Samsung Intelligent Eyewear doesn't work with Galaxy A phones even if they have Gemini

Samsung's brand-new smart glasses are compatible with a wide range of Galaxy phones, Google Pixel devices, and even iPhones. Unfortunately for Galaxy A users, Samsung's mid-range series didn't make the cut.

If you're in Samsung's ecosystem rather than Google's or Apple's, you'll need a Galaxy S, Galaxy S FE, or Galaxy Z foldable running One UI 9.0 or later.

The Galaxy A series is incompatible with Intelligent Eyewear, including the latest models that already run One UI 9.0.

Samsung hasn't explicitly said why the Galaxy A series isn't compatible with Intelligent Eyewear, but the limitation might have something to do with the way the smart glasses use a split-computing system.

The glasses are powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 platform, but the on-board SoC doesn't do all the heavy lifting. The smart glasses also offload some of their processing workload to the connected smartphone.

Samsung opted for this approach to keep the glasses lightweight and compact while ensuring smooth performance and effective thermal management.

There's a tiny bit of room for optimism. Many Galaxy A phones already support Google Gemini, so perhaps they'll eventually gain compatibility with Samsung's smart glasses.

A more pragmatic take, however, is that while many Galaxy A devices can run Google Gemini, they might lack the processing power needed to handle additional workloads for the smart glasses. If that's the case, there's little chance a future firmware update will be enough to enable compatibility.

Time will tell whether Samsung will ever bring Intelligent Eyewear support to Galaxy A phones. For now, it seems unlikely. If you want to wear Samsung's smart glasses sooner rather than later, you'll need a compatible premium Galaxy device running One UI 9.0 or higher.

The Gentle Monster and Warby Parker Intelligent Eyewear collections are available for pre-order in the USA and Korea, and will start shipping to customers on December 10.