Samsung has been quietly cooking up smart glasses since 2023, and at MWC 2026 in Barcelona, executive vice president Jay Kim finally let some details slip to CNBC. Not everything — Samsung isn’t that generous — but enough to understand what the company is actually building.

Here’s the confirmed bit: the glasses will have a camera positioned at eye level. That camera feeds what you’re looking at directly to a connected Galaxy smartphone, which handles all the processing and sends useful information back to you. The glasses are the eyes; your phone is the brain.

Glasses as the eyes, phone as the brain

It’s a smart way to keep the hardware light without compromising on capability, and it’s essentially the same approach Meta took with the Ray-Ban glasses — which currently own a majority of the smart glasses market, so the playbook clearly works.

What Kim wouldn’t confirm is whether the glasses have a built-in display. When pressed, he pointed to Samsung’s watches and phones for anyone needing a screen — which is about as close to a “no” as you’ll get without actually saying it.

A separate report suggests a display-equipped version might arrive in 2027, making this year’s model more of a camera-and-AI-first experience.

Will there be a display?

The bigger pitch is what the AI actually does with what it sees. Samsung wants the glasses to catch you glancing at a restaurant menu and translate it, look at a landmark and tell you its history, or quietly handle tasks — booking, messaging, navigating — without you fishing your phone out of your pocket.

Qualcomm and Google have been in the room since 2023 helping build the chips and software to make that happen.

As for when all this actually lands, Kim said Samsung wants something out for industry this year, and Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon echoed the same 2026 commitment at the same event. A specific date? Still anyone’s guess — but given how much Samsung showed its hand at MWC, it probably isn’t far off.

• A case for the Pixel 11 Pro XL has already shown up online
• We may get a bigger but thinner camera bar
• These handsets could well be launching around August time

The chunky camera bar sitting around the back of Google‘s flagship Pixel phones certainly makes them stand out, but it seems there may be a design tweak on the way with the Pixel 11 series that’s expected later this year.

Case maker ThinBorne (via Android Authority) has already posted a listing for a Pixel 11 Pro XL case, which gives us some idea of what might be coming. The case design suggests the phone’s camera bar may cover a slightly larger area, and protrude a little less.

Ultra-thin phones were the thing in 2025. It felt like every big player in the smartphone market wanted to show off just how much engineering wizardry they could cram into something barely thicker than a USB-C port. 

But barely a year later, the tides are already shifting. Samsung revealed the S26 range last week without the rumoured upgraded Edge variant, and rumours suggest the iPhone Air won’t get an upgrade this year either (though Apple is still working on an upgrade, apparently). 

Honestly, it makes sense. As lovely as these phones are to hold, they come with some very real compromises.

The big problem with ultra-thin phones

Don’t get me wrong, devices like the iPhone Air and Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge are gorgeous bits of kit. Picking one up feels like a throwback to the days when phones felt light and slim, able to slip into a pocket and practically disappear – a stark difference to most 2026 flagships. 

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In daily use, that slimness is genuinely refreshing, and the novelty never really wore off for me – but then there’s the ugly side of ultra-slims to consider.

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Camera hardware, for one, has generally taken a hit. The iPhone Air’s single rear camera is a perfect example; it’s fine for everyday photos, but it doesn’t exactly scream premium flagship when phones that cost hundreds less – including Apple’s own iPhone 17 – offer a wider selection of lenses. 

It’s mainly down to constraints in size; telephoto lenses in particular need space to operate, something that comes at an extreme premium in ultra-thin phones.

Then there’s arguably the bigger problem, battery life. You can only fit so much cell into a wafer-thin chassis, and that results in more charging, more battery anxiety, and less of that all-day flagship confidence we’ve come to expect over the past few years. 

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That’s the trade-off; you’re paying top-tier prices for a device that, in some areas, feels like a massive step backwards. It’s a hard sell, and probably the main driver behind Samsung’s apparent abandonment of the Edge brand.

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Tecno’s modular tech could be the fix

Then along comes Tecno at MWC 2026 that genuinely made me stop and stare.

The concept Atom device it showed off uses what it calls Modular Magnetic Interconnection tech, and at just 4.99mm thick, it’s thinner than basically anything else on the show floor.

As you’d expect, it feels stunning in the hand, and almost shockingly light. I actually assumed it was just a dummy model until I flipped the phone around and saw a fully working version of Android running on-screen.

But this isn’t just another thin phone; it’s a thin phone that can bulk up when you need it to.

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Tecno’s idea is so simple that I’m kinda surprised that Samsung and Apple didn’t come up with something similar; keep the device ultra-thin, then let users attach the hardware they need when they need it.

Want a proper zoom for a day of sightseeing? Snap on a telephoto camera module. Heading out and worried about battery? Click on an integrated battery pack. There was even a dedicated microphone module with a wind shield on display, ideal for content creators.

Some accessories attach directly to the camera housing, while others snap on just below it using hidden magnets, while others utilise the POGO system at the bottom of the device. The stand at MWC had a whole ecosystem of accessories you could snap on and try, and suddenly the concept made a lot of sense. 

Instead of permanently compromising the phone’s design for features you’ll only occasionally use, you pick and choose. Slim and minimal most of the time, and more feature-packed when you need it.

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Not quite ready just yet

Of course, there’s a catch – there’s always a catch.

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This is still very much just a concept. Tecno hasn’t confirmed any wider release plans, and the magnetic system, while clever, didn’t feel quite as secure as you’d want for everyday, on-the-go use. Stronger magnets and more refined attachments will be crucial if this is going to survive outside of a trade show demo.

But that’s the thing about concepts; they show the direction that the industry is headed. And right now, modular ultra-thin designs feel like a far more exciting direction than simply shaving off another 0.2mm and pretending the compromises simply don’t exist. 

If ultra-thin phones are going to have a true resurgence, they need to stop asking us to give things up. Now we just need someone to bring it to market before the ultra-thin movement disappears entirely.

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Filing taxes is painful enough that many people would happily hand the job to a robot. In the age of generative AI, where chatbots can crank out a decent-sounding school essay in under a minute, it’s tempting to think your tax return could be next. 

There’s just one small problem. The Internal Revenue Service expects financial data to be accurate, not just “close enough.” 

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I asked some tax experts whether you should have a general-purpose AI chatbot like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity do your taxes for you. The answer was clear.

“I don’t recommend that at all,” said Travis Thompson, a tax attorney and director in the business and finance group at the firm Fennemore.

“My advice would be no,” said Sterling Raskie, senior lecturer of finance at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Tax season makes everyone look for shortcuts. Federal income tax returns are nightmarish and complicated — and that’s exactly what makes them unsuited for a chatbot. AI is very good at sounding right even when it’s wrong. 

Still, if you can’t afford to hire a trusted, trained human to help with your taxes, there are some things generative AI can be useful for during tax season.

You can’t trust AI to be accurate

The capabilities of a generative AI model are impressive. But let’s remember that, at their core, these educated-guess machines are simply finding patterns and offering plausible results. They can’t distinguish approximation from the truth.

The numbers on your tax forms are expected to be correct, not simply ballpark. That’s why doing your taxes is such a pain, and also why we’re not supposed to take shortcuts. Mistakes can be costly to your refund, or you could face expensive repayments and fines, or worse.

“It’s important to keep in mind that if an AI chatbot provides incorrect guidance and a person uses it to file an incorrect tax return, they (the person) are responsible for infractions or violations, which could include penalties, interest, and lost refunds,” said Chris Linderwell, vice president of consumer tax products at H&R Block.

Some tax-specific AI tools are trained on and rely specifically on information about the tax code. But the generic one you use for menu planning or travel research is not one of those. 

Read more: Tax Season 2026: Which Documents and Info Do You Need to File Income Taxes?

You can’t trust AI with sensitive documents

Highly personal information, such as your Social Security number and financial statements, should be kept safe — or at least as safe as possible in today’s digital world, where data collection through email and social media is ubiquitous, and data breaches are common.  

Chatbots manage data in the cloud, which is just a computer owned by a private company. They have “memory” features that can regurgitate information in unexpected ways. You may find yourself asking a totally unrelated question down the line and get a response that pulls from data in your tax documents. You probably don’t want that.

Internet privacy risks already run deep, but chatbots are especially known to compromise and leak sensitive information. Grok, the chatbot created by Elon Musk’s xAI, was recently found to be revealing people’s personal information to other users. 

Be very careful about giving AI anything you want to keep private, like your tax information.

“You don’t want those numbers floating around the internet,” Thompson said.

How AI can help you with your taxes

Though you shouldn’t trust a large language model to fill out your tax forms, you can still use one as a beefed-up search engine for finding information, i.e., for educational purposes. Just make sure you verify its accuracy before relying on it. 

I asked a representative from OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, whether the chatbot is something taxpayers should use for filing. ChatGPT can’t access bank accounts, nor can it act as a licensed financial professional, lawyer, or accountant. “You should always review the ChatGPT output since it is not a replacement for a licensed professional,” the OpenAI rep said.

But it can help with a basic gut-check or can point you in the right direction, like translating tax terms, preparing checklists or providing questions to ask your accountant. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

For example, AI can help you decide what to discuss with a tax pro, which documents you’ll need to process or even identify tax situations you might not have realized. What should you know if you made money from crypto? What’s the difference between married filing jointly and head of household?

Also, keep in mind that the quality of an AI answer doesn’t depend solely on the model, but also on how you ask the question. And repeating the same question multiple times may generate different answers, especially if you express an opinion or a tilt in how you ask (AI sycophancy is real). If outside links are provided in the results from AI, fact-check the findings against the original source, and make sure that the source is reputable. 

Remember: You don’t know what you don’t know. 

“The less and less expertise you have in that field, the less and less you can trust those programs,” Thompson said. “It doesn’t just depend on what the program is saying; it depends on what the user is asking the program to say.”

Use a human when doing your taxes

Experts underline the importance of having a “human in the loop” for AI systems, whether they’re writing LinkedIn posts or handling critical personal information. Mistakes are the fault of the person who decided to go with the AI’s work, not the technology itself. Don’t blame the calculator if you did the math wrong.

Someone with judgment and accountability should make the final call. When it comes to a simple tax return, you could be that person. 

Raskie said if you have a basic return and you trust yourself to be thorough and double-check the numbers, you should be able to file on your own. “Basic return” generally means you only earn W-2 income and take the standard deduction — no complex investments, itemized deductions or freelance work. You could fill out the forms yourself, following step-by-step instructions through the IRS’s free fillable online forms, or by using a free file software option. 

H&R Block online uses AI to help automate your filing by reviewing receipts and uploaded documents to prefill fields on your behalf. AI, in this sense, is a time-saver. But ultimately, you have to make sure the information is accurate. 

If you need help from a tax professional, most DIY tax software, including H&R Block and TurboTax, offer the option to have a human professional review and file on your behalf for a fee or an upgrade. 

Many at-home tax software programs offer defense services in the event of an audit or audit risk assessments before you file — but for an extra cost. H&R Block says it will give audit representation and even financial reimbursement (if they made the error). 

“If you have any anxiety whatsoever, it’s worth its weight in gold to hire a licensed tax preparer professional to do your returns, primarily a CPA or what’s called an enrolled agent,” Thompson said. 

If you solicit the help of a trusted licensed professional, you might be able to turn to them if there’s a mistake on your return. You’ll still be responsible for paying the government what you owe, but you may be able to hold a tax preparer accountable in cases of fraud or some serious mistakes. 

If you decide to trust a chatbot to do your tax return, be ready for an IRS audit. And don’t expect to blame AI.