Abstract
- Google invested $100 million in Light Monster for a 4% stake, reinforcing its Android XR good lens initiative in opposition to Meta’s efforts.
- This transfer signifies Google’s renewed push into good glasses, leveraging superior AR/AI and Light Monster’s fashion-forward designs.
A number of sources have reported that Google has invested roughly $100 million USD for a 4% stake within the fast-growing Korean eyewear label Light Monster. The information comes one month after the tech large revealed partnerships with Light Monster and Warby Parker to develop design-forward good lenses for its new Android XR initiative.
Google’s newest transfer sends a robust message to competitor Meta, which has ramped up its AI-powered glasses rollout with companions Ray Ban and Oakley. Meta unveiled its partnership with Ray-Ban in 2023 and has since launched a number of fashions, together with the current Orion glasses, touted as “probably the most superior pair of augmented actuality (AR) glasses ever made.” And simply days in the past, Oakley and Meta unveiled the HSTN, their first product from a brand new long-term partnership in “a brand new class of Efficiency AI glasses.”
Nevertheless, it’s not the primary time Google has tried to enter the good glasses market. In 2012, Google unveiled its now out of date Google Glass system, geared up with a digital camera, a small info show, and web connectivity.
Greater than 10 years later, the expansion of augmented actuality (AR) applied sciences and extremely superior AI has paved the best way for extra user-friendly and handy wearables. Moreover, {hardware} advances have allowed new designs to accommodate slimmer profiles and extra enticing silhouettes.
In December, Google introduced its revamped efforts with Android XR, “a brand new working system constructed for the subsequent technology of computing,” centered on bringing heightened experiences to headsets and glasses.
Quick ahead to late Might, Light Monster took to Instagram to share the information of their partnership, saying the collaboration “represents a pivotal step within the evolution of good eyewear into important, life-style style objects.” “Creativity and class are important design options for the combination of know-how into on a regular basis life,” the model added.
So, what might Google x Light Monster good glasses appear like? In comparison with Ray-Ban, Oakley, and fellow Android XR associate Warby Parker, Light Monster is the youngest eyewear label, and probably the most experimental. Based in Seoul in 2011, the model has garnered worldwide attraction for its trend-driven silhouettes and collaborations with revolutionary designer manufacturers like Maison Margiela and Mugler.
A pair of Light Monster good specs might deliver massive tech’s dream of merging its companies with style’s cultural attraction into actuality like by no means earlier than, paving the best way for wearable ideas past eyewear altogether.
As of the time of writing, an official launch of Light Monster and Google’s collaboration has not been confirmed. Keep tuned to Hypebeast for the most recent style and tech business insights.
