Tal Bar-Or, Founder and CEO of AI listening to eyewear startup Altina, says massive tech is constructing good glasses the improper approach – and mainstream adoption will stay out of attain till the trade places design first.
Good glasses are having a second. Meta’s Ray-Ban line shipped 6.5 million models 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 road and also you not often 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 massive tech pour sources into good glasses — and miss the identical fundamentals every time.
“They’re compromising on privateness, compromising on model and trend,” 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. Good glasses must compete with common glasses on their very own phrases – aesthetically and virtually – earlier than any know-how layer issues.
One neglected problem is bodily match. Conventional opticians provide 1000’s of body types to go well with completely different face shapes. Most good glasses manufacturers provide a handful.
“A nostril in Europe is completely different than a nostril in East Asia,” Bar-Or mentioned. “For those who 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 better selection in types and sizing.
Listening to Enhancement because the Killer Use Case
Slightly than chase the “substitute the smartphone” narrative – a imaginative and prescient Bar-Or noticed fail first-hand at Magic Leap – Altina is targeted on listening to enhancement. Beamforming microphones assist wearers concentrate on voices in noisy environments.
“There will probably be a motive for them to put on our glasses,” he mentioned. Privateness considerations already canine camera-forward opponents, making a non-camera method more and more engaging.
