2026 Android 17 update · iPhone 13 Pro and later |
The camera answers to a light
Shoot a photo or a video for your gallery and an LED on the frame lights up, while an inner light and a sound tell the wearer the camera is running. Cover that LED, or let it fail, and the glasses are designed to stop capturing. Ask Gemini about what you’re looking at and the glasses redact bystanders’ faces first, and those visuals aren’t saved to your Gemini history or used for model training or ad targeting. The rule is physical, not a settings toggle.
Activation and app downloads both require age verification for users 18 and over, and every pair has an off switch for wearing them as regular glasses. In a Gemini Live conversation, surrounding voices get filtered out to protect bystanders. The open-ear speakers are tuned to keep sound leakage down, and data on the glasses is encrypted both in storage and in transit. App permissions and your Gemini history stay under your control.
Galaxy first, but not Galaxy only
The glasses run on Android XR, and the full feature set leans on Galaxy phones in the S, S FE and Z series running One UI 9.0 or later, with a Galaxy Watch9 adding gesture control. Bixby works only on Galaxy. Pixel 7 and later and iPhone 13 Pro and later sit on the compatibility list too, though Guided Vision and Aira need Android at launch.
The designs first showed at Galaxy Unpacked in July, and the preorder date surfaced in Warby Parker’s earnings on November 5, before any prices were public. What’s new today is the full lineup, prices attached, and a spec sheet in final form.
Preorders run online and in store at both brands. Warby Parker’s guided demos run at more than 60 US stores now and expand to its full fleet of more than 360 next week, and select Gentle Monster and Google Store locations host demos too. Store sales start December 10, when select Samsung stores add demos, and Warby Parker expects deliveries from mid-December.
The collections, frame by frame
Both collections in the frames below: Gentle Monster’s six designs and Warby Parker’s three, in optical and sun versions. The differences are all in the frames.
Every design runs the same camera, chip and nine-hour battery, so the choice comes down to the frame on your face, the prescription in the lenses and the name on the temple.
Warby Parker Intelligent Eyewear
Three designs in a range of widths · Optical and sun versions · Single-vision, progressive and readers lenses · Guided demos at Warby Parker stores
Price: From $395
Where to buy: Preorder at Warby Parker
Gentle Monster Intelligent Eyewear
Six designs across 16 variations · 12MP HDR camera · Up to 9 hours, 72 with the case · Gemini built in
Price: From $449
Where to buy: Preorder at Gentle Monster
