Technologies

Want Fashion-Forward Smart Glasses? This Company Could Easily Make It So

Commentary: If there’s one company capable of making genuinely stylish wearable tech, it’s British indie darling Nothing.

Are smart glasses cool yet? In certain circles, the answer would likely be yes, but there are still plenty of people who’ll need more convincing (and yes, I’m one of them).

This week, we got a hint of a possible new entrant to the smart glasses market — one with the potential to put a stylish new twist on tech specs. British tech company Nothing is best known for making smartphones and headphones, but according to Bloomberg, it’s considering branching out into smart glasses.

The company is hoping to launch the glasses in the first half of 2027, said Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. The glasses will reportedly feature cameras, microphones and speakers, and have AI capabilities that will largely be handled off-device. Nothing declined to comment on the rumors.

Smart glasses are booming as a product category, with Counterpoint Research identifying 139% year-over-year growth for the segment in the second half of 2025. The market is dominated by Meta, making it ripe for a disruptive challenger — ideally a relative renegade — to come in with a fresh approach.

I’m a bit of a smart glasses skeptic, but I’d enjoy seeing a fashion-forward tech brand like Nothing branch out into eyewear. With the company’s emphasis on design, it seems like a natural fit for it to tackle wearable tech and hopefully put a unique spin on it that might persuade people like me that smart specs are indeed the way forward.

Here are three things I think Nothing could do to make a splash and set itself apart.

A continuation of the company’s transparent aesthetic

Nothing has built its brand around a transparent design language that exposes the underlying circuitry and wires inside its products. It’s nostalgic, bold and imaginative — and crucially would translate easily and effectively to eyewear.

Transparent frames are already very much a thing in the world of glasses, and even Meta has experimented with them. But I feel confident that Nothing could apply its signature aesthetic sensibilities in a way that would be distinctive and original. It could play with color — the blue and pink seen on the Nothing Phone 4A and 4A Pro, for example.

When I think back to my conversation last month at Mobile World Congress with Nothing’s chief brand officer, Charlie Smith, it strikes me that branching out into wearables feels not only like a natural next step for Nothing, but something the brand is much better placed to tackle than its less stylish competitors.

Smith, fresh off the boat from luxury fashion brand Loewe, spoke of being impressed by Nothing’s “rebellious creativity” and the much-needed spirit of fun it was injecting into an industry long been dominated by minimalism. “There’s something about this kind of retrofuturism, this nostalgia that we’re tapping into — people are loving it,” Smith said.

“Personal technology is actually a lot about self-expression,” he continued. “Our devices are really like an extension of us.”

Bonus points from me if Nothing finds a way to incorporate elements of its glowing glyph interface into the glasses.

A collaboration with a British indie brand

In a market flooded with devices made by massive corporations based in the US, South Korea and China, UK-based startup Nothing feels like the closest thing the phone industry has to an indie darling. What better way to cement that status than by collaborating with another British independent brand?

Meta’s collaborations with Ray-Ban and Oakley have been a winning formula in its own bid to establish smart glasses as a mainstream product category. But there’s also something predictable about a large company collaborating with another large company. Wayfarers might be timeless and easily wearable by anyone with a face, but they don’t exactly scream original thinking or a strong sense of personal style.

It would be much more exciting for Nothing to work with up-and-coming British designers (it did, after all, host a launch event last month at iconic London design school Central Saint Martin’s). Equally, it could opt to join forces with a more established designer, such as JW Anderson. Sure, the resulting glasses might not be a lowest-common-denominator product worn by every Silicon Valley executive, but that’s not really Nothing’s vibe.

Fortunately, there’s precedent for Nothing picking independent British brands to work with rather than hitting up the industry’s most recognizable names. Its audio collaboration with KEF has already yielded some of the most distinctive headphones on the market. I’m confident it can do the same with glasses.

A major focus on audio and music

Let’s not forget that before Nothing was a smartphone company, it was a headphones company.

The expertise it has established in audio over the past few years might just give it a competitive edge over most companies currently making smart glasses. Many people have been surprised by how good the sound quality can be on existing smart specs, including Meta’s, but Nothing has an opportunity to take it to the next level.

Encouragingly, Nothing’s audio credentials were another thing Smith brought up in our conversation.

“The audio side of the business is really important to us because of the connection to music culture,” he said. “We love the idea of [our community] being tech and music and fashion… like this next generation of creatives all coming together around the brand.”

Embracing music culture could be a key differentiator for Nothing and help make smart glasses a more compelling product for people who are yet to be sold on video capture and AI features.

In the past, I’ve argued that headphones are the ultimate AI wearable, but I’m prepared to revise my opinion if those headphones happen to be inside a pair of glasses I genuinely love to wear.

Technologies

Trump Maintains US‑Iran Negotiations Continue Amid Tehran’s Denials of Duplicity

President Trump insists that US‑Iran talks are ongoing despite Tehran’s denial of any negotiation plans, while warning that only a deal or total surrender will allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Conflicting statements from both sides have heightened uncertainty as the conflict enters its sixth month.

On Monday, President Donald Trump asserted that negotiations between the United States and Iran are still taking place, even after Tehran stated it has no intention of engaging in direct talks with Washington.

In a fiery Truth Social post, Trump labeled Iran’s leaders “unbelievably duplicitous,” claiming they are lying about ongoing peace talks “whether Iran wants to admit it or not.” He repeated his assertion that the United States completely controls the Strait of Hormuz, despite maritime traffic through the crucial route lingering at only a small fraction of pre‑conflict levels.

He wrote, “Nothing reaches Iran unless we allow it, and nothing will pass unless a deal—or total surrender—is achieved.”

Earlier that day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters there is no imminent plan for U.S.–Iran negotiations, contradicting Trump’s earlier comment that talks would resume Monday afternoon. Baghaei added that Iran’s only current discussions are with Oman concerning the Strait of Hormuz.

The conflicting statements have heightened uncertainty over the peace‑talk process and the broader conflict, now in its sixth month.

Trump’s assertion about new negotiations came a day after he said on Truth Social that he had agreed to cancel a massive strike against Iran “subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.” He said in the same post that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked him to hold off on that attack because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”

Trump has claimed dozens of times throughout the more‑than‑five‑month‑long war that a deal is at hand. No permanent deal has been signed, and a temporary ceasefire reached in June has fallen apart.

Trump has also repeatedly threatened to launch devastating strikes against Iran before backing off. After the latest example, oil prices on Monday fell and stocks surged.

BMI, a research unit of Fitch Solutions, said in a note Monday that a broader diplomatic understanding on reopening the Strait of Hormuz is still achievable this quarter, while raising the probability of its escalation scenario to 35% from 25%, citing mounting military, diplomatic and economic signs of rising U.S.-Iran tensions.

“Diplomatic progress is likely to be punctuated by periodic military flare-ups, while miscalculation by either side could trigger a renewed escalation,” BMI analysts wrote in a note. The firm said the key issue to watch is the future governance of the strait, as the Iran-Oman talks — potentially backed by Gulf states, China and the U.S. — point to efforts to build a post-conflict shipping framework.

Shipping risks persist even as diplomacy appears to be advancing. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said it received a report of an incident 20 nautical miles (23 miles) northeast of Khasab, Oman — at the mouth of the strait — with a tanker’s master reporting an explosion in close proximity to the vessel at about 20:37 UTC Sunday (4:37 pm ET). The vessel and crew were safe and authorities are investigating, UKMTO said, advising ships to transit with caution.

The proposal Trump announced over the weekend calls for the U.S. and Iran to return to negotiations and continue ironing out some of the thorny issues that had derailed diplomatic efforts, according to The Associated Press, citing a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.

The official said the proposal also includes a reopening of the Hormuz Strait and halting attacks across the region, including by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq on the Arab Gulf countries and Jordan.

The U.S., for its part, will end its naval blockade on Iran and allow Tehran to export its oil, the official said, adding that no deal has been reached, although the mediation efforts remained underway.

Trump’s weekend reversal has lowered the temperature after days of escalating attacks across the Gulf. Kuwait said Saturday that Iranian forces launched a wave of drones within its airspace, with its military destroying multiple aircraft after Iran targeted critical infrastructure in the country’s north.

A parallel track with Muscat is also advancing. Iranian diplomats said Tehran was close to reaching a new arrangement with Oman to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a deal critical to preventing the war from escalating further, according to the Financial Times.

Iranian officials said negotiations over future management of the Hormuz Strait with Oman, which sits on the opposite shore of the waterway, are in their final stages. The agreed shipping route would be different from those used before, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Baghaei, adding that the new route was separate from the issue of the strait’s reopening or continued closure.

Technologies

Oil Prices Slide as Trump Halts Planned Iran Strike

Oil prices dropped after Trump cancelled a planned strike on Iran, with WTI down about 5% and Brent near 5% lower. He said the move followed requests from Tehran and regional allies for a pause while a deal shaping the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program is negotiated.

Oil prices fell on Monday after President Donald Trump announced he had cancelled a planned strike on Iran. WTI futures dropped roughly 5% to $80.34 a barrel, while Brent slipped about 4.7% to $83.77 a barrel.

Trump said early Sunday he called off the strike after Iran and several Middle Eastern nations asked him to hold off, noting that the outlines of a deal had been agreed upon. He added that the prospective accord would entail the immediate, full opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, according to his Truth Social post.

The president had been considering another round of strikes as diplomatic hopes waned since the conflict began on February 28. He said the U.S. and Iran would meet for talks on Monday, but Iran denied any scheduled negotiations with Washington, citing PressTV. Iran’s foreign‑ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei clarified that Tehran was only discussing shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz with Oman. In a follow‑up Truth Social message, Trump insisted that, regardless of Iran’s acknowledgment, the United States is indeed discussing a solution to a long‑standing problem created by Iran.

Technologies

Oil Prices Drop as Trump Cancels Planned Attack on Iran

Oil prices fell sharply after President Trump announced the cancellation of a planned strike on Iran, citing a new deal that would open the Hormuz Strait and end Iran’s nuclear threat.

Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after President Donald Trump announced that he had called off a planned strike on Iran.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. benchmark, slipped roughly 5% to close at $80.34 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, declined 4.7% to settle at $83.77 a barrel.

Trump made the announcement early Sunday, saying he had canceled the strike following requests from Tehran and other Middle Eastern countries.

In a Truth Social post, he wrote: “We have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”

The president indicated that the proposed agreement would include the immediate, complete, and total opening of the Hormuz Strait, as well as an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.

Trump had been weighing additional strikes amid diminishing prospects for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict that began on Feb. 28. He stated that the U.S. and Iran would hold negotiations on Monday.

Tehran denied that talks were planned with Washington, according to state news outlet PressTV.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran was only holding talks with Oman regarding the routes ships can use through the Strait of Hormuz.

In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump added that whether “Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused for decades.”