Technology Smart Glasses 2025

Best Smart Glasses to Buy in 2025: Top Picks for Everyday Use, Work, Sports, and XR Gaming

Shopping for smart glasses in 2025? Compare top picks from Meta, Viture, Xreal, and RayNeo—features, displays, battery life, and prices.

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Close-up of a person wearing black Ray-Ban smart glasses with purple lenses and multiple silver ear piercings against a dark grey background.
A person wears black Ray-Ban smart glasses with purple lenses and silver earrings.
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Smart glasses have been on the market for years, but the category keeps getting more capable—shifting from novelty wearables to genuinely useful devices for daily communication, media, navigation-style use cases, and even immersive XR entertainment. With more models arriving in different styles and price points, it’s also getting easier to find a pair that fits your priorities: discreet everyday frames, a bright virtual display for gaming and work, or rugged glasses designed for training outdoors.

Below is a practical guide to several of the most notable smart glasses you can buy right now, including options with and without displays. It also calls out what each model does best—so you can match the glasses to how you’ll actually use them.

Smart glasses in 2025: what’s changing (and why people care)

One reason interest is accelerating is that the technology inside these frames is improving quickly: cameras are sharper, microphones are better at handling noisy environments, battery life is getting longer, and display-based “XR glasses” are becoming brighter and smoother for games and productivity.

There’s also a broader industry belief that wearables could eventually reduce how often people need to pull out a phone. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has even claimed the wearables will replace smartphones in the next decade—an idea that remains widely debated. Regardless of whether phones are truly displaced, smart glasses are already proving useful for hands-free capture, audio, and on-the-go information.

Quick buying guide: display vs. no display

Before choosing a model, it helps to know which “type” of smart glasses you’re shopping for:

  • Camera-and-audio smart glasses (no display): Look like regular eyewear and focus on hands-free photos/video, calls, listening, and voice assistant features.
  • XR display glasses (with a virtual screen): Create a large “floating” screen for gaming, watching movies, or multitasking with a laptop—often by connecting over USB-C.

Many buyers expect all smart glasses to show notifications or overlays. In reality, several popular models prioritize discreet design and capture tools instead of a full HUD.

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2): best everyday-looking smart glasses

Image Credits: Meta

If your top priority is a pair that doesn’t scream “tech gadget,” the Ray-Ban Meta glasses stand out for blending into daily life. The frames are designed to look like normal glasses, and they’re offered in multiple styles so you can choose a look that fits your wardrobe.

On the hardware side, Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 includes a 12-megapixel camera, open-ear speakers, and five microphones. Battery life is also improved compared with the previous generation, with up to eight hours of typical use. Charging is quick: the glasses can reach 50% in 20 minutes, and an optional case can add 48 hours of additional battery life.

For creators or anyone who likes capturing moments without pulling out a phone, the glasses support 3K Ultra HD video capture, described as two times more pixels than the prior generation. You also get 32GB of storage and an IPX4 water-resistance rating, meaning they’re protected in light rain.

Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 also emphasizes AI features. Using a wake phrase (“Hey Meta”), owners can do things like request information, set reminders, use real-time translation, and capture photos or video hands-free. There’s also the ability to ask questions about what you’re looking at.

Price: $379

Viture Luma Pro: one of the best XR displays you can buy

Image Credits: Viture

For shoppers who want a big virtual screen rather than a camera-first wearable, the Viture Luma Pro is positioned as a top-tier display option. The glasses use Sony micro-OLED panels to produce a 1200p image that appears on a 152-inch virtual screen. Motion should look smooth thanks to a 120 Hz refresh rate, and the visual field is broad with a 52-degree field of view.

Brightness is a key issue for XR glasses—especially if you plan to use them in daylight or bright rooms. Viture lists up to 1,000 nits of perceived brightness. (Nits are a brightness measure; higher numbers generally make it easier to see a display in brighter environments.)

Functionally, the Luma Pro is designed to plug into devices over USB-C—including many phones, tablets, handhelds, and laptops—to mirror their screens. That makes it appealing for several scenarios:

  • Gaming on the go with a large, immersive “TV-sized” view
  • Travel, where a personal virtual screen can be more comfortable than a cramped laptop display
  • Work setups where a virtual multi-screen environment is useful

Viture also includes built-in support for mild myopia. Users with up to -4.0 diopters of nearsightedness can get a clear virtual display without needing prescription lenses.

In terms of style, they’re described as somewhat chunky, but not excessively bulky—an important consideration if you plan to wear them for long sessions.

Price: $499 (currently on sale for $449)

Xreal One Pro: a premium upgrade pick with 3DoF tracking

Image Credits: Xreal

The Xreal One Pro targets buyers who already know they want XR glasses and are ready to pay for a higher-end experience. With a $649 price tag, it sits firmly in the premium tier and is framed as a strong upgrade option for people familiar with the category.

One of the selling points is the glasses’ flat-prism design, aimed at a sleeker profile and comfortable fit. Display specs include a virtual screen “up to” 171 inches, 1080p resolution, a refresh rate up to 120 Hz, and a 57-degree field of view. For brighter environments, the Xreal One Pro is listed at 700 nits of brightness.

Audio is also part of the premium pitch: the glasses include built-in Bose speakers. In addition, Xreal builds the One Pro on its custom X1 chip, enabling 3DoF (Three Degrees of Freedom). Practically, this means the glasses track head rotation and keep virtual content “pinned” in place relative to your head—so if you turn your head, the virtual screen stays where it is rather than following your gaze.

Controls are handled through a built-in button array, letting you adjust settings like screen size, distance, and color temperature without digging through menus.

Price: $649

Oakley Meta Vanguard: built for athletes and outdoor training

Image Credits: Meta

While many smart glasses are designed primarily for everyday life, the Oakley Meta Vanguard is positioned as the most athlete-friendly option in this lineup—made specifically with outdoorsy users and sports in mind.

For capture, these glasses can record video in up to 3K and use a 12-megapixel camera paired with a 122-degree wide-angle lens. That extra-wide field of view can be helpful for action footage where you want more of the scene in frame.

A standout feature for training workflows is a programmable button that can trigger a custom AI prompt, configured through the Meta AI app. The physical design also prioritizes compatibility with sports gear: all buttons are placed underneath so athletes can wear helmets comfortably while using the glasses.

Battery life is rated at up to nine hours, or up to six hours of continuous music playback. On-the-go charging is supported by a case that provides an additional 36 hours of charge. The quick-charge claim matches Meta’s other glasses: you can charge to 50% in 20 minutes via the charging case.

For voice and calls outdoors, the glasses include a five-microphone array designed to reduce wind noise during calls, messaging, or voice use of Meta AI. Durability is another major focus: they have an IP67 dust and water-resistance rating, which means they can withstand being submerged in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes.

Price: $499

RayNeo Air 3s: another display-based option to consider

RayNeo is also in the XR glasses space with the RayNeo Air 3s, a model included among the more compelling options currently available. As with other display-focused glasses, the appeal is centered on creating a personal “big screen” experience you can use in more places than a traditional TV or monitor.

When comparing display glasses like RayNeo, Viture, and Xreal, it’s worth paying close attention to the factors that most affect real-world comfort:

  • Brightness (nits): whether you can see the image clearly in bright environments
  • Refresh rate (Hz): smoothness for games and fast motion video
  • Field of view: how immersive the virtual screen feels
  • Fit and weight: whether you can wear them comfortably for long sessions
  • Connectivity: how easily they mirror content from your phone, tablet, handheld, or laptop

How to choose the best smart glasses for you

The “best” smart glasses depend less on specs in isolation and more on your main use case:

  • For daily wear + hands-free capture: Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) is tailored for people who want smart features in normal-looking frames.
  • For work and travel with a large virtual screen: Viture Luma Pro focuses on display quality, brightness, and USB-C device mirroring.
  • For a premium XR upgrade with head-tracked stability: Xreal One Pro adds 3DoF via the X1 chip and includes built-in Bose speakers.
  • For outdoor workouts and action footage: Oakley Meta Vanguard emphasizes durability (IP67), wind-noise reduction, and helmet-friendly controls.

It’s also smart to decide whether you’re comfortable wearing a more noticeable “tech” design. Camera-and-audio glasses can blend in more like everyday eyewear, while display-based XR glasses often look chunkier due to the optics required for a large virtual screen.

Conclusion

Smart glasses in 2025 span everything from subtle, camera-equipped frames to high-end XR display wearables built for gaming and productivity. By choosing between everyday style, display performance, durability, and battery life, you can narrow the field quickly—and end up with a pair that fits how you actually live, work, or train.

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Based on reporting originally published by TechCrunch. See the sources section below.

Sources

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