Apple has stooped to competing with Xiaomi.

Apple has decided to follow in the footsteps of Xiaomi in the AI glasses market, a sector that Xiaomi has recently popularized.

Moreover, to better compete, Apple is also considering scaling back its related head - mounted display business.

Recently, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg revealed in the "Power On" column that Apple is shifting its R & D focus from the Apple Vision Pro to the smart glasses market. It has even paused the development of a lightweight head - mounted display and reallocated core team resources. Apple's first smart glasses, the Apple Glass, are planned to be unveiled in 2026 and officially launched in 2027.

As a long - time Apple tracker with extensive connections within the company, Mark Gurman's revelations are almost as good as predictions.

As a result, a rather counter - intuitive scenario has emerged. Xiaomi, in its smartphone business, changed the model number from 16 to 17 to compete with Apple, which sparked a lot of discussions. Meanwhile, Apple is giving up its heavily - invested Apple Vision business to enter the AI glasses market popularized by Xiaomi.

However, Apple hasn't publicly announced these moves and prefers to make its strategic arrangements quietly.

Following Xiaomi's Lead

Xiaomi's entry into the AI glasses market was nothing short of spectacular.

At the "Smart Mobility, Home, and Ecosystem Launch Event" on June 26th, Xiaomi's AI glasses made a grand appearance and were regarded by Xiaomi as the main entry point for its future AI ecosystem.

Screenshot from Weibo @Xiaomi Corporation

Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi with a Hubei accent, single - handedly popularized AI glasses.

According to multiple media reports, within the first five days of sales, the sales volume on JD.com's official flagship store alone exceeded 10,000 units. In the first 15 days, the total sales volume across all platforms reached approximately 80,000 units.

Lei Jun spared no effort in promoting the product at various important events.

Subsequently, other leading domestic companies like Alibaba followed suit. On July 26th, 2025, at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Alibaba announced the launch of its first self - developed AI glasses, the Quark AI glasses.

IDC predicts that the global smart glasses market will ship 12.05 million units in 2025, a year - on - year increase of 18.3%. Among them, audio glasses and audio - shooting glasses without display functions are expected to ship 5.47 million units, a year - on - year increase of 101.9%.

Image from IDC

In contrast, the entire head - mounted display market, including Apple's products, has been lackluster.

In February 2024, Apple launched its first head - mounted device, the Vision Pro. This mixed - reality device is priced at $3,500, making it one of Apple's most expensive products to date.

The market has mixed opinions about this product. Its uses are limited, and it's unclear whether the technology is targeted at gamers or professionals. Even Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted that the $3,500 price tag means it's not a mass - market product but more of a novelty item.

Even Meta, the most committed advocate of the metaverse concept, has changed its course and shifted its focus from virtual reality to AI glasses. Despite the setback of its second - generation AI glasses at the September launch event this year, Meta is still determined to pursue the AI glasses market.

Statistics tell the story. According to sales data from the first half of 2025, Meta's smart glasses have sold over 2 million units globally, four times the sales volume of the Vision Pro during the same period.

Meta's smart glasses weigh less than 150 grams, similar to regular sunglasses. They have a battery life of 6 - 8 hours, allowing for all - day wear. Their core functions focus on "lightweight interaction," including voice assistants, real - time translation, first - person photography, and even the ability to connect to a phone to handle messages. More importantly, Meta has integrated its social platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp, allowing users to directly share first - person videos. There are over 2,000 gaming and office applications, covering daily needs.

In contrast, the Vision Pro is extremely bulky and ignores the most basic user needs of "usefulness, affordability, and portability."

The overly complex Vision Pro is not very popular in the consumer market.

Xiaomi's Struggles on This Path

After a spectacular start, the AI glasses market quickly fell into silence.

After reaching 80,000 units in sales within 15 days of launch, Xiaomi has not updated the cumulative sales figures. Meanwhile, some media reported that the daily sales of Xiaomi's AI glasses on various platforms have dropped significantly.

According to data from Chanmama, as of August 18th, the daily sales volume on Douyin has plummeted from a peak of 5,000 - 7,500 units at launch to a range of 100 - 250 units.

Galaxy Securities pointed out in a research report that although AI glasses, driven by many manufacturers, have the potential to become the next - generation mainstream computing terminal after smartphones, they still face key challenges in terms of cost, battery life, ecosystem, and user habits.

Therefore, the AI glasses market is a field full of both risks and opportunities. As a latecomer, Apple needs to conduct a careful assessment before entering.

In the latest revelations, Apple has not completely abandoned its head - mounted display business but is taking a more gradual approach.

Some foreign media reported that Apple may not hold a dedicated product launch event for the M5 - chip products in October but will announce them through press releases. In addition, the leak of the iPad Pro with the M5 chip and the accidental confirmation of Apple's new Vision Pro in FCC documents suggest that Apple will make significant moves in October.

That is to say, Apple still plans to make minor updates to the existing Vision Pro, including upgrading the chip.

Some media reported that Apple's efforts to promote the Vision Pro to consumers have not been very successful, and the company is now trying to shift its marketing focus to corporate customers.

Moreover, Apple's current capabilities in the AI field are not strong enough to directly enter the AI glasses market. Technically, AI glasses rely heavily on voice interaction and artificial intelligence, which are not Apple's strong suits. The progress of Apple's Apple Intelligence platform has been slow, and the upgrade of Siri has been repeatedly delayed.

After all, an AI capability that netizens joke is only at the "PPT level" can hardly provide effective support for AI glasses.

How Can Apple Compete?

By competing with Apple, Xiaomi has reaped huge benefits.

On September 15th, Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, posted that the Xiaomi 17 series has achieved a generational upgrade in product features and is directly competing with the iPhone.

Screenshot from Weibo @Lei Jun

Lei Jun is deliberately creating a connection between Xiaomi and Apple. At the September 25th speech event, he took this to the extreme, creating an atmosphere where Apple is "not explicitly mentioned but always felt."

For a while, only Xiaomi and Apple were the prominent names in the smartphone market, and other brands were overshadowed.

On September 27th, during the first - day sales, the Xiaomi 17 series sold out within five minutes, breaking the sales volume and revenue records for new domestic smartphones in all price ranges in 2025. The retail system of many Xiaomi stores crashed due to the high volume of orders and recovered an hour later.

According to the latest statistics from an authoritative market research institution, thanks to the strong sales of the Xiaomi 17 series, Xiaomi topped the Chinese smartphone market with a 21.2% share during the National Day Golden Week from September 29th to October 5th. This is the second consecutive week that Xiaomi has won the top spot since the launch of the Xiaomi 17 series.

Now the pressure is on Apple. Can it achieve a high level by giving up the head - mounted display business and competing with Xiaomi in the AI glasses market?

Taking a closer look at Apple's resources, it has more advantages than Xiaomi.

Apple may adopt a phased release strategy similar to Apple Silicon, leaving enough time between product announcement and launch for developers to adapt applications and build an ecosystem for the new platform. This timeline also aligns with earlier predictions that the product will debut at the end of 2026 or early 2027.

The incomplete application ecosystem is an important factor restricting the popularization of AR glasses. Many users reported that after buying AI glasses, there are few available applications, and they can't fully utilize the glasses' functions.

Some well - known bloggers said that although AR glasses are very popular, they may not become a new mainstream market yet because the ecosystem is not mature. "Without more app adaptations and longer battery life, smart glasses will remain niche products."

History shows that Apple's Vision Pro was abandoned by developers before its launch. In January 2024, YouTube, Spotify, and Netflix announced that they would not develop applications for the Apple Vision Pro.

Analysts said that YouTube, Spotify, and Netflix are cold towards the Vision Pro because of its high price and low expected sales volume.

In contrast, Xiaomi's ecosystem is more focused on the upstream and downstream of the hardware supply chain. Lei Jun once said that Xiaomi has built a complete ecosystem by investing in related industries, which is the result of more than a decade of experience.

The lack of a content ecosystem has led to a lack of follow - up momentum for Xiaomi's AI glasses. Even the main uses demonstrated by Lei Jun when promoting the glasses were just taking photos and recording the current scene. This kind of "demonstration" not only makes the glasses seem like toys but also fails to differentiate them from action cameras and handheld stabilizer cameras, giving consumers no compelling reason to buy them.

Perhaps, relying on its own software and content ecosystem, Apple's CEO Tim Cook can come up with some new ideas for AI glasses.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Source Byte," written by Source Byte and published by 36Kr with permission.