Trading volume increased 10-fold, with a new product released every 9 days on average. A deep dive into the wild growth of AI glasses.

On average, a new pair of smart glasses is launched every 9 days. From unknown startups to global mobile phone giants, everyone is flocking to this field. The wild growth of AI glasses is unstoppable.

According to the semi - annual report of smart glasses released by JD.com on August 26, in the first half of 2025, the trading volume of smart glasses increased by more than 10 times year - on - year, and the number of settled brands increased by 3 times.

Source: CCTV News

On one hand, the "fatal" problems of AI glasses, such as high price, short battery life, and limited content, still need to be solved urgently. All companies are in the exploratory stage, trying to find their own "right" solutions. On the other hand, new AI glasses products are constantly pouring into the market. The doubling and sky - rocketing data seem to prove the great potential of this track.

There are an endless stream of various industry conferences related to AI glasses, as well as small - scale visiting and discussion activities organized within the industry. Many players seem eager to get on board and find out what they can do in this upsurge, for fear of missing the train and falling behind in the new AI hardware field.

According to an incomplete statistics by Zhidx, in the first 8 months of this year, the number of newly launched AI glasses products with a certain degree of popularity that have been publicly reported has reached 25 models.

Incomplete statistics of new AI glasses products in 2025. Source: Zhidx

With a nearly ten - fold price difference from 999 yuan to 8999 yuan, can it support a ten - fold experience advantage? Does the "Schrödinger's battery life" from 1 hour to 48 hours become a new perspective to test the "bottom line" of brands? Among the many AI functions that claim to "free your hands", to what extent can they achieve the experience and efficiency of an AI mobile phone? Is it a real need, or will it end up gathering dust?

Digging deep into the fierce competition of AI glasses in 2025, we find that the truth is far more exciting than expected. There are both expected and unexpected things. Before Apple enters the AI glasses market in 2027, it's still a question mark whether the "tens of millions - level" market can arrive in advance.

Oakley Meta AI glasses

01.

New and old players are in a melee, and products are launched on multiple fronts

Judging from the participating companies and the release rhythm, the new products in January were mainly some products first exhibited at this year's CES. Of course, some of these products are overseas versions of domestic products, such as the Loomos AI glasses from AnkerMake.

Starting from April, the release rhythm gradually accelerated. May had the most new products, with 7 models. However, these 7 products only came from three manufacturers: Lenovo, Liweike, and TCL Thunderbird. It is a common strategy for manufacturers to adopt the "multi - front attack" approach when launching AI glasses products.

On the one hand, this can cover more price segments and user groups. But some industry insiders told Zhidx that from another perspective, it is also a last - resort measure. With the current supply - chain solutions and software - hardware technical conditions, manufacturers can only make "choices".

For example, whether a product should have a display function is a must - answer question - it is temporarily impossible to perfectly balance portability and high - quality display.

Therefore, many manufacturers have launched lighter models with and without displays respectively, such as Transsion, Thunderobot, Lenovo, Liweike, and TCL Thunderbird.

In terms of the number of product releases, manufacturers focusing on the AR/VR field are still the main force in launching new products, including TCL Thunderbird, Liweike, LLVision, DaPeng VR, and Meta. New products account for nearly 40%.

It is worth mentioning that the entry of giants in the hardware fields such as mobile phones and PCs into the AI glasses market has become a prominent feature of this year's market.

Although Transsion's AI glasses have not been officially launched for sale, they were released in March this year and the price was announced. Undoubtedly, Xiaomi is the most prominent new entrant in the mobile phone field. The impressive first - sale performance of its AI glasses has significantly contributed to the high growth of the market in the first half of the year.

Xiaomi AI glasses

Two major，PC brands, Thunderobot and Lenovo, have also successively launched their own AI glasses and AI+AR glasses.

Among the telecom giants, the entry of China Telecom is not surprising. As early as the VR era, Migu Video under China Mobile has always been one of the enthusiastic supporters of VR content. It is also expected that China Telecom hopes to seize the opportunity in the AI glasses market.

In addition, products from new forces in the AI glasses field such as Haliday, CyberSight, Xuanjing, and Zhijingweizhi have also attracted some attention in the industry. These new forces often find their own unique entry points. For example, Haliday chooses the near - eye display module as the display solution, CyberSight chooses HUD display and focuses on cycling, and Zhijingweizhi has even developed an AI function that links AI glasses with bicycles.

Haliday AI glasses

Of course, there are also some "special" players, including Internet giant Alibaba and the Shining brand under Renhe Pharmaceutical. The latter's "brain - computer intelligent glasses" have become a representative case of the application of smart glasses in the medical and health field.

Alibaba's Quark AI glasses have attracted wide attention during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference. Its pricing, which is almost on par with Xiaomi's, and its almost "all - around" configuration have raised high expectations for its official launch.

Display prototype of Quark AI glasses. Source: Zhidx

Recently, there have been many reports about ByteDance's AI glasses. Internet giants seem to be quite interested in this "new entry point".

Anyway, in the fierce competition of the AI glasses market, the variety of players is really rich, and the competition is really intense.

02.

The 1500 - 2000 yuan price segment has become the most dominant

Price "polarization" may become the subsequent trend

With the price cuts of new products from Xiaomi and TCL Thunderbird, the two major domestic AI glasses shipment leaders, the average price of products in the AI glasses market has also decreased.

According to the semi - annual report of JD.com's smart glasses, in the first half of 2025, the average price of smart glasses dropped from over 2000 yuan to around 1500 yuan.

According to Zhidx's statistics, among the 25 AI glasses products, products priced below 1000 yuan account for 12%, only 3 models; there are 2 models in the 1000 - 1500 yuan price segment; there are 10 models in the 1500 - 2000 yuan price segment, accounting for 40%, the highest proportion; there are 3 models in the 2000 - 2500 yuan price segment; there are 3 models around 3000 yuan, and only 1 model is around 10,000 yuan.

Price situation of new AI glasses products in 2025. Source: Zhidx

It is worth mentioning that the 1500 - 2000 yuan price segment is also one of the dominant price segments for the current sub - flagship or high - cost - performance smartphones.

The price cut will surely lower the threshold for consumers to try new products, which is conducive to promoting the penetration rate of the category market.

From the price - segment distribution, we can also roughly judge the product types. Limited by the solutions and costs, most of the mainstream models below 2000 yuan do not have display functions and no screens, which are what we commonly call AI shooting glasses. Products below 1000 yuan are mainly AI audio glasses.

As mentioned above, "balancing" means a significant increase in cost. The TCL Thunderbird X3 Pro is one of the higher - priced new domestic AI glasses products, with an official price of 8999 yuan. But similarly, this product combines shooting, screen display, and various AI functions, providing a relatively more comprehensive functional experience.

According to the data displayed on the front - end of the JD.com e - commerce platform, the sales volume of this product on JD.com is about 1000+, and there are 18 reviews with pictures or videos. In contrast, the front - end sales volume of Xiaomi's 1999 - yuan AI glasses is 40,000+.

In the hot - selling list of JD.com's smart glasses, we can see that 4 out of the top 5 products are priced below 2000 yuan.

Hot - selling list of JD.com's smart glasses as of 11 a.m. on August 27

Overall, price "polarization" may become one of the subsequent development trends of AI glasses. The maturity of supply - chain solutions, the decrease in costs, and the increase in the overall industry shipment volume will lead to a further price cut. However, due to the limitation of technical costs, the price of AI+AR glasses is difficult to drop significantly.

03.

The hardware solutions are highly homogeneous

It's difficult to make a substantial difference in experience

As mentioned above, the decrease in the overall average price of AI glasses is partly due to the maturity of the industrial supply chain. After multiple rounds of iteration and practical implementation, various solutions have been continuously refined, and the cost has decreased. However, the "ready - to - use" supply - chain solutions will more or less lead to the homogenization of product hardware solutions.

Chip and camera solutions of new AI glasses products in 2025. Source: Zhidx

For example, looking at these 25 products, a prominent feature is that the Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 chip + 12 - megapixel Sony IMX 681 camera have become a "standard template" for AI glasses.

If you see a 12 - megapixel lens, it's very likely to correspond to the Qualcomm AR1 solution. This is the case for TCL Thunderbird, Xiaomi, Thunderobot, Lenovo, Liweike, Alibaba, and China Telecom, which is basically the same as Meta.

It's true that each company may have some differences in the algorithms for taking pictures and videos, but the hardware foundation is indeed very similar.

Many users have reported that AI glasses consume a lot of power during the photo - and video - taking process, which is closely related to the optimization and coordination between the chip and the camera. The lack of customized cameras specifically for AI glasses is also one of the important factors contributing to the high power consumption during shooting.

Of course, in terms of AI glasses chips, domestic semiconductor companies such as Actions Semiconductor, Spreadtrum, Abovetech, and Wuqi also have relevant product layouts and have achieved mass production.

Companies such as Xiaomi and Alibaba have directly adopted the more difficult but higher - ceiling "Qualcomm + Abovetech" dual - chip collaborative solution.

In addition to chips and cameras, the screen and optical solutions also show a "bundled" trend.