Betting on AI glasses may not save Luxshare Precision.
Not long ago, a major player entered the domestic AI glasses market - Xiaomi AI Glasses.
At the Xiaomi Smart Mobility & Home Ecosystem Launch Event, as Lei Jun took the stage to introduce it, the Xiaomi AI Smart Glasses were officially unveiled.
This AI glasses with a starting price of 1,999 yuan adopts a dual - core architecture. The whole device weighs only 40 grams and uses a 12 - megapixel camera to achieve AI visual interaction. More than 30,000 units were sold during the first sales period, and even today, it is still "hard to find a pair" on major platforms. The stock price of Xiaomi Group also once reached the highest point in nearly three months.
Not everyone can find gold mines, but people definitely need water to drink. The Xiaomi AI Glasses have been selling like hotcakes, and the stock prices of many supply - chain enterprises related to the AI glasses concept have also soared.
However, Luxshare Precision is an exception.
As early as May this year, Luxshare Precision (002475.SZ) was newly added as a "AI glasses" concept stock by Flush. But as of the close on July 9th, the stock price hovered around 35 yuan per share, even though there were multiple positive news such as the plan to list in Hong Kong during this period.
For Luxshare Precision, the "water seller", on one hand, there is the chill of shrinking Apple orders, and on the other hand, there is the heat wave of the booming AI glasses market. Whether it can find a new fulcrum between the ice and fire is directly related to whether it can get rid of its deep dependence on Apple and embark on a smooth path.
1. A Prisoner in the Apple Supply Chain, a Self - rescue Race Under Apple's Shadow
"AI glasses are personal smart devices for the next era and also the entrance to the portable AI." At the launch event, Lei Jun only spent 7 minutes introducing the Xiaomi AI Glasses.
Some people say that although the Xiaomi AI Glasses seem like an appetizer for the release of the Xiaomi YU7, considering that Lei Jun has elevated it to the strategic height of the "portable AI entrance", AI glasses still have epoch - making significance.
The latest institutional data shows that the global sales volume of AI glasses is expected to soar to 5.5 million units in 2025, with a year - on - year growth rate as high as 135% compared with the previous year. This growth rate far exceeds the industry's previous expectations, highlighting that the AI glasses market is in a stage of rapid expansion.
According to the data of the International Data Corporation (IDC), the shipment volume of AI glasses in the Chinese market will exceed 2.75 million units in 2025, with a year - on - year growth rate as high as 107%, ranking first in the world.
In a sense, Xiaomi pulled the trigger of the "Hundred Glasses War". With Lei Jun's brand promotion, the entire AI glasses industry has come from behind the scenes to the forefront.
The explosion of the AI glasses market also provides an opportunity for Luxshare Precision to transform.
As is well known, Luxshare Precision has a serious "Apple dependence syndrome".
At the beginning of 2023, a piece of news about Apple cutting orders caused the stock price of Luxshare Precision to evaporate by 9.99% in one day.
This is not the first time that a company in the Apple supply chain has experienced such a scary moment. After Goertek, one of the three giants in the Apple supply chain, had its orders cut, its quarterly net profit plummeted by 88.22%. After OFILM was kicked out of the Apple supply chain, it suffered a huge loss of over 9 billion yuan in three years.
The 2022 annual report shows that the company's sales to Apple reached as high as 114.056 billion yuan, accounting for 74.09% of the total revenue. The consumer electronics business accounts for more than 85% of the overall revenue.
This kind of dependence is like a sweet poison: it has brought a miracle of an average annual revenue growth of over 50% in the past six years, but it has also planted a bomb that may explode at any time.
More importantly, in recent years, the shadow of the sluggish Apple business has been magnifying this problem.
For this reason, Luxshare Precision actively carried out self - rescue before. In 2011, it established an automotive business unit and entered the automotive industry chain. The goal is clear: to transform from an "Apple OEM factory" to a "supplier for Tesla and BYD".
However, the effect is not obvious.
In 2024, Luxshare Precision's automotive business achieved sales of 13.76 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 48.7%, and its revenue crossed the 10 - billion - yuan threshold for the first time. However, it only accounts for about 5% of the overall revenue.
At present, it's not easy to be an automotive Tier 1 supplier. Given that it's difficult for automotive parts giants to transform, it will take time and opportunities for Luxshare Precision to build and expand its automotive business.
From this perspective, the huge market potential of AI glasses undoubtedly becomes the "Noah's Ark" for Luxshare Precision to get rid of its dependence on Apple.
2. The Chips and Cards to Replicate the Success in the Apple Supply Chain
For Luxshare Precision, the attractiveness of the AI glasses market is undoubtedly huge.
Yoshua Bengio, the winner of the Turing Award in 2018, recently talked about AI glasses at an event. "In the future, each of us may wear a smart device with a built - in intelligent AI assistant, which will provide us with help in daily life, just like everyone has a 'virtual staff team'."
As one of the best directions for the implementation of AI terminals, AI glasses currently have multi - modal capabilities such as voice, image recognition, translation, and shooting. When users use AI glasses, they can conduct human - machine interaction from the first - person perspective and use functions such as intelligent Q&A and real - time translation.
As stated in a research report by CICC, AI glasses are expected to become the "next mobile terminal" after mobile phones, and we are standing on the eve of this transformation.
For a consumer electronics industry chain enterprise like Luxshare Precision, once the AI glasses market explodes, it is expected to replicate its success in the Apple supply chain.
In fact, Luxshare Precision set its sights on the AI glasses market early on, hoping to take the lead in this emerging field. And indeed, it has achieved fruitful results.
As early as 2021, Luxshare Precision began to accumulate relevant technical patents for AR/VR through its subsidiary, Luxshare Precision Technology (Nanjing) Co., Ltd., laying a foundation for the subsequent R & D of smart glasses.
In 2024, Luxshare Precision launched the industry's first PVG waveguide AR glasses, "Skylark". These glasses use polarized volume holographic waveguide technology, with the light efficiency increased to 200% and the forward light leakage reduced by 80%. They weigh only 45 grams and integrate functions such as music playback, real - time translation, intelligent teleprompter, and precise navigation.
In May 2025, at the Google I/O Global Developers Conference, Google announced a deep strategic cooperation with Chinese AR technology company XREAL and jointly launched a new generation of AR glasses - Project Aura. Luxshare Precision was also deeply involved in empowering the production supply chain.
As the OEM manufacturer of Apple Vision Pro, Luxshare Precision has accumulated rich experience in the field of high - end head - mounted display manufacturing. These capabilities are being transferred to the AI glasses market:
In Wuxi, Luxshare and XREAL jointly built the world's first fully automated optical production line, which has raised the production efficiency of the core optical display module to a new level and significantly reduced the cost. In Kunshan, Likai Precision Technology focuses on the manufacturing of virtual reality devices to improve the industrial chain layout of smart glasses.
In fact, Luxshare Precision's manufacturing map is being reconstructed. From acoustic products to AR/VR devices, from smart home to automotive electronics, the layout of core technology fields such as "sound, light, electricity, heat, magnetism, and radio frequency" in its annual report has far exceeded the scope of traditional consumer electronics OEM.
These capabilities have become the core chips for Luxshare to seize the AI glasses market.
3. The Predicament in the Red Ocean, Why is the Antidote Hard to Be a Real Antidote?
Looking back at the AI glasses market in the past year, Internet giants, AR glasses manufacturers, and startups have all entered the market.
The categories of AI glasses have been divided into three types: The first type is AI glasses without a camera and display, only supporting voice interaction. The second type is represented by Rayban - Meta, which integrates a camera but has no display. The third type of products are AI glasses based on AR display technology.
However, if we want to find a balance between cost and product experience, perhaps only the Rayban - Meta style glasses can be regarded as the optimal solution at present.
Facts have also proved that the subsequent Rayban - Meta glasses have been very successful. Other domestic AI glasses manufacturers are also following in Meta's footsteps, and Xiaomi AI Glasses are one of them.
In addition, AnkerMake has chosen to cooperate with the glasses brand LOHO. "Xiaodu AI Glasses" and Rokid Glasses are both tied to the fashion glasses brand BOLON. Thunderbird has jointly developed the Thunderbird V3 AI shooting glasses with Dr. Glasses.
However, upon closer inspection of the product essence, the functions of these released or to - be - released AI glasses are concentrated in the shooting and audio fields, with similar functions, which also exposes the collective dilemma of the industry in exploring application scenarios.
With Xiaomi entering the market, the market competition has become fierce. At the 2025 CES, nearly 60 Chinese enterprises and more than 80 overseas enterprises exhibited nearly 50 types of AI glasses products.
In this melee, the ecological barrier has become a moat that Luxshare can hardly cross.
For example, Xiaomi AI Glasses are deeply integrated with the MIUI + Xiaoai classmate ecosystem. Huawei's products are seamlessly connected to its own applications such as maps and search. Rokid has accessed Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen large - model.
These ecological advantages cannot be replicated by Luxshare as a manufacturing enterprise.
More importantly, Luxshare Precision's role positioning in the industrial chain is also embarrassing.
Although it can OEM AR glasses for Xingji Meizu and supply parts for Google's Project Aura, it has never established its own brand.
This means that when there is no "next Apple" in the industry, Luxshare can play the role of a "water seller" to make profits. Once a certain giant establishes its leading position, Luxshare may repeat the mistakes in the Apple supply chain and fall into a new "XX supply - chain" predicament.
An even more profound problem is the uncertainty of the technical route.
A research report by Guotai Junan pointed out that the development of smart glasses will go through three stages of leapfrog: from 2023 to 2025, AI large - models simplify product design, mainly changing the human - machine interaction mode; from 2026 to 2030, real - virtual fusion interaction will be achieved; after 2030, it will truly become a spatial computing platform.
In the stage where the form is basically determined but the technical route is not clear, Luxshare's large - scale manufacturing advantage is difficult to be fully utilized. Luxshare needs to bet on the right technical direction to win the future.
A person in the industry said, "Luxshare Precision can use the most precise instruments to detect the refractive index of each optical module, but it is difficult to calculate its future coordinates in the wave of AI glasses."
While brands like Thunderbird and Rokid are fighting in the "Hundred Glasses War", Luxshare Precision has temporarily avoided the single - dependence on Apple, but found that it is supplying goods to dozens of potential new hegemons at the same time - each may become tomorrow's Apple, and each may leave at any time.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Caijing Wuji", author: Xiao Tian, and is published by 36Kr with authorization.