In the post-Apple era, can Lens Technology break through with AI?
Against the backdrop of the overall downturn in the consumer electronics industry, Lens Technology released a semi - annual report that excited the capital market: In the first half of 2025, the company's total revenue reached 32.96 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 14.18%; the net profit was 1.143 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 32.68%.
Image source: Lens Technology's 2025 Semi - annual Report
From a glass workshop in Shenzhen to a technology innovation enterprise with annual revenues in the tens of billions, Lens Technology has, over more than three decades, demonstrated how traditional manufacturing enterprises can reshape themselves in the wave of new technologies. However, the transformation path of Lens Technology, from iPhone glass covers to AR waveguide lenses, from automotive intelligent cockpits to humanoid robot joint modules, has not been entirely smooth.
01.
Three - stage leap: The transformation from a small OEM factory to a technology giant
The development history of Lens Technology can be traced back to the Hengsheng Glass Surface Processing Factory established in 1993.
At that time, the founder, Zhou Qunfei, used the HK$20,000 she saved from working to start a business with six relatives in a three - bedroom apartment in Shenzhen. Starting with the watch glass business, the company focused on the niche area of glass surface processing. In the early days of entrepreneurship, like many Chinese manufacturing enterprises, the company relied on labor - intensive production and cost advantages to find a foothold in the market.
Zhou Qunfei, the founder of Lens Technology. Image source: Phoenix Network
In 2001, when TCL was developing flip - phones but faced technical bottlenecks in panel materials, at an ordinary friends' gathering, Zhou Qunfei made a breakthrough suggestion: applying the watch glass manufacturing process to mobile phone screens. This innovation directly led to the birth of the world's first glass - screen mobile phone, quickly replacing the traditional plexiglass material.
After that, manufacturers such as ZTE and Konka sought cooperation, creating unprecedented growth opportunities for Lens Technology. Soon after, with the rise of the consumer electronics market, Zhou Qunfei established Shenzhen Lens Technology Co., Ltd. in 2003, starting to engage in the window protection glass business, laying a solid foundation for becoming a consumer electronics glass giant in the future.
In 2007, a greater opportunity emerged for Lens Technology. At that time, Apple was developing the first - generation iPhone, but the original suppliers had difficulty meeting its strict technical standards. At a critical moment, Zhou Qunfei led the team to conduct technical research day and night. She even went into the workshop, personally adjusted the equipment, and controlled the environmental cleanliness.
All the efforts paid off. Lens Technology finally passed Apple's strict review and became one of the core suppliers. Since then, from the first - generation iPhone to every subsequent new product, whether it's the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, or the recently launched Apple Vision Pro, Lens Technology has been deeply involved in R & D and production.
This cooperation not only brought rapid business growth to Lens Technology but also led to a leap - forward improvement in its management level and production process. In 2015, Lens Technology was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
However, the success of "soaring" with Apple also brought "Apple dependence syndrome" to Lens Technology. In 2016, when iPhone sales declined for the first time, Lens Technology's revenue from Apple dropped by 30.8%, and the company experienced its first annual negative growth. In 2018, iPhone shipments declined significantly, and Lens Technology suffered a single - quarter loss of 428 million yuan, and its stock price also plummeted by 71% that year.
In the capital market, whenever there is news of Apple cutting orders, it will trigger sharp fluctuations in Lens Technology's stock price.
Therefore, since 2015, Lens Technology has strategically expanded into new fields such as smart cars, AR/VR, and robots, continuously increasing R & D investment, and gradually building vertical integration capabilities from "materials - modules - complete machines". As of the end of 2024, the company had 2,249 valid patents and 127 software copyrights, covering multiple fields such as new materials, industrial Internet, and production digitization.
In July this year, Lens Technology was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. According to the latest financial report, in the first half of 2025, Lens Technology's smart car and cockpit business achieved revenues of 3.165 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 16.45%; the smart headset and wearable device business revenues reached 1.647 billion yuan, a 14.74% increase; and other smart terminal businesses (including humanoid robots) even soared by 128.20% to 364 million yuan. It can be seen that its transformation strategy has achieved initial results, and a diversified business pattern is taking shape.
Image source: Lens Technology's 2025 Semi - annual Report
It can be said that since 1993, Lens Technology has completed a three - stage leap from traditional processing to high - end manufacturing and then to intelligent innovation. The company has not only expanded its revenue scale but also reconstructed its business model. This evolution is not only the growth history of an enterprise but also a microcosm of China's manufacturing industry from OEM to innovation, from following to leading.
02.
The Four "Gangmasters": Layout and competition in the AI hardware ecosystem
Today, Lens Technology's diversified layout covers four major business areas.
First, the smartphone and computer business is a stable foundation.
According to the financial report, in the first half of 2025, Lens Technology's smartphone and computer business achieved operating revenues of 27.185 billion yuan, accounting for 82.5%. The company's advantages in this field are mainly reflected in two aspects: one is the ultra - thin flexible glass (UTG) technology, and the other is the integrated industrial chain.
As the world's core UTG supplier, Lens Technology, with its profound technical accumulation, has innovatively launched a multi - layer structure design for folding screens, effectively eliminating creases and improving screen flatness. Relying on the advantages of the integrated industrial chain of "structural parts - functional modules - complete machine assembly", Lens Technology has maintained a leading position in the industry in the fields of high - end glass, ceramics, sapphire, and metal structural parts.
According to IDC's prediction, the global shipments of folding - screen mobile phones will reach 19.83 million units in 2025 and are expected to increase to 27.29 million units by 2029. This means that in the next few years, Lens Technology's technological and production capacity advantages in the folding - screen field will be further unleashed. At the same time, the new 3D glass has become a new growth engine for the company. Due to the complex processing technology and high technical barriers of this type of glass, the unit value of the product has increased significantly. In the future, it is expected to form a market pattern of "both volume and price increasing", bringing incremental dividends to Lens Technology.
Second, the smart car and cockpit business is growing into the second growth curve.
As the company's second - largest source of income, Lens Technology's smart car and cockpit business covers core products such as central control modules, intelligent B/C pillars, charging piles, cockpit decorative parts, and wireless charging modules. The communication modules and domain controllers have also achieved technical breakthroughs and entered mass production and delivery. Currently, it has established cooperative relationships with more than 30 leading domestic and foreign automobile enterprises such as Tesla and BYD.
Notably, the ultra - thin laminated window glass is the company's strategic innovative product, with multiple functions such as lightweight, sound insulation, heat insulation, UV protection, waterproofing, anti - fouling, HUD projection, and color - changing shading. This product has been successfully introduced into the mass - production system of new models of leading domestic automobile enterprises, increasing the unit value of a single vehicle to the thousands - of - yuan level. It is also deepening cooperation with global new - energy brands and traditional European and American automobile enterprises and is expected to enter the mass - production stage soon.
The China Merchant Industry Research Institute predicts that the market size of China's passenger car intelligent cockpit will exceed 156.4 billion yuan in 2025. With its technical accumulation, Lens Technology is expected to gain a considerable share in this market.
Third, the smart headset and wearable business is betting on the era of AI glasses.
In the wave of the evolution of artificial intelligence technology, smart glasses, as a key evolution direction, are facing unprecedented development opportunities. According to IDC's prediction, the shipments of Chinese AI glasses will exceed 2.75 million units in 2025, a year - on - year surge of 107%.
In the field of smart headsets and wearables, Lens Technology has achieved the ability to provide full - stack solutions from optical lenses, structural parts, functional modules to complete machine assembly. During the reporting period, the company achieved breakthroughs in optimizing the yield rate of waveguide lenses and high - precision automated assembly processes and successfully achieved large - scale mass - production and delivery of AR glasses to leading domestic customers.
Previously, Lens Technology officially announced a deep strategic cooperation with Hangzhou Rokid Technology, a leading enterprise in AI interaction. As the complete - machine assembly partner for all Rokid AI glasses products, Lens Technology will rely on its intelligent manufacturing system to cover the entire production chain, accelerate large - scale product delivery, and promote relevant technical breakthroughs.
Finally, the robot and other terminal business is the most imaginative new battlefield for Lens Technology.
Lens Technology started its layout in the robot field early. In 2016, it established Lens Intelligent Robot Changsha Co., Ltd. to engage in the R & D and manufacturing of intelligent industrial robots. In 2025, Lens participated in the establishment of Hunan Zhiqi Future Technology Co., Ltd. with a 70% shareholding, focusing on fields such as intelligent robot R & D.
At the beginning of this year, Lens Technology jointly delivered the world's first full - stack open - source robot, Lingxi X1, with Zhipu Robotics and successfully achieved large - scale delivery of products related to the Lingxi X1 humanoid robot. It is understood that Lens Technology was deeply involved in the production, assembly, testing, and control of core components such as the joint modules, DCU controllers, and OmniPicker (grippers) of the Lingxi X1 robot. This indicates that Lens Technology has the ability to provide one - stop vertical services and has a first - mover advantage in the embodied intelligence track.
Image source: Humanoid robot release
According to the prediction of GGII, the global embodied intelligence market size will reach 6.339 billion yuan in 2025 and is expected to exceed 400 billion yuan by 2035. This may be the most imaginative growth point for Lens Technology in the future.
03.
Behind the glory: Thorns and challenges on the transformation path
Although Lens Technology has made significant progress in its diversified layout, its transformation path still faces multiple challenges.
From the latest financial report, although the performance has been growing, Lens Technology's gross profit margin has declined. According to the previous prospectus, Lens Technology's gross profit margins from 2022 to 2024 were 18.3%, 15.6%, and 14.6% respectively, showing a downward trend year by year. In the first half of 2025, the gross profit margin was 14.22%, slightly lower than 14.33% in the same period last year and significantly lower than the central level of the consumer electronics components and assembly industry.
Meanwhile, the hidden worry of dependence on major customers still exists. Although Lens Technology has tried to diversify, its dependence on major customers such as Apple is still relatively high: in 2024, the sales of its top five customers still accounted for as high as 81.1% of the total revenue.
Moreover, it is worth noting that relying on large companies such as Apple also exposes Lens Technology to certain heavy - asset risks. Data shows that the company's fixed assets have increased from 10.9 billion yuan in 2016 to 36.379 billion yuan at the end of 2024. Since most of the equipment is designed for Apple's customized needs, if there are changes in the relevant business, the asset impairment losses it faces will put greater pressure on its financial situation.
In addition, although the new business has a promising future, the support it can provide to Lens Technology in the short term is still relatively limited.
On the one hand, although the revenues of the smart car and cockpit, smart headset and wearable, and other smart terminal businesses are growing rapidly, their combined revenue share is less than 20%. On the other hand, the humanoid robot market is still in its infancy, with a relatively limited scale. A mature business model and stable market demand are still in the process of gradual formation, and there is great uncertainty in market demand.
Lens Technology participates in the Chinese Robotics Academic Conference. Image source: Humanoid robot release
In addition, the challenges of global layout cannot be ignored.
It is reported that Lens Technology is building production bases in Vietnam and Thailand to cope with potential tariff risks and be closer to international customers. However, against the backdrop of tense geopolitics, global layout is both an inevitable choice and accompanied by challenges in operational efficiency and cost control.
In short, in the wave of the AI hardware revolution, this enterprise that started from a glass workshop is striving to reshape itself into an intelligent hardware innovation platform. In the future, it needs to consolidate its technological barriers, optimize its customer structure, explore new markets, and improve its profitability. Whether it can continue to shine in the AI era is worthy of our continuous attention.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Do