What was the key reason behind the failure of Google Glass?
At Google I/O 2025, Google co-founder Sergey Brin opened up about the failure of one of the company’s most ambitious projects — Google Glass.
Brin admitted that he “made a lot of mistakes” during the development, the biggest of which was underestimating the complexities of consumer electronics supply chains. The high production cost, he said, directly impacted the unaffordable price tag for early adopters.
Despite its failure, Brin expressed excitement over Google’s renewed push into smart glasses, now with better partners and clearer vision. The company is currently developing a new pair of Android XR-based smart glasses in collaboration with Samsung, Xreal, and Warby Parker — aiming to fix the mistakes of the past.
The new prototype, powered by Project Astra from DeepMind, can translate speech to text in real time, assist with navigation, and handle AI assistant tasks on the go.
Originally launched in 2012, the consumer version of Google Glass was shut down in 2015. Enterprise editions followed, but the product never achieved widespread adoption — partly due to its $1,499 price tag.
