These smart glasses would adjust focus on the fly based on your eye movements

While some of the world’s biggest tech companies, including Meta, Google and (reportedly) Apple, are eyeing the the future of smart glassesstartups are working on significant innovation for the other type of glasses, classic glasses, worn by billions around the world.

One such startup, Finland-based IXI Eyewear, has raised more than $40 million from investors including Amazon to make glasses with adaptive lenses that can dynamically autofocus based on where the wearer is looking.

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At the end of 2025, the company announced that it had developed a prototype glasses weighing only 22 grams. It includes built-in sensors for the wearer’s eyes and liquid crystal lenses that respond accordingly. According to the company, autofocus is “powered by technology hidden in the frame that tracks eye movements and instantly adjusts focus, whether you’re looking up close or far away.”

On the other hand, smart glasses like Meta’s Ray-Bans And Ray-Bay screensas well as Xreal and Google Project Auraare turning to cameras that monitor the world around the user and AI-based features such as facial recognition, language translation, and photo and video recording. Lenses tend to be a secondary consideration.

IXI told CNN in an article published Tuesday that it plans to launch its glasses within the next year. There is a waiting list for the glasses on its website, but has not specified in which regions they will be available.

While the goal is to make these glasses an improvement over traditional bifocals and progressive lenses, the IXI glasses likely won’t be a completely smooth experience.

“The middle part is the pointed area, and then there’s the edge where the liquid crystals stop and that’s not very nice to look at, but the center area is big enough that you can use it for reading,” CEO Niko Eiden told CNN. “So we introduce our own distortions, but most of the time they won’t be visible.”

IXI glasses won’t come cheap. “We will be at the high end of existing glasses,” Eiden said.

A representative for IXI did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for additional comment.

This type of technology is also being studied by Japanese startups Elcyo and Vixion. Vixion already offers a product with adaptive lenses built into the middle of the lenses (they don’t look like standard glasses).

The challenges of manufacturing autofocus glasses

The benefits of autofocus lenses could start with eliminating the need for multiple pairs of glasses, such as bifocals and progressives, and result in a more natural viewing experience.

But perfecting this option presents various challenges, said Meenal Agarwal, an optometrist and podcaster who runs Dr. Meenal Agarwal & Associates in Pickering, Ontario.

“The engineering must be reliable so that lenses change focus quickly, accurately and invisibly, without lag or blur,” she said. “Battery life and power could (complicate) keeping glasses light and powered all day. Integrating optics, sensors and computers into frames that look like normal glasses is likely a challenge, not to mention medical and regulatory approvals.”

What IXI and other companies are pursuing may seem revolutionary to those who now read this story through the bottom half of their eyeglass lenses. But Agarwal says the idea is not entirely new.

“There have been research prototypes like the Stanford autofocus glasses,” she said. “There have also been other startup and optical research efforts on adaptive lenses and autofocus glasses. But none yet have lightweight, off-the-shelf glasses on the market.”

The information contained in this article is intended for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding a health problem or health goals.