Supplier of Alibaba's AI glasses secures financing from OPPO and Xiaomi, with order volume hitting a record high | Hidden unicorns
Author | Zhang Ziyi
Editor | Yuan Silai
In 2025, smart glasses have once again reached the forefront.
The newly released Ray - Ban Display glasses by Meta are almost sold out on retail platforms. The sales volume of this product has already exceeded 2 million units. Market sources also claim that Apple will enter the smart glasses market within the next 12 to 16 months, and will first launch a pair of glasses without a display screen.
Quark AI glasses started pre - sales at zero o'clock on October 24th at the Quark Smart Devices Tmall flagship store. Rokid broke the record of the AI/AR glasses industry with a crowdfunding result of over $3.614 million.
Since 10 years ago, smart glasses have stirred the market's nerves every once in a while. Products like VR and AR glasses have gone through several cycles. This time, with the support of large models, they are regarded as the most ideal carriers for intelligent terminals. Major companies have started chasing the next "iPhone moment" again.
The upstream supply chain can best sense the fluctuations of the wave. Zhige Technology was founded in 2019 and is one of the most well - known AR diffractive waveguide manufacturers at present. It serves many large consumer electronics and Internet companies as well as AR glasses unicorn companies, such as Alibaba's Quark AI glasses. As early as 2023, Zhige Technology built the industry's first fully automated mass - production line for diffractive waveguides.
Its founder, Meng Xiangfeng, told Yingke: "There are quite a lot of orders from major clients this year, and each individual order is over 100,000 sets. There has never been an order of over 100,000 sets in the entire industry's history."
Before the emergence of generative AI, the industry was still struggling to explore, and everyone was betting on the distant future. He said bluntly, "The industry was saved by AI. For the metaverse to be realized, there needs to be significant technological breakthroughs in display, chips, sensors, batteries, etc. The commercial feasibility is too low."
At the Shenzhen Optoelectronic Expo in September this year, AR/VR had a separate venue. This was unimaginable in the past - AR/VR companies used to share exhibition areas with other companies.
Supply chain companies have also attracted the attention of capital. Zhige Technology completed two rounds of financing exceeding 100 million yuan this year. Before that, Zhige Technology had already received multiple rounds of financing totaling hundreds of millions of yuan, with investors including industrial giants such as Xiaomi, OPPO, and SMIC Juyuan.
No matter how high Meta's stock price soars, judging from the shipment volume, the smart glasses market is far from the time for celebration. However, this upsurge seems to continue.
But at this stage, with the entry of many manufacturers and star entrepreneurs, smart glasses can no longer just rely on concepts. Instead, ways need to be found to make the products lighter and more intelligent.
01 The Always Right Market
At the Optoelectronic Expo, Yingke experienced smart glasses made with Zhige Technology's waveguide sheets. The weight of the glasses is not much different from that of ordinary glasses. The appearance is a regular design with a black plastic frame. After wearing them, the world is clearly divided into two parts - pedestrians coming and going are in the real world, while a line of small words projected on the screen reminds of another virtual imaging world.
It is not easy to achieve this. The core reason why smart glasses are difficult to popularize in the consumer market lies in their optical module. The optical module accounts for more than 40% of the overall cost and directly determines the product form and display effect.
Currently, AR optics are developing from the Birdbath solution (a technical solution that can achieve a huge screen effect) to the waveguide solution. Waveguide technology can significantly reduce the volume and thickness of the device, becoming the core breakthrough in the optical field of the consumer - grade market. Among them, diffractive waveguide is the technology that Zhige Technology focuses on and is the most commonly used.
Diffractive waveguides achieve optical path transmission by engraving gratings on the lenses, but they have two inherent defects: "light leakage" and "rainbow patterns". Rainbow patterns are caused by diffraction and spectral separation when external light enters the grating, resulting in visual pollution.
In the past, Zhige Technology was committed to making AR glasses with high FOV and immersion. The moment when they realized that "the market is always right" was in 2022.
That year, Zhige Technology defeated many companies and won the bid for an AR glasses project of a giant enterprise.
Meng Xiangfeng recalled that at that time, the whole company was fully committed to the project research and development. Everyone was concerned about how to make the light effect better, the virtual image brighter, and the display uniformity better. When the other team received the product, they also thought the effect was very good and were very satisfied. When it was reported to the boss, the first question the boss asked was about the existence of rainbow - like stray light (rainbow patterns), which exceeded everyone's expectations. "He is not a parameter - oriented person. What he wants is the user experience."
This cooperation made Meng Xiangfeng realize that on the road of pursuing technological innovation, enterprises sometimes ignore more essential things - how does the market view this product? How do consumers experience this product? If these elements cannot be met, technology has no chance to be applied.
Since then, Zhige Technology has resolutely decided to transform. Instead of blindly pursuing extreme optical indicators, it strives to make the waveguide sheets as ordinary as ordinary glasses lenses.
Based on this, Zhige Technology has developed a patented "rainbow - free" technology. Through a unique optical design, it guides the rainbow patterns to diverge at a specific angle, preventing them from entering the human eye, ensuring that users do not feel the rainbow patterns in 95% of the scenarios.
At the same time, to improve the light transmittance of AR glasses, Zhige Technology uses complex optical designs and process means. The comprehensive light transmittance of its waveguide lenses exceeds 98%, and the light transmittance of the non - grating area can reach over 99%, which is comparable to that of high - end glasses lenses.
Zhige Technology also has a patented technology for gradient gratings, which improves the display uniformity and aesthetic appearance. At the same time, through a unique waveguide optical architecture design, it effectively improves the light leakage problem.
In Meng Xiangfeng's view, the more crucial thing for making AR glasses is the customer's wearing experience, rather than optical indicators.
"The to B market is often driven by both the market and technology. Sometimes, new technologies can even achieve a dimensionality - reduction strike on old technologies. But the to C market is completely different. At this stage, a product with an 85 - point wearing experience + a 70 - point optical performance is already good enough to sell."
This also conforms to the current general trend. In the past, AI + AR glasses were restricted by the insufficient maturity of hardware, and their market sales have always accounted for a relatively low proportion.
The cooperation between Meta and Ray - Ban has broken the barrier between geek products and consumer products. This series has detonated the market since its launch. The Ray - Ban Display released in September is its first consumer - grade smart glasses with a display screen. The starting price of $799 is relatively high among smart glasses. Currently, not only are they sold out in retail channels, but almost all the trial - wearing appointments before November are also fully booked.
Statistics from Wellsenn XR show that in the global sales volume of AI smart glasses in 2024, 94% are photo - taking AI smart glasses, almost all of which come from a single product of Meta.
In terms of parameters, Meta's products are not really top - notch. The key to its breakthrough is to abandon parameter stacking, turn it into an accessory, and embrace the mass market.
02 Building Manufacturing Barriers and Accelerating Iteration
The appeal of giant enterprises is always very strong. The wave of the "Hundred Glasses War" in China last year was actually triggered by the market explosion of Meta last year. This year, Meta has further launched smart glasses with a display screen, and the market is bound to follow suit.
Zhige Technology's orders of over 100,000 sets are just the beginning. As an extremely emerging technology, the data parameters in the laboratory for diffractive waveguide sheets are just the first step. Mass production is the key challenge.
Since its establishment, Zhige Technology has adopted the IDM (Integrated Device Manufacturer) model, deeply binding design and manufacturing.
The IDM business model allows Zhige Technology to solve the inherent defects of diffractive waveguides through unique optical designs and advanced materials and processes. At the same time, the product gives priority to the monochromatic solution because it has more advantages in power consumption and optical engine volume, which can ensure the product's portability and wearing comfort to the maximum extent. Next, while ensuring wearing comfort, the product will gradually be upgraded to a color solution.
It is not easy to achieve full - link control of emerging technologies. When Zhige Technology was building the production line in the early stage, due to the need for customized equipment and the small initial order volume, equipment suppliers were not very willing to cooperate. To reach a cooperation, Meng Xiangfeng communicated with the suppliers repeatedly. "At that time, we needed to fully prove our technical path and the certainty of future orders to make them willing to invest. Now the situation is completely different. Because in this niche field, they and Zhige Technology are the first partners to invest and achieve breakthroughs, and they also have a technological first - mover advantage in the industry."
The IDM production model allows Zhige Technology to solve the inherent defects of diffractive waveguides through unique optical designs and processes. At the same time, the product gives priority to the monochromatic solution because it has more advantages in power consumption and optical engine volume, which can ensure the product's portability and wearing comfort to the maximum extent.
In contrast, most waveguide enterprises are still in the semi - automatic production stage, which gives Zhige Technology more advantages in production efficiency, production capacity scale, yield control, and cost optimization.
The latest waveguide lenses of Zhige Technology weigh only 3g and are only 0.5mm thick, which are even thinner and lighter than ordinary glasses lenses.
IDC predicts that the global shipment volume of smart glasses will reach 14.518 million units in 2025, a year - on - year increase of 42.5%. The shipment volume will maintain high - speed growth in the next few years, reaching over 40 million units by 2029.
The Ray - Ban Display will make consumers re - recognize smart glasses, and the display screen function may become a standard feature in the future. Waveguide enterprises will then face a larger market.