Rokid releases AI + AR glasses Rokid Glasses, priced at 2,499 yuan, and will be launched in the second quarter of 2025 | The Frontline
Written by | Tian Zhe
Edited by | Su Jianxun
Imagine a pair of glasses: With just your command, it can not only translate foreign languages for you at any time but also provide precise navigation when you're cycling; it can answer your questions and use the camera to record the beautiful moments in life. At the same time, it is also a pair of headphones, allowing you to enjoy the company of music anytime, anywhere.
Recently, Rokid has released an AR glasses that integrates the above functions - Rokid Glasses, with a price of 2499 yuan.
Compared with the strong technological attributes of other AR glasses, Rokid Glasses integrates the core components such as the motherboard and battery into the frame, making the appearance more like an ordinary frame glasses, which means that users can use it almost anywhere.
Rokid also considers the portability of AR glasses. Through the integrated design, the weight of Rokid Glasses is only 49 grams when the lenses are included.
In order to improve the product experience, Rokid Glasses can also display a clear virtual interface through the transparent lenses without affecting the user's normal line of sight, achieving the effect of information superimposed display.
Rokid Glasses
In terms of imaging, Rokid Glasses is equipped with a 12-megapixel camera, which not only supports high-definition photography and video recording in portrait mode but also has a shooting status indicator light. When the camera is enabled, the indicator light is on to indicate that the camera is in the shooting state.
The AI function is one of the core functions of Rokid Glasses. After integrating the Tongyi Qianwen large model of Alibaba, Rokid Glasses will have functions such as object recognition, text translation, and math problem-solving. For example, it can quickly calculate the calorie content of food and display it immediately; when communicating with foreign friends, it can automatically translate into text.
Rokid's founder and CEO Misa said, Rokid Glasses will also support multiple large models such as ChatGPT and Gemini in the future, and users can choose by themselves.
In addition, Rokid Glasses will also be connected to Zhixiaobao, the "AI Life Butler" under Alipay, introducing capabilities such as AI handling affairs and voiceprint payment. Users can voice-call Zhixiaobao to let AI order food and call a taxi. This means that Rokid Glasses will to a certain extent become an AI intelligent agent.
How to improve the battery life of AR glasses is one of the challenges for AR glasses to enter the mass market. In response to this market pain point, Rokid has increased the full-charge battery life of Rokid Glasses to 4 hours, and the continuous photography duration is 40 minutes.
Rokid Glasses also supports fast charging. With the glasses charging case, the fully charged charging case can charge Rokid Glasses 10 times. The battery can be charged to 90% in ten minutes, and it takes only 20 minutes to be fully charged.
Rokid Glasses Charging Case
Rokid Glasses can not only be used alone, but also connect to a variety of external devices such as smartphones and tablets by combining Bluetooth 5.3 technology, thereby expanding the application possibilities.
This time, Rokid has also launched a new smart glasses without an AR optical machine version. It adopts 14-bit dual ISP and has a variety of top-level shooting features, such as automatic exposure, automatic face detection, EIS electronic image stabilization, etc.
The new generation of smart glasses also supports AI capabilities, which can help enhance the shooting quality of photos and videos, achieve clearer calls through noise reduction, and achieve clearer video shooting through computer vision. The new smart glasses are equipped with health and motion sensors. Users can trigger instructions by nodding or shaking their heads.
Rokid also launched the spatial display product Rokid Spatial Link, with a price of 699 yuan. It can be directly connected to devices that support the DP protocol such as computers, mobile phones, iPads, Switches, Xboxes, and PS5s, converting the traditional 2D display into 3D and supporting the 32:9 ultra-wide screen mode, allowing the external device screen to achieve a giant screen display.
Rokid Spatial Link
It is reported that the two new smart glasses of Rokid and Rokid Spatial Link will be launched in the second quarter of 2025.
Misa said that in the past ten years, Rokid has occupied more than 99% of the cultural and museum market at home and abroad, and the number of users who purchased AR glasses has exceeded 300,000, and the daily usage time of users is more than 2 hours and 45 minutes.
In terms of ecological construction, thanks to the AR application development competition held by Rokid every year, there are more than 6200 AR registered developers at home and abroad, and more than 2500 enterprise developers.
After achieving certain sales results, Misa said that Rokid's current attention is not on sales data, but on channel construction. Currently, Rokid is cooperating with more globally renowned companies, including the world's largest personal computer company, and PepsiCo, etc.
With the increased investment in the overseas market, he predicts that the overseas market sales revenue of Rokid will likely exceed the domestic market in 2025.
The following is part of the conversation between 36Kr and other media and Rokid's founder and CEO Zhu Mingming (Misa), edited:
Q: When will Rokid Glasses come out with a full-color version?
Misa: According to Rokid's R & D speed, basically there will be an iterative version every year. The price will not change and remains stable.
Q: Does Rokid Glasses need to be used with other devices? For example, does it need to be connected to a mobile phone or other devices?
Misa: The product can be used without a mobile phone because it comes with Bluetooth and WiFi functions. In a WiFi-enabled scenario, most functions can operate independently. Some functions, such as problem-solving or Q & A, require the cooperation of a mobile phone because the content displayed on the glasses is limited, and the detailed problem-solving process will be synchronized to the mobile phone. In addition, the translation function can also be used in offline mode. For the photography and video recording functions, they can operate completely independently.
Q: What is Rokid's product route and ecological plan?
Misa: We will focus on two product lines: the spatial computing and the daily-wear Glasses product line. In the next 3 to 5 years, with the progress of optics, battery and computing power technologies, these two product lines may gradually merge. In addition, we will be more open in ecological construction to attract developers to develop more vertical scene applications through our platform.
Q: How does Rokid encourage 3D content creators to build the ecology?
Misa: First of all, we hold the AR application development competition every year, and the competition bonus has increased from 1 million yuan last year to 2 million yuan.
Rokid is the AR glasses manufacturer that cooperates with the most museums. The revenue sharing between Rokid and the creators in the cultural and museum field is that Rokid earns one yuan, and the partners earn two yuan. Last year, Rokid provided more than 100 million yuan in revenue to the cultural and museum partners.
In the whole country, Rokid has established cooperation with more than 200 museums. The Hunan Provincial Museum is one of the museums with the highest revenue for Rokid. In the Hunan Provincial Museum, our annual rental income is about 10 million yuan, and Rokid only gets 30% of it, that is, about 3 million yuan.
Q: What are the challenges for the large-scale popularization of Rokid?
Misa: The first difficulty in large-scale popularization is the price. I believe that Rokid's price has surprised many people. The second difficulty is the wearing experience, especially the weight problem. The initial prototype device weighs more than 60 grams, and now it has been reduced to less than 50 grams, and the wearing experience has been qualitatively improved. The third point is the product experience, and the functions must be easy to use. Finally, it is the ecological construction. This is also the reason why we have invited many partners to enable Rokid to show practical value in multiple scenarios such as payment and cycling.
Q: What is the biggest motivation for people without myopia to wear glasses?
Misa: Actually, we don't need to force people without myopia to wear glasses. I think that as long as we can make people with myopia willing to replace their existing glasses, it is already a great achievement.
I have a piece of data here: The myopia rate of high school graduates in China reached 90% last year, that is to say, the non-myopic population only accounts for 10%, and they are the minority in the overall population. Although this is not pleasant, it is indeed a reality.
Therefore, if we can make the myopic population choose to wear the smart glasses we develop, it is already meaningful enough. This kind of glasses not only improves their lives but also provides more functions, even beyond the uses of traditional glasses.
The AI + AR technology released today, I think, is an important beginning of the digital transformation in the next five years. The end of this year and next year will be a critical stage for this industry. Whether it is a company, an individual, or the media, from the insistence on this industry to the expectation, we can see new hopes. I believe that next year is a year that is very worth looking forward to.
Q: How much is the total shipment of Rokid's products this year?
Misa: Last year, the shipment target we set for this year was to increase by 200% year-on-year, but the actual expectation can achieve a 100% growth. In this year's general environment, this result is already good.
Q: Now there are competitors from different tracks entering. Do you feel pressured?
Misa: It's great! I always think it is helpful for the industry. Startup companies will face three different situations:
Situation 1: Big companies do a great job in publicity, but the products are poor. We like this situation the most because big companies attract traffic, and we can take over this attention, such as Vision Pro, Meta, etc. They have hyped up the industry volume, which is actually a boost to the XR industry.
Situation 2: Big companies do a great job in publicity, and the performance of the products and publicity is average. This situation is more troublesome for us because we need to spend extra energy to educate the market, but it is still acceptable.
Situation 3: Big companies do a great job in publicity, and the products are also excellent. This will squeeze our living space.
At present, I think we are in the first situation, which is a happy thing. The entry of big companies has made the industry volume larger and attracted more attention. And startup companies can find a differentiated positioning or maintain a leading trend in this process. This is the scene I most want to see.
From the perspective of the completion of Rokid's current products, the APP and other aspects are completed quite well. If you have experienced Rokid's products, you will find that we are still very confident. In general, the effect of competition is positive.
Q: Will Rokid products interact with smart home devices?
Misa: Yes. For application scenarios such as smart home, we will support partners to develop, and we focus on providing basic capabilities. If the smart home solution is done well, we will help promote it and even support it.
Q: How far is the hardware and software of Rokid Glasses from the final product?
Misa: It can be roughly understood that the hardware is 60% completed and the software is 50% completed.
The hardware design is still being optimized. The current display function and structure are closer to the prototype. The final product will use the design mold of the Tyrannosaurus rex at the launch conference, and the weight will be reduced by about 8 grams, and the total weight will be controlled at about 41 grams.
In addition, the thickness of the optical machine will not be significantly reduced for the time being, but it may be further optimized in the future.
Q: What are Rokid's plans for offline sales?
Misa: The guests attending this conference event cover nearly 60% of the eyewear retailers in China's offline channels. The products will cover all designated stores, and users can easily complete the experience, purchase and configuration in offline stores.
For the launch of Glasses, I personally will spend 30%-40% of my time on channel construction to ensure that partners recognize and join our ecology.
Q: Meta has released AI glasses Meta Orion. When do you expect the related products in China to develop to the mature stage?
Misa: When I communicated with the relevant personnel of Meta, they clearly stated that Orion will not enter the mass production stage. I think that what Meta can really exert its strength in the market on a large scale is still the lightweight glasses product, and the product may need to wait until around 2027 to have mature market competitiveness and profitability.
Q: Looking at the global market, what are the advantages of Rokid's products in the competition? Especially in terms of hardware cost and ecological construction, how to compete with enterprises such as Meta?
Misa: From the product perspective, whether it is AR or VR, Chinese enterprises are relatively leading in technology.
However, Rokid's strategy has always been: Only mature mass-produced products are presented, and concept machines that will be available one year later will not be displayed. Our goal is to ensure that the released products can really serve the market, rather than staying at the concept stage.
Therefore, I believe that from a technical perspective, we have the opportunity to lead the next wave of change in the AR industry. As for the prototype machines launched by Meta and their partnership, we are also paying attention, but we pay more attention to leading this market with our technical advantages and mass production capabilities.
Q: From the perspective of consumption power, how do you view the differences between the Chinese market and the global market?
Misa: Consumption power can be divided into two situations:
The first is just-needed, especially for the myopic population in China. This is why I say that China is the largest market. If all myopic people are willing to replace their glasses with ours, then we have won the entire game. Although the total number of myopic people in the world is less than that in China, this is indeed an undeniable fact.
The second is the duration of the wearing experience. For example, in the United States, the scenarios of wearing smart glasses are relatively limited, mostly in professional uses or specific occasions. In China, the myopia rate has been very high since the primary school stage, about 40%. By the time of high school graduation, the myopia rate is as high as 90%. For many people, wearing glasses has become a necessity in life.
Therefore, I believe that the AR in the Chinese market will be the first to explode. Because we have a huge population base, as long as the products are well done in the Chinese market, this will be a huge breakthrough.