Chinese tech companies are doubling down on the burgeoning smart glasses sector, which experts said is expected to become a key gateway for next-generation human-machine interaction and inject new vitality into the global consumer electronics market. Fueled by the widespread adoption of large language models (LLMs), the intelligent and lightweight wearable devices boast strong features such as semantic understanding, voice interaction, image recognition, and search functions, allowing users to access information more conveniently and interact with their surroundings in real time, the experts added. Estimated figures from International Data Corp (IDC) show that global smart glasses shipments will reach 12.8 million units in 2025, up 26% year-on-year. Shipments in the Chinese market alone are projected to exceed 2.75 million units, surging 107% year-on-year and ranking first worldwide. In the first half of 2025, shipments from Chinese smart glasses manufacturers surpassed 1 million units, accounting for 26.6% of the global total. The compound annual growth rate of China’s smart glasses shipments is estimated to reach 55.6% between 2024 and 2029, taking the top spot globally, according to IDC.
Leading Chinese tech companies are racing to make smart glasses the next mass-market device after smartphones. Baidu recently launched its AI-powered glasses Xiaodu Pro, which weighs just 39 grams and integrates a multimodal large model, supporting an array of AI functions, including translation, object recognition, photography, recording and memo taking. Alibaba’s self-developed Quark AI glasses are available for pre-sales on the company’s e-commerce platform, with the official release scheduled for this week. The eyewear is powered by the company’s Qwen LLM and its Quark AI assistant, featuring hands-free calling, music streaming and real-time language translation to compete with United States-based tech company Meta’s smart glasses.
Ye Qingqing, Analyst at IDC China, said the integration of AI models with lightweight hardware devices will give rise to a new human-machine interaction platform, estimating that the AI glasses market is on track to experience rapid growth in 2026. Continuous breakthroughs in multimodal AI perception and semantic understanding technologies, coupled with customized AI services based on massive data from user behaviors, will accelerate the development of the smart glasses industry and the integration of such devices into people’s daily lives, she said.
Ye estimated that Chinese smart glasses shipments will exceed 4.9 million units next year, driven by technological advancements, improved user experience and decline in prices. Zhu Keli, Director of the China Institute of New Economy, said that Chinese internet companies have accumulated abundant technological strength in AI algorithms, natural language processing and visual recognition. “As a next-generation intelligent terminal, AI-powered glasses meet users’ growing demands for interaction and real-time information acquisition,” he said, as reported by the China Daily.
