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Smart glasses empower visually impaired individuals with advanced AI features
🇵🇦 Panama /Technology

Smart glasses empower visually impaired individuals with advanced AI features

From TVN Panamá · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • Smart glasses are becoming more accessible and feature-rich, offering significant benefits to people with visual impairments.
  • Advanced AI capabilities allow the glasses to recognize objects, translate text, and respond to voice commands, enhancing user autonomy.
  • While Meta currently dominates the market, competition is increasing from manufacturers in China and India, driving down prices.

Smart glasses are rapidly evolving, driven by increased competition and artificial intelligence, transforming into invaluable tools for individuals with visual impairments. These high-tech accessories can instantly respond to voice requests, identify objects, capture photos, record videos, and translate text, among other functions.

They change my life constantly!

— Colette DentelleDescribing the impact of smart glasses on her daily life.

Colette Dentelle, an 83-year-old visually impaired woman, described how her Ray-Ban Meta glasses have "changed her life constantly." She uses them to navigate, shop by identifying products on shelves, and even locate lost keys through voice commands, enabling her to maintain her independence.

The market for smart glasses is experiencing dynamic growth. Research firm Omdia projects 8.7 million AI-powered glasses to be sold globally by 2025. Connected glasses without visual displays saw a threefold increase in worldwide shipments during the first quarter of 2026, according to market analysis firm Counterpoint.

They allow me to get around, to go shopping, telling me what is written on the cans and the price.

— Colette DentelleExplaining how smart glasses assist her with shopping.

Meta, with its Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta models developed with EssilorLuxottica, holds a dominant market share of nearly 84% in the first quarter. However, competition is intensifying, particularly from Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi, Huawei, and Rokid, as well as in the rapidly expanding Indian market. This increased competition is leading to falling prices.

The technology evolves very quickly, like in the mobile phone market, where new generations follow one another.

— Parisian opticianCommenting on the rapid evolution of smart glass technology.

Opticians note the rapid pace of technological advancement, comparing it to the mobile phone market. Some prefer to stock smart glasses on demand rather than maintain large inventories. A Parisian optician recently sold half of his stock of 10 pairs in just six weeks, catering to diverse customers, including a rodeo enthusiast planning to film herself on horseback. For consumers like 24-year-old engineer Ayoub Benheddi, whose health insurance covered the 500-euro cost of smart glasses with corrective lenses, the technology offers significant life improvements.

I wouldn't have paid it out of my own pocket, but my mutual insurance covered the entire amount.

— Ayoub BenheddiRegarding the cost of smart glasses covered by insurance.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by TVN Panamá in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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