Following the launch of Ray-Ban's Meta smart glasses, artificial intelligence (AI) glasses have become the latest smart device trend for Chinese tech companies that are capitalizing on consumers' enthusiasm for combining generative AI with wearables. The development of artificial intelligence technology is driving a new boom in the smart glasses market, and many Chinese technology companies have joined the electronics gold rush. Smart glasses, as an important branch of wearable devices, are gradually moving from science fiction to reality and becoming a new field for many manufacturers to develop.
The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses jointly launched by Meta and Ray-Ban have proved the existence of market demand with their million-level sales. This product not only pursues fashion and lightness in design, but also realizes the integration of AI technology in terms of functions, such as using a camera to capture real-world images, analyzing and enhancing images in real time through AI processors, and providing users with instant information feedback and augmented reality experience.
In addition to Meta, Apple is also considering launching a more affordable Vision Pro that blends into users' real lives with a lighter design. Chinese technology companies such as Li Weike Technology have released the world's first real AI glasses, equipped with a self-developed WAKE-AI model, which has attracted great attention from smart glasses enthusiasts around the world.
Not long ago, Xiaomi also launched the Xiaomi MIJIA smart audio glasses. It supports six types of frames and can be fitted according to the user's eyesight. In terms of audio, the glasses use air-conduction open sound field technology, equipped with high-performance ultrasonic speakers and fusion sound cavity structure algorithms, as well as dual anti-leakage technology and call noise reduction function. In terms of battery life, it can support up to 10 hours of music playback, 7 hours of talk time, 24 hours of daily use battery life, and more than 11 days of standby time when fully charged. In addition, it supports magnetic contact charging, which can be fully charged in about 2 hours.
Figure: Xiaomi smart glasses Superhexa (Source: Xiaomi)
The smart glasses market is growing rapidly, with IDC data showing that wearable device shipments are expected to reach 559.7 million units in 2024, with smart glasses shipments growing the fastest, with a year-on-year increase of 128.2% in 2023. This trend shows that smart glasses are gradually becoming an ideal carrier for the implementation of AI technology, and their portability, interactivity, and cooperation with high-end glasses brands have given smart glasses additional social attributes and cost-effective experience.
With the continuous advancement of AI technology, the functions and applications of smart glasses will be richer and more diverse. From portable assistants, language learning to training and other educational scenarios, to sports event viewing, real-time translation, health detection, traffic navigation, music entertainment and other fields, the application of smart glasses has broad prospects. At the same time, with the acceleration of the layout of the AR field by major domestic and foreign manufacturers such as Apple, Meta, Google, Huawei, etc., the smart glasses industry chain is expected to mature rapidly, effectively boosting industry confidence.
To sum up, Chinese technology companies are actively seizing market opportunities through continuous technological innovation and product development in the gold rush in the field of smart glasses, and promoting smart glasses to become a new highland for AI technology applications.
