Have you heard? He is also working on AI glasses | Focus Analysis

Author丨Qiu Xiaofen

Editor丨Su Jianxun

"In order to work on AI glasses at this giant company, a 'big shot' has even given up the company he founded before." 

Several investment industry insiders told 36Kr that a leading figure in the domestic large model industry has recently joined a domestic AI giant to explore hardware businesses such as AI glasses - for this, this big shot has also abandoned his original entrepreneurial plan.

In 2024, the popularity of large models has extended to hardware, and AI glasses have become the hottest entrepreneurial category.

An industry insider told 36Kr that this year, At least 50 new and old teams in China are working on AI glasses - including those involved in charger manufacturing, headphones, going global, and with high-level backgrounds from large companies...

The popularity of AI glasses originated from Zuckerberg. In 2024, the AI glasses jointly developed by Meta and Ray-Ban have become the most sought-after AI hardware, with an annual shipment volume expected to exceed two million units - this means that AI glasses, as a new hardware category, have crossed the critical shipment volume threshold.

"Domestic companies basically all want to copy RayBan's homework", the aforementioned industry insider said.

Ray-Ban Meta Source: Official

36Kr's analysis found that in the 2024 AI glasses entrepreneurial wave, It can be roughly divided into three groups of people.

The first group consists of middle and senior management who have left major Internet giants and hardware companies. For example, Wang Xiaoyi, the former CPO of Nut, and Liu Bocong, the algorithm head of Meituan's automatic delivery department. According to 36Kr's understanding, there are also middle-level personnel from companies such as ByteDance, Alibaba, and Anker.

The second group is a group of AR glasses manufacturers.

36Kr has observed that since 2024, most AR glasses manufacturers have started the category of AI glasses.

For example, "Hive Technology", a Xiaomi ecological chain enterprise, recently launched an AI glasses with a price of only 699 yuan, leveraging the capabilities of the large model and focusing on the AI information prompt function. Luo Yonghao's AR project "Thin Red Line" is also preparing a new AI glasses category.

In addition, AR glasses manufacturers such as "LeiNiao Innovation", "Tribute to the Unknown", and "Light Particle" are all in the product exploration stage. Some have obtained relevant AI glasses patents or directly formed joint ventures with traditional eyewear manufacturers to bet on the AI glasses direction.

A summary of recently emerging AI glasses products and projects, charted by 36Kr

After changing from AR to AI, AR glasses manufacturers have almost reached the same conclusion - they have unanimously removed the optical display part. And this is the part with high cost, high difficulty, and a significant impact on the user experience in AR.

"Oppenheimer spent one billion to build the atomic bomb, and the global AR industry's past investment is enough to build ten atomic bombs, but it still hasn't brought it into the users' vision," a glasses manufacturer founder told 36Kr frankly, "The AR glasses industry is like Mount Everest, while everyone originally thought it was Xiangshan Mountain, which is much more difficult than everyone imagined."

The AI glasses track is not all small startups. The third main force is mobile phone and Internet giants.

For example, Huawei released a new AI glasses product at the beginning of this year, using the Pangu AI large model and Xiaoyi voice assistant. In addition, 36Kr learned that Xiaomi and Honor both have preparation plans for AI glasses, and vivo also told 36Kr that It is expected to have a smart glasses release plan in 2025.

ByteDance also has a high interest in AI hardware. 36Kr learned that in addition to the Pico team working on the AI glasses category, ByteDance has also started a new glasses project internally.

Whether it is a new startup team entering the game, a hardware manufacturer expanding its territory, or a large company making a strategic layout, everyone is aiming at AI glasses to seize the opportunity of the AI terminal entrance.

"Today, You don't need to verify the PMF of AI glasses (36Kr Note: Product Market Fit, that is, the best fit between the product and the market), Zuckerberg has already answered it for you," an industry insider said.

If you understand the logic behind the hot sales of Ray-Ban, you will understand why people are willing to pay for AI glasses.

The AI glasses products that have been launched on the market can be disassembled into: the ordinary glasses module, the headphone module on the temples, the camera on the glasses (but most manufacturers choose to remove this module), and the AI module.

However, a slightly pessimistic fact at present is that after market research by several hardware industry insiders, it is found that the current AI has not yet become the first factor driving users to purchase hardware - on glasses, the AI functions are concentrated in scenarios such as information prompts, translation, intelligent shooting, and guided tours.

These AI functions cannot be said to solve the pain points of users, and compared to mobile phones, they have not shown a strong irreplaceability.

An industry insider told 36Kr frankly that most consumers who buy Ray-Ban AI glasses first pay for the Ray-Ban eyewear brand, followed by the headphones in the glasses, and finally experience the charm of Meta AI incidentally.

The key is that you only need to pay $299 for these, which is no different from ordinary glasses.

AI scenarios demonstrated at the Ray-Ban Meta conference, including scenic spot introductions, text translations, etc.

In China, it is not difficult to assemble a decent pair of AI glasses.

Whether it is headphones or glasses, the domestic supply chain technology, hardware efficiency, and cost control capabilities are much stronger than those in Silicon Valley. Enter "AI smart audio glasses" on Taobao, and you can get a pair for as low as 50 yuan.

In terms of software, the price threshold and technical difficulties of large models have been greatly reduced. Several industry insiders said that this year, in order to land their products, large model companies have given hardware companies extremely low prices. "The cost of a single call has dropped to less than one cent."

But Zuckerberg's miracle is not easy to replicate.

The ultimate test for AI glasses entrepreneurship actually lies in product definition - how to, based on user insights, integrate the basic capabilities of AI with the eyewear hardware to make the AI functions on AI glasses "more useful".

This is actually a question that even Zuckerberg has not fully answered, but he can temporarily solve this problem by leveraging the strong brand appeal of Ray-Ban, the ingenious pricing strategy, and the product combination of glasses and headphones.

In the long term, Zuckerberg once said that when using AI glasses, "We will not throw away our mobile phones, but in the future, we will gradually do more things with glasses and keep our phones in our pockets more often."

Domestic manufacturers, if they want to surpass Ray-Ban, need more ingenious ideas.

Although the "Hundred Glasses Battle" has not yet begun, the industry is already showing a trend of survival of the fittest. 36Kr learned that most of the new AI glasses startups in the past two years are in the product verification stage, But some companies have already left the field in advance, and others are facing difficulties such as the departure of co-founders and difficulties in financing.

"Perhaps by the middle of next year at the latest, a wave of entrepreneurs and products will be washed out", several practitioners judged.

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