Preface: AI glasses surged in popularity during the latter half of last year, with the fervor of the "Hundred Glasses War" still vivid in memory. Recently, tech giants such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Alibaba, and ByteDance have accelerated their forays into the market, intensifying competition. Amidst the technological and resource dominance of these major players, how much room for opportunity remains for startup teams? Author | Fang Wensan Image Source | Network

Major players are rushing into the market, instantly altering the game dynamics

On March 24th, Xiaomi's sub-brand Mijia unveiled the MIJIA Smart Audio Glasses 2, priced at 1,199 yuan. This seemingly routine product launch harbors hidden significance.

A technology blogger disclosed that the true "Xiaomi Glasses" could debut in the second half of the year, equipped with dual chips and cameras, integrating cutting-edge features like AR navigation, real-time translation, intelligent object recognition, and one-click color change, fueling high anticipation.

Just half a month later, on April 16th, Huawei launched the Huawei Smart Glasses 2, featuring titanium alloy round frames and optical lenses, positioned as smart audio glasses without photo-taking or screen display capabilities, priced at 2,299 yuan. Huawei's deep expertise in smart wearables has made this product a focal point.

According to research institution Wellsenn XR, Alibaba, which has been supporting AI glasses startups with large models, has also entered the fray. The Tmall Genie team is responsible for developing AI smart glasses with a dual-chip design, available in two versions: AI glasses (without display) and AI+AR glasses (with display), expected to release by the end of this year.

ByteDance is not to be outdone, having secretly developed the AI glasses project since last year. According to The Information, ByteDance has been in communication with the supply chain, vigorously pushing forward product functions, specifications, costs, and launch plans.

Looking back at the "Hundred Glasses War" in the second half of 2024, it was predominantly led by AR startups, yet no groundbreaking products emerged. The most notable AI glasses currently are Ray-Ban Meta, a collaboration between Meta and Ray-Ban. With the formidable entry of major players, the competition has undoubtedly become more complex.

Diverging strategies: two camps with distinct advantages and disadvantages

Currently, AI glasses on the market are primarily categorized into four types: audio + AI glasses, audio + photo + AI glasses, audio + AR + AI glasses, and audio + photo + AR + AI glasses.

In the first half of 2024, the domestic market was almost exclusively dominated by AI audio glasses, largely serving as "phone accessories" for internet and consumer electronics giants.

In the second half of the year, with the popularity of Ray-Ban Meta glasses, audio + photo + AI glasses and audio + photo + AR + AI glasses rapidly gained traction in China. Startup teams like the "AR Four Dragons" (Thunderbird Innovation, XREAL, Rokid, INMO Technology) spearheaded the launch of related products.

However, major players like Alibaba, ByteDance, and Xiaomi only announced their entry into the realm of more functional AI glasses in 2025.

Currently, these two types of players exhibit a clear divergence in their AI glasses strategies: most startup teams focus on a single route (audio + photo + AR + AI), whereas major players opt for a multifaceted approach, covering all four routes.

According to industry insiders, while audio + photo + AR + AI glasses pose the highest technical challenge, they offer the most comprehensive functionality and are most popular in the market, making them a top priority for major players.

However, major players are mostly in the confidential stage for such products. ByteDance and Alibaba tend to be "passively exposed," while Huawei and Xiaomi (and its ecosystem chain brands Mijia and Jiehuan) have so far only launched the simplest AI audio glasses.

From the disclosed information, these AI glasses exhibit unique characteristics in terms of weight, price, and AI technology. In terms of weight, the most complex (audio + photo + AR + AI) glasses are the heaviest, typically around 50g and can even reach 85g, whereas AI audio glasses are the lightest, weighing close to 15-30g, similar to ordinary glasses. "Weight reduction" has emerged as one of the pressing issues for manufacturers to address.

Regarding price, AI glasses span a wide range, from 1,000 yuan to tens of thousands of yuan, influenced by both functional complexity and brand influence. There are also significant price variations among AI glasses of different brands within the same category.

In terms of AI technology, major players primarily utilize their self-developed large models, whereas startup teams mostly access external large models, predominantly focusing on Tongyi Qianwen. From an interaction perspective, there is no notable difference between the AI glasses of major players and startup teams.

Major players' advantages are evident, intensifying pressure on startup teams

Despite startup teams' keen market sense for AI glasses, having laid the groundwork half a year ahead of major players, and many possessing AR technology backgrounds, the entry of major players still exerts unprecedented pressure on startup teams.

From the perspective of AI glasses' hardware composition, startup teams are at a disadvantage in numerous aspects. AI glasses primarily consist of microphone arrays, bone conduction headphones, cameras, batteries, as well as chips, motherboards, and other components.

The integration of these hardware components not only presents weight issues but also poses a significant challenge in battery life. Taking Ray-Ban Meta as an example, the battery life is only half an hour when the camera is activated, severely impacting the product's practicality.

It is reported that Xiaomi's AI smart glasses may adopt a dual-chip solution comprising Qualcomm AR1 + Hengxuan 2700. The Qualcomm AR1 is utilized in complex scenarios, while the Hengxuan 2700 chip is switched to for simpler tasks like music listening. This division of labor between chips reduces power consumption and enhances battery life.

According to media reports, Alibaba's AI glasses will also employ a dual-chip architecture of Qualcomm AR1 + Hengxuan BES2800. The reason major players can generally adopt dual-chip solutions is inseparable from their robust financial backing.

Some insiders revealed that many domestic AI glasses manufacturers use single chips. On one hand, the cost is high; on the other hand, integrating dual chips is difficult, and the authorization threshold for Qualcomm AR1 chips is steep, making it challenging for small and medium-sized manufacturers to meet.

The competition is equally fierce at the software level. The crux of AI glasses' software capability lies in their ability to seamlessly interface with mobile phone apps, which depends on both the large model capability and the mobile phone permissions accessed by AI glasses.

Some insiders believe that startup teams mostly utilize large models from major players, which might expose them to competition. However, others argue that major players are limited to using their own large models, whereas startup teams can access multiple large models from major players, which is also an advantage.

Nevertheless, compared to large models, insiders are more optimistic about the major players' advantages in ecological connectivity. Many AR companies collaborate with mobile phone manufacturers to develop AI glasses but often struggle to obtain mobile phone system permissions, limiting glasses functionality.

Xiaomi independently develops AI glasses and can access Xiaomi mobile phones' underlying system permissions, effortlessly enabling connectivity between glasses and mobile phone calendar, photo album, settings, and other system applications.

ByteDance and Alibaba's strengths in the AI glasses field stem from their ability to integrate with their own apps. This time, Alibaba's AI glasses venture involved the Tmall team, sparking speculation that it might enable connectivity between AI glasses and Tmall Genie hardware.

Technology and social acceptance pose the greatest challenges

The primary hurdle is surmounting technological bottlenecks. AI audio glasses enjoy average popularity and sales, perceived by consumers as having similar functionalities to headphones; the most popular audio + photo + AR + AI glasses, though only adding AR display capabilities compared to Ray-Ban Meta, will be influenced by price, weight, and battery life, with consumer acceptance yet to be proven.

A deeper challenge arises from social acceptance. Currently, the cameras used in AI glasses have sparked significant controversy.

Someone used Ray-Ban Meta to take photos in public places and subsequently utilized technologies like facial recognition and public information databases to swiftly identify the addresses and phone numbers of the individuals photographed.

While in the entire "privacy leakage" process, the AI glasses' camera merely functions as a photo-taking device, in principle, mobile phone cameras can also perform the same task. However, due to their resemblance to sunglasses, they facilitate candid photography.

Overall, currently, AI glasses are best suited for specific scenarios like travel photography and speech prompting. In such contexts, their competitors are not mobile phones but rather electronic products like DJI. While the market is limited, it is also challenging to outperform the latter in performance.

Conclusion:

This battle for the future of human-computer interaction has just entered its thrilling phase. With the successive launch of various AI glasses in the second half of this year, the market landscape may gradually become clear as early as the end of this year.

Content Source: AI Innovation Lab: The AI glasses market welcomes technological innovation and surging demand in 2025; Dingjiao One: The AI glasses war escalates: Giants enter the field, small teams hang in the balance?; Caijingbang: "AI glasses" domestic top 4 enterprises; The Fierce Battle of AI Smart Glasses in 2025: Who Will Lead the Trend, Meta, ByteDance, or WIMI Hologram?; The AI glasses market is gradually becoming clear