Tal Bar-Or, Founder and CEO of AI listening to eyewear startup Altina, says large tech is constructing sensible glasses the mistaken manner – and mainstream adoption will stay out of attain till the business places design first.
Sensible glasses are having a second. Meta’s Ray-Ban line shipped 6.5 million items in 2025. Google confirmed Android XR audio glasses for autumn 2026, partnering with Warby Parker and Light Monster. Amazon’s Echo Frames have been available in the market for years.
But stroll down any avenue and also you hardly ever see somebody carrying a pair.
Tal Bar-Or, Founder and CEO of Altina, is aware of why. He labored on Echo Frames at Amazon earlier than founding his personal startup. He has watched large tech pour sources into sensible glasses — and miss the identical fundamentals every time.
“They’re compromising on privateness, compromising on type and style,” Bar-Or instructed UC In the present day. “I feel it’s solely actually a half step from what I’ve seen.”
Design Like Eyewear, Not Like a Gadget
Bar-Or’s argument is simple. Sensible glasses have to compete with common glasses on their very own phrases – aesthetically and virtually – earlier than any expertise layer issues.
One ignored problem is bodily match. Conventional opticians provide 1000’s of body kinds to swimsuit completely different face shapes. Most sensible glasses manufacturers provide a handful.
“A nostril in Europe is completely different than a nostril in East Asia,” Bar-Or mentioned. “In the event you put glasses made for someone in Europe on a face of someone in East Asia, they’re simply going to slip off.”
Altina has no electronics within the entrance body — a deliberate alternative that permits far higher selection in kinds and sizing.
Listening to Enhancement because the Killer Use Case
Reasonably than chase the “substitute the smartphone” narrative – a imaginative and prescient Bar-Or noticed fail first-hand at Magic Leap – Altina is concentrated on listening to enhancement. Beamforming microphones assist wearers concentrate on voices in noisy environments.
“There will likely be a cause for them to put on our glasses,” he mentioned. Privateness considerations already canine camera-forward rivals, making a non-camera strategy more and more enticing.
