The key point of smart glasses doesn't lie in their "smartness".

As one of the only two products personally launched by Lei Jun at last Thursday's Xiaomi "Full Ecosystem Launch of Cars, Homes, and Smart Devices", the Xiaomi AI Glasses with a starting price of 1,999 yuan have truly caught everyone's attention. The reason is simple: when Xiaomi decides to enter a product field, it often marks the beginning of the mass adoption of that field.

Although the name includes "AI" and Xiaomi has announced that the Xiaomi AI Glasses can connect to the full - fledged Super Xiaoai model via a mobile phone, the majority of people (including my friends) actually don't focus on the artificial intelligence aspect of the Xiaomi Glasses. Instead, they are interested in a function we've been accustomed to for over a decade: taking photos.

Image | Weibo @Xiaomi Corporation

The Unnecessary Artificial Intelligence

"AI" seems to be an inescapable topic in the 2020s. It has long deviated from its original concept as a technical term and has instead become a marketing buzzword. However, after more than five years of the AI product wave, there has been no fundamental change in our daily usage patterns of electronic products.

The reason is straightforward: at present, there isn't a very specific entry point for AI that is worth inserting into our established daily usage habits. Even Apple, with its strong user - guiding ability, has come up with something as confusing as Visual Intelligence:

The circuitous Apple Intelligence demonstration video at the 2024 iPhone 16 launch event eventually became the target of collective ridicule.

Unfortunately, from the perspective of current hardware products, various AI smart glasses won't become that "specific entry point" either.

Moreover, considering the hardware scale, it's extremely difficult to implement true edge - side AI in mobile phones, let alone in glasses, which are highly restricted hardware. In terms of product classification, it's more appropriate to call these current smart glasses "Bluetooth earphones that can quickly access the phone's smart assistant".

Therefore, at present, although we still call this category of products "smart glasses", their core competitiveness will never depend on whether they are intelligent, but rather on the new perspectives they bring to some of our daily activities.

So, when we put aside Meta AI, Xiaoai, and the elusive Apple Intelligence, and then look back at smart glasses, we can truly understand their development and significance.

The Much - Needed POV Camera

For a long time, the POV (Point of view, i.e., first - person) perspective has been difficult to handle when shooting daily videos or vlogs. In the traditional film industry, the final solution often involves a large - scale device like this:

However, most ordinary consumers neither need such a bulky and sturdy device nor require such high - end image quality. So, various more portable fixing solutions have emerged, such as neck - straps and chest - straps, which can fix an action camera—or even an iPhone—to a position close to the first - person perspective for shooting:

But these lightweight solutions aren't perfect. After all, for ordinary consumers, carrying an extra piece of equipment is too much. Whether it's the GoPro chest - strap or the Insta360 cap - clip, they are all separate cameras and accessories that need to be carried specially. In real - world usage scenarios, they can't be worn all the time, the footage can't be viewed in a timely manner, and they require constant attention.

At this time, a pair of smart glasses that can take photos and record videos, function as open - ear headphones, and also serve as regular glasses has emerged naturally, which is exactly what Meta did in collaboration with Ray - Ban in 2023.

If we only look at the shooting and recording specifications, the footage recorded by the Ray - Ban Meta pales in comparison to that of an iPhone. It can record a maximum of three - minute vertical 1080P 30 - frame videos or conduct a maximum of 30 - minute live broadcasts at 720P. Without exaggeration, the video recorded by biting an iPhone 15 in your mouth would be much better than that of the Ray - Ban Meta.

However, here lies the problem: people can't keep biting/hanging an iPhone to record videos, but they can (and already do) wear glasses all the time.

More importantly, the recording specifications of the Ray - Ban Meta are actually sufficient for its potential consumers. In well - lit environments, the photos and videos taken by the smart glasses are of decent enough quality to be posted on WeChat Moments or Instagram Reels without a significant drop in image quality:

Sample photos of Ray - Ban Meta | PetaPixel

In addition, the immersion provided by the videos taken by smart glasses is hard to match by other portable shooting devices. After all, as the device closest to our eyes, the perspective captured by glasses is naturally the closest to the first - person perspective. Unless you hold an iPhone in front of your face or hang a camera in front of your nose like in the film industry, it's difficult to achieve a similar perspective.

At this time, another major characteristic of smart glasses comes into play: they are a "non - intrusive" shooting device. As a daily accessory, glasses don't require you to carry anything extra. For many people, it's just like changing to a different pair of frames. Even when worn, they won't interfere with your movements:

During the 2025 American Hockey League All - Star Skills Competition, the sports live - streaming platform FloSports provided players with Meta glasses to broadcast the goal - scoring perspectives.

Therefore, for ordinary consumers, a pair of non - intrusive smart glasses that can meet the basic image quality requirements and provide an unparalleled POV perspective means that there's no need for complex equipment, large muscles, or cumbersome processes like transferring footage from a memory card. You can simply tap the glasses with your hand to record an immersive video while listening to music:

The combination of glasses and a mobile phone for recording videos will definitely become more and more common in the future.

This is probably the most unexpected and futuristic usage scenario in 2025, when mobile phone manufacturers are fiercely competing in the imaging field.

The Dispute over the Development Path of Smart Glasses

After the launch of the Xiaomi AI Glasses, some people expressed a certain degree of disappointment because, according to many early rumors and consumers' expectations, Xiaomi was supposed to launch a pair of smart glasses with a display function.

This is actually a very interesting question. Before discussing "whether smart glasses should include a display function", there's a prerequisite: how should we define smart glasses?

Isn't this also a kind of smart glasses?

Currently, there are actually many smart products in the form of "glasses" that can be directly purchased on e - commerce platforms. After all, if we really want to stretch the definition, the Apple Vision Pro can also be seen as a thickened ski goggle.

In this market segment, from Xiaomi to Huawei, and then to brands like Thunderbird, ROKID, Xreal, etc., all label their multi - functional glasses products as "smart glasses". However, the functions and usage methods of these glasses vary greatly, and the only common feature is that they can be worn on the face.

Therefore, in the context of the previous discussion, for smart glasses with similar forms and functions to those of Xiaomi and Meta, we can propose the following definition:

Only glasses - type smart products that can still be worn normally as traditional glasses (prescription glasses or sunglasses) without affecting physical activities when not powered on can be called smart glasses.

The purpose of this definition is mainly to exclude "smart AR glasses" such as Meizu StarV View, Thunderbird Air 3s, and ROKID Max2. From the perspective of specific functions and whether they can be used without power, these devices belong to "portable AR head - mounted displays in the shape of glasses", and displaying content like a screen is their main function.

AR headsets like the Thunderbird Air 3s Pro cannot be used as ordinary glasses because the display screen blocks the line of sight, so they don't belong to smart glasses | Charging Head Network

This definition is necessary because although the appearance of AR headsets and smart glasses is becoming more and more similar with technological progress, they have completely different functional focuses: whether to sacrifice the function of ordinary glasses to ensure the immersion of the display effect or to add smart functions to the form of ordinary glasses directly determines the nature of the product.

Therefore, after defining "smart glasses", let's revisit the question of whether smart glasses should include a display function. From the currently known products on the market, the technological development path of smart glasses can be clearly divided into three categories:

- Smart glasses without any display function, using pure voice interaction, represented by Ray - Ban Meta, Xiaomi AI Glasses, and Thunderbird V3.

- Smart glasses with a monochrome pure - text display function, which can be used to display teleprompters, notifications, navigation, and other simple text - based information, including Meizu StarV Air and Rokid Glasses.

- Smart glasses with a color screen and image display ability, having a complete graphical interface, such as Thunderbird X3 Pro and the Android XR verification device demonstrated by Google at Google I/O.

Although there are commercialized products on each of these three technological paths, with prices ranging from 1,999 to 9,999 yuan, in fact, the technological development of smart glasses basically follows this path. Even Google tried full - color display twelve years ago:

In other words, the "display function" will definitely become a battleground for smart glasses in the future. With the maturity of display technologies such as laser holography and high - resolution optical waveguides, smart glasses and AR headsets in the form of glasses will eventually merge into a truly wearable display device for daily use.

However, at present, smart glasses are more like an extension of mobile phones, gradually bringing some of the mobile phone's interaction and shooting functions to a more first - person perspective. At the most fundamental level, they are a human - enhancement device.

Previously, limited by hardware development, smart glasses had never crossed the threshold of "daily usability" and were just a "kitsch" smart device. However, with the gradual maturity of the mobile phone supply chain, smart glasses have basically undergone a transformation in terms of practicality. For example, although similar in function and size, Xiaomi's glasses can achieve about twice the battery life of the Ray - Ban Meta thanks to the technology of Jinshajiang batteries, which undoubtedly takes their practicality to a new level.

The Ray - Ban Meta uses a 160mAh battery | Zhihu @I Love Audio Network

Based on this, we can speculate that 2025, 2026, and 2027 will be the three years when the smart glasses market will boom and competition will