Switchable glass
Smart glass switches from clear to private on a switch: a liquid-crystal film sealed inside a laminated pane, wired to a driver. It suits a cabin or a bathroom that should be open most of the day and closed for ten minutes, and it is the wrong answer for a window you simply want frosted. This is the national guide to what is actually sold in India — PDLC, electrochromic and retrofit film — what each one looks like with the power off, and where to find the people who supply and fit it.
8 smart glass pages across 8 citiesupdated June 2026
Three quite different technologies get sold under the same name, and they do different jobs: one gives privacy, one controls glare and heat, one is a film you stick onto glass you already have. The last card is the honest comparison — the permanent, much cheaper way to get the same privacy where it does not need to switch.
The mainstream product. A polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal film is laminated between two panes of glass. With power applied the crystals align and the panel is clear; with the power off they scatter light and it turns translucent white. The change is instant, the opaque state still passes plenty of daylight, and because it is a laminated unit it is also safety glass.
The same liquid-crystal layer supplied as a film applied to glass already in place, with the power connection made at the edge. It is the only true retrofit route and it costs less than replacing the glass — but it is a surface layer rather than a sealed one, so the edges, any trapped bubbles and the electrical tab are where it ages. A wet area is the hardest place to make it last.
A coated glass that darkens electrically. It tints rather than frosts, so you can still see through it; it changes over minutes rather than instantly, and it holds its state on very little power. This is a glare and solar-heat product for a window or a facade, not a privacy product — if the point is that nobody sees in, this is the wrong technology.
Thermochromic and photochromic glass darken in response to heat or sunlight, with no wiring, no driver and no switch. Nothing can fail electrically because nothing is electrical — and equally, you cannot clear it on the one overcast day you wanted the light. Treat it as a set-and-forget solar option rather than a privacy one.
The PDLC laminate becomes the inner pane of a sealed double-glazed unit, so the film sits inside the building skin instead of on the weather face, and the cavity adds the thermal performance a single laminated pane does not have. This is the build used when switchable glass has to go into an external window or a facade rather than an internal partition.
Worth pricing before you commit. Fluted, acid-etched, sandblasted and ceramic-printed glass all give privacy while passing daylight, and applied frosted film does it on glass already installed. None of them switches, and none of them needs power, wiring or service. Where the privacy does not actually have to change, they cost a fraction of a switchable panel.
Indicative ranges aggregated from Glassy’s published city pages — orientation for a conversation with a fabricator, not a quote.
See the full Glass Price Guide →What moves the price, how the ranges are built, and every product side by side.
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The common type is PDLC: a film of liquid crystals dispersed in a polymer, laminated between two panes of glass. Unpowered, the crystals sit at random and scatter light, so the panel looks translucent white. Apply the low-voltage supply from its driver and the crystals align, light passes straight through, and the panel turns clear. The change takes a fraction of a second in either direction.
For PDLC, clear when powered and opaque when not — so a power failure leaves the glass private rather than transparent. Electrochromic glass behaves differently: it holds whatever state it was last set to and draws power only while it changes.
It blocks the view, not the light. In its opaque state a PDLC panel is a strong diffuser, so a shape pressed right against the glass, or strongly backlit, can still register as a silhouette — much like a frosted shower screen. For most cabins and bathrooms that is exactly enough. If you need a panel nobody can make anything out through, you need an opaque material rather than glass.
PDLC is a privacy product: switching it opaque scatters light rather than rejecting solar heat, so do not buy it to cool a room. Electrochromic glass does genuinely cut solar gain and glare. For an ordinary window the cheaper answer is a Low-E coating or a double-glazed unit, both of which work continuously and need nothing switched.
Yes — with self-adhesive PDLC film applied to the glass in place and wired at the edge. It is the cheapest way in and the least durable of the options: it is a surface layer, so the edges and the electrical tab stay exposed, and steam and standing water shorten its life. Where the glass is coming out anyway, a laminated switchable panel is the more permanent build.
More per square foot than any other glass in Glassy’s price guide, and the driver, the wiring and the switching are on top of the panel rate. The range shown on this page is aggregated from Glassy’s published city pages and is indicative only — see the Glass Price Guide for how the ranges are built, then get a quote from a local supplier against your actual panel sizes.
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