Jan 09, 2026
3 min read
A Finnish company called IXI claims to have created the world's first glasses that can change prescriptions on the fly.
In the future, you may no longer need to get a new prescription for your glasses, as a Finnish company called IXI claims to have developed the world's first glasses that can automatically adjust their corrective lenses.
These special glasses have "dynamic lenses" made of liquid crystal that can change to whatever curve the wearer's vision requires, IXI CEO Nico Aiden told CNN.
This makes them very different from old-fashioned bifocals, which are glasses with two different diopters in the same lens, clearly separated by a seam, or progressive glasses (also called variofocal lenses), which are similar to bifocals but use progressive lenses instead of a hard splitter.
Eyeglasses that can focus automatically would be a giant leap forward for technology, which hasn't changed much since progressive lenses were first developed in Germany in the 1950s.
"The eyeglass industry hasn't really developed vision correction," Eiden told CNN.
Tiny LEDs inside the IXI frame beam invisible infrared light into your eyes, while photodiodes, inside the thin frame of the glasses, pick up reflections on your eyelids while measuring and tracking what you're looking at.It then converts that reflection and data into electrical signals that control liquid crystals;Like bifocals or progressives, the IXI has a reading area inside the lens.
The company has raised more than $36.5 billion from Amazon and other investors.Aiden told CNN that it will be available next year, but it's not clear when the glass will be available for purchase by the public.There is currently a live waiting list on the company's website.
IXI isn't the only company developing a powerful liquid crystal autofocus lens.CNN reports that a Japanese company called Elcyo is developing its own version, while another Japanese company called ViXion is currently selling autofocus glasses, although these look pretty cool with two small lens holes that the user has to look through for the glasses to work.In comparison, IXI glasses look like normal glasses.
However, there is a catch with IXI glasses - they need to be charged along with your other devices that take up valuable space on your nightstand, and will make their map "help" if they run out of batteries.And the specs, which will undoubtedly be more expensive than regular lo-fi glasses, will be difficult to fix or change - which is a big drawback for those who do not want another gadget to control.
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