PCMag Breaks Smart Glasses Into 4 Types as $2,195 AR Models Signal Future Shift
Updated
Updated · PCMag · Jul 11
PCMag Breaks Smart Glasses Into 4 Types as $2,195 AR Models Signal Future Shift
3 articles · Updated · PCMag · Jul 11
Summary
PCMag’s latest guide says smart glasses still lack a universal definition, grouping today’s products into four buckets based on features such as AI, audio, cameras and displays.
4 categories anchor the market: audio-first AI glasses, waveguide display glasses, prism display glasses and a catchall group for simpler music, camera or electrochromic-lens models.
Waveguide glasses add in-lens text, maps and live translation while staying relatively light, but current models remain limited by narrow fields of view, bugs and immature software.
Prism display glasses deliver sharper private screens—up to 1,920-by-1,200 resolution and 58-degree field of view—but are bulkier, wired over USB-C and function more like wearable monitors than true AR.
$2,195 Snap Specs and Android XR-based designs point to the next phase, where glasses could merge displays, cameras and spatial computing into lighter alternatives to full headsets.