The AR company invested by Alibaba has fallen in the wave of AI glasses | Exclusive from Intelligence Emergence
Text by | Wang Fangyu, Su Jianxun
Edited by | Su Jianxun
In October 2024, at the end of a cycling reality show called Just the Right Time to Ride, the celebrity Jiang Yingrong enthusiastically recommended an AR glasses named “QIDI Vida” to the audience. She wore them almost throughout the cycling scenes in the show.
“If you want to be (cycling) really cool, you can choose QIDI smart glasses. It can not only show your heart rate, but also has functions such as video recording, taking photos, intercom, and making calls,” Jiang Yingrong excitedly introduced in the show.
“QIDI Vida” is from a startup AR glasses company called “Singularity Approaching”. It seems that this startup is booming. Not only does its product have a full range of functions and has achieved mass production, but it also knows how to use celebrities to market new product categories - they also signed Jiang Yingrong as a brand ambassador.
Source: Official WeChat account of Singularity Approaching
However, just like the magnificent robe in Eileen Chang's writing, behind the seemingly bustling celebrity endorsement, the financial situation of “Singularity Approaching” was already very tense at that time. A former employee told Intelligent Emergence that when the variety show was broadcast, the brand department in charge of advertising and celebrity cooperation had been completely laid off, and the subsequent marketing work also came to an abrupt end.
“Actually, when the QIDI Vida product was mass-produced, there wasn't much money left in the company's account,” another former employee of Singularity Approaching pointed out to Intelligent Emergence. After that, the financial crisis of “Singularity Approaching” continued to intensify. At the end of 2024, some employees posted on social networks that they were owed salaries by the company.
Intelligent Emergence exclusively learned that after “Singularity Approaching” fell into operational difficulties at the end of 2024, its business can no longer be carried out normally at present. Several people close to the company told us that at its peak, the company had nearly a hundred employees, and now only a few employees, including the founder, are left to assist in the aftermath.
The Aiqicha platform shows that Singularity Approaching Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was listed as an executor by the court in January 2025. On February 18, Zhang Huimin, the founder of the company, was restricted from high - end consumption by the court.
In the AR glasses industry, Singularity Approaching was once a star enterprise with high hopes.
The company's official website shows that Zhang Huimin, the founder of Singularity Approaching, is “the first chief scientist and the first chief architect of Huawei mobile phones”. Its investors include well - known institutions such as Joy Capital, Matrix Partners, Huaying Capital, and Alibaba.
Introduction to the founding team on the official website of Singularity Approaching Source: Company's official website
The AR glasses industry started in 2015. In the following years, the industry has experienced ups and downs, which can be described as a “bloodbath”. It's not new that many players have fallen one after another.
However, Singularity Approaching was established at the end of 2021 and actually caught up with a small boom in the AR glasses market. Since then, the global sales of AR glasses have continued to grow rapidly. Many manufacturers such as Xreal, Thunderbird Innovation, and VITURE have achieved early PMF (Product - Market Fit) with the help of this trend.
Statistics of global AR glasses sales over the years Source: Chart made by Intelligent Emergence
Regrettably, since entering the market, Singularity Approaching has had problems in many aspects such as product definition, technology route selection, and budget management, and finally got into trouble.
To B / To C, Two Failures in Product Definition
Although it sponsored a variety show and signed Jiang Yingrong as a spokesperson, the final sales volume of QIDI Vida was dismal.
Data from the Tmall and JD platforms show that as of now, in the official flagship stores of the two platforms, the QIDI Vida, which starts at 3,879 yuan, has a total sales volume of only a few hundred units.
As a smart sports glasses targeting “cycling”, QIDI Vida has a clear target audience and scenario positioning. It claims that “with one pair of glasses, you have all 6 cycling devices”: sports watch, cycling computer, sports camera, walkie - talkie, sports earphone, and sports glasses. However, the final result was not satisfactory.
On social media such as Xiaohongshu, QIDI Vida received many negative reviews from consumers. The problems included “a large gray screen in dark scenes, making it completely unusable”, “not supporting the permanent display of speed and navigation, so users have to constantly call the glasses to light up the screen”, “serious ghosting problems”, “poor sound quality”, “unexplained bugs in the software, and GPS sometimes reporting errors” and so on.
From the perspective of the internal employees of Singularity Approaching, product definition is a more core issue. “Cycling scenarios? Don't you think this is a false demand?” A former employee asked us rhetorically, “The cycling speed is very fast. If there is a problem with the product, it will pose a great safety hazard to users.”
To our surprise, the misjudgment of product definition was not the first time it happened at Singularity Approaching. Its first AR glasses, QIDI ONE, also had dismal sales due to unclear product definition.
QIDI ONE was targeted at the B - end market, trying to enter B - end scenarios such as logistics, express delivery, and security. For example, it aimed to replace the PDA devices of express sorters with AR glasses to improve work efficiency.
A former employee of Singularity Approaching told Intelligent Emergence that in the actual implementation and exploration, QIDI ONE had a very low compatibility with this scenario and failed to secure large B - end orders - QIDI ONE weighed about 80 grams, which was not suitable for workers to wear for a long time; the equipped computing power, camera, and screen were all power - hungry, resulting in a short battery life and not supporting long - time operation.
△Milestone events in the development of Singularity Approaching Source: Company's official website
After reviewing the difficulties of Singularity Approaching, we found that the more core reason is the wrong decision of the founding team on the technology route behind the product definition mistakes.
The technical solution has a decisive impact on the final form of AR glasses. Currently, there are two mainstream solutions in the industry:
One is the mature Birdbath (BB for short) solution. The BB solution is relatively thick and the frame volume is large. There is a separate screen in front of the lens. Limited by this, AR glasses are usually designed as a split - type, which needs to be externally connected to computing power devices such as mobile phones and Switch via data cables.
The other is the more advanced optical waveguide solution. The optical waveguide solution is lighter and thinner, and its appearance is close to ordinary glasses. Therefore, it is easier to achieve a wireless integrated design, which is more in line with the future form of AR glasses expected by the public.
Comparing the two, Singularity Approaching chose the more radical full - color optical waveguide. “This was a collective decision of the partners,” the above - mentioned employee told Intelligent Emergence.
QIDI Vida glasses Source: WeChat official account of Singularity Approaching
The optical waveguide technology solution is not yet fully mature, and the cost is already high. Moreover, Singularity Approaching's product definition is even more radical. QIDI ONE uses full - color binocular display, and at the same time, the resolution is as high as 1280*720, while the resolution of the same - type competitor Thunderbird X2 is only 640*480, and Meizu StarV Air2 only has monochrome display.
However, the price of pursuing the ultimate is heavy. The market never pays for simple technological progress - The high - resolution full - color binocular optical waveguide display solution plus the camera function seriously affects the weight and battery life, and at the same time drives up the cost. Although consumers find it novel, it is difficult for them to wear it for a long time, and they are easily discouraged by the high price.
Finally, due to the lack of decent sales and cash inflow, Singularity Approaching gradually faced a shortage of funds and had difficulty maintaining its operations.
“The decision - makers' ideas are very technologically idealistic, and the products they launched are also commendable. However, it shouldn't be a startup company that explores the way for new and advanced technologies. The cost is really unaffordable,” a former employee sighed to Intelligent Emergence.
Intelligent Emergence learned that after receiving investment from Alibaba in 2023, Singularity Approaching tried to raise funds in 2024 but failed in the end.
Lessons from Singularity: Look Up at the Stars and Keep Your Feet on the Ground
“Does an AI glasses necessarily need a screen?”
Since its launch in October 2023, Ray - Ban Meta has sold more than 2 million pairs in total, exceeding the achievements of AR glasses over several years in a short period of time. This has inspired many AR glasses manufacturers to reflect on the product definition of smart glasses.
AR glasses belong to the story of the previous XR and metaverse boom. In order to achieve better immersion and experience, the industry always thought that a screen with better parameters and a higher price was needed. However, Ray - Ban Meta did the opposite. It completely removed the screen and focused on polishing the camera function, which instead attracted more consumers.
Ray - Ban Meta Source: Visual China
“The product ideas of Singularity Approaching and Meta are actually a very distinct contrast,” an investor who has long been concerned about smart hardware commented to Intelligent Emergence.
QIDI hopes to solve everything with an all - in - one device. It wants to take good photos, have a good display, and make calls. However, the final result is a high price and a poor experience. Meta's idea is to “do subtraction”. It does a good job in a few defined functions, and at the same time, the price is not high, which makes users feel that it is worth the money.
The failed exploration of manufacturers represented by Singularity Approaching reveals that in the current technological conditions, there is still an “impossible triangle” for smart glasses products - cost, weight, and function cannot be achieved simultaneously. If products are defined based on the ideal ultimate form of smart glasses, the result is to throw expensive “semi - finished products” into the market.
For example, currently, the simplest AI audio glasses can have a battery life of more than 10 hours, and the glasses can be very thin and light. However, after adding the camera function to become AI photo - taking glasses, the power consumption will increase significantly, the battery life will be shortened to about 4 hours, and the weight will also increase to more than 40 grams. Consumers will feel that the battery life is short and the wearing is uncomfortable.
In terms of the supply chain, the complex product definition also led to a poor yield rate for Singularity Approaching. Its former employee told Intelligent Emergence that the yield rate of Singularity Approaching's QIDI Vida was only 25%. “It's impossible for the supply chain to achieve full - color, clarity, thinness, and an 8 - hour battery life at the same time.”
Of course, this doesn't mean that smart glasses manufacturers should give up paying attention to and researching new technologies.
From a long - term perspective, as AR glasses become lighter and AI glasses have more functions, the two will merge into a new generation of multimodal devices - this is the consensus of leading manufacturers in the current AR glasses industry, such as Xreal, Thunderbird Innovation, and VITURE. This requires smart glasses manufacturers to maintain long - term attention and investment in new technologies.
On the other hand, the market never pays for simple technological progress, but only for the experience of the final product. This requires glasses manufacturers to pay attention to real needs and user experience when defining products. If you forcefully throw expensive “semi - finished products” into the market, the market will give you a resounding slap in the face.
In this regard, Li Hongwei, the founder and CEO of Thunderbird Innovation, made an image analogy at the autumn new product launch event last October: The smart glasses industry “shouldn't only look up at the stars without keeping its feet on the ground.”
“If we use mobile phones as an analogy, currently, AI glasses are still in the feature - phone era. The milestone moment like the iPhone 4 has not arrived yet. However, this doesn't prevent feature - phone products from selling well. What AI glasses brands need to do is to find PMF again at each important technological stage until truly all - around smart glasses become feasible,” the above - mentioned hardware investor told Intelligent Emergence.