Personal computing has long been the foundation of today’s technology-centric world. Starting with the first desktop computers introduced in the 1970s, the primary personal computing device used by consumers has transitioned multiple times over the years, with the smartphone currently holding that spot since the late 2000s. However, that could soon change with AI and the continuing evolution of wearable devices such as smart and augmented reality glasses.
Increasing Demand for Wearable Technology
While smartphones will continue to do the heavy lifting for mobile compute and memory intensive applications, wearables are continuing to improve in capability. Consequently, more of the day-to-day use cases and primary user interfaces (UI) are not only becoming more supportable with wearable form factors, but in some cases even preferred.
This shift is starting to become evident in a subset of wearables, such as both smart glasses and AR glasses. For smart glasses, this is due largely to developments in smart glasses capabilities from companies such as Meta Inc., which currently holds a commanding share of the market. However, recently, AR glasses have become a focus for much of the industry, with various predictions having the nascent AR glasses market increasing by over 10x by the end of the decade. These predictions are being driven by announcements such as Specs Inc’s recent agreement with Qualcomm to power future generations of its AR glasses. It is worth noting that Qualcomm also powers Meta Glasses, among other notable wearables, making it one of the leaders driving innovation in both the smart and AR glasses markets along with the wearable tech market in general.
As the capabilities of these glasses increase, so do the use cases. Already, these devices can handle common smartphone functions, such as capturing photos and video, accessing the internet and real-time language translation, to name a few. AR glasses such as the Inmo Air 3 and the newest generation of Specs take wearable tech a step further with virtual displays that overlap with the physical world while still maintaining the typical eyeglasses form factor. Additionally, these glasses are starting to adopt the ability to track hand movements as a user interface in conjunction with voice and touch.
Battery life is currently limited to just a few hours, but continued advancements in semiconductor technology, as well as heterogeneous computing and communications between the glasses and other devices and/or the cloud will improve battery life over time. Tirias Research expects that full-day battery life should be achievable by the end of the decade. Similarly, costs will decrease over time as enabling technologies mature and production volumes increase.
How AI Is Driving Wearable Adoption
A key factor in the future adoption of wearable tech is the widespread implementation of agentic AI as a new form of UI. These devices provide the AI agents with contextual sensory input that cannot be obtained through more traditional means. Through wearable tech like smart and AR glasses, these agents are able to see and listen to the world around it to support advanced functions that are driven by information regarding current location and situational context. An example of an application that is starting to gain a lot of adoption using this type of sensory, contextual input is real-time translation when listening to, or reading printed material in a foreign language – especially in a wearable form factor. Instead of having to pull out and hold up a smartphone, the user can access this capability in a more natural, unobtrusive and handsfree way through wearable technology. As the capabilities of agentic AI continue to develop, this translation capability can further be leveraged for the AI agent to suggest responses or follow on actions that access, for example, the user’s calendar or contacts. The possibilities of what users will be able to accomplish with AI and wearable tech as its main form of sensory input are endless.
Smart and AR Glasses Soon to be the Main Personal Device
With smart and AR glasses usage continuously increasing, this raises the question of whether smartphones will still be needed, and the simple answer to this question is yes, but not in the way they are currently being used.
“Much like how smartphones pushed laptops and desktop computers to more specific use cases due to their ability to have much more powerful computing, memory and storage, the same will happen to smartphones due to smart and AR glasses,” Tirias Research Analyst, Lucas Sideco, predicts. “Smartphones will still be the go-to option for tasks requiring higher computing power, but once smart/AR glasses are able to accomplish most daily tasks and those tasks are handled by AI agents, the versatility, accessibility and convenience that a wearable device offers will ultimately drive adoption.”
Just as a smartphone provided a computer in your pocket, AR glasses will keep that computer in your pocket and enable a whole new set of unobtrusive, hands-free computing experiences through AI.
Future View Through The AR Glasses Window
These advancements in wearable technology will cause a monumental change in personal computing and what day-to-day technology use looks like. With highly advanced, highly capable devices available now and continuing to evolve, there will be an intersection with agentic AI capabilities . When this happens in the next 10 years, Tirias Research expects adoption of wearable devices like smart and AR glasses to overtake those of smartphones and PCs, much like how smartphones originally overtook PC sales in 2010.
As the shift in user behavior and preferences transitions from smartphones to wearable devices, tech companies will need to adapt to this new paradigm, particularly those that specialize in producing traditional personal compute devices and its peripherals. When coupled with agentic capabilities turning AI into the new UI, it is not a matter of “if”, but “when” this paradigm shift will occur.
Tirias Research tracks and consults for companies throughout the electronics ecosystem from semiconductors to systems and sensors to the cloud. Members of the Tirias Research team have consulted for IBM, Nvidia, Qualcomm, AMD and other companies throughout the data center, AI and Quantum ecosystems.
