In 2025, half of the tech circle bet on this piece of "glass" | 36Kr's Annual Perspective ③
The "Perspectives" section specially planned a series of "36Kr Annual Summaries" at the end of the year, using data to analyze the trends throughout 2025 and presenting the key points in this year's business world that cannot be missed through pictures. This is our third piece of content in this series.
Author | Ding Mao
The competition in the mobile phone market has reached a stalemate, and VR has yet to break into the mainstream. The tech giants have decided to open up a "second battlefield" on the bridge of your nose. The year 2025 marks the beginning of the era when the capabilities of a mobile phone can be "worn" on your face.
Chart by 36Kr
The battle for the new entry point in smart hardware has officially begun - AI glasses are re - enacting the "AirPods moment" of a decade ago. It is predicted that the global shipment of AI glasses will reach 5.5 million units in 2025, a year - on - year increase of 135%. By 2030, it could be a huge market with a shipment of 90 million units.
Chart by 36Kr
The biggest change in this generation of products is "returning to common sense": First and foremost, they are a pair of affordable and wearable glasses. Thanks to the maturity of the domestic supply chain, the weight of the whole device has been controlled below 50g, providing a wearing experience similar to that of ordinary glasses and supporting prescription lenses for myopia. Moreover, the price has been driven down to the thousand - yuan level, on par with mid - to high - end myopia glasses.
Chart by 36Kr
However, the more fundamental breakthrough lies in the "core". With the threshold of edge - side computing power being crossed (such as the maturity of dedicated chips like Qualcomm AR1 Gen1) and the combination with current mainstream large - scale models at home and abroad, AI glasses have acquired two core capabilities:
- Multimodal perception: It can not only listen (voice interaction) but also see (first - person shooting and recognition), achieving a leap from "environmental sound understanding" to "physical object and scene recognition".
- Efficiency booster: From real - time simultaneous interpretation to transcribing meeting minutes, it is taking over the high - frequency scenarios of mobile phones and voice recorders.
Chart by 36Kr
Here are three judgments about this field that are worth your attention:
1. Why are glasses more worthy of attention than headphones or smartwatches?
Because it is the only device that can obtain the "First - Person Perspective (FPP)". Different from headphones that can only "listen" or smartwatches that can only "measure", glasses are synchronized with your line of sight and can capture the world you see through the camera. This enables AI to go beyond being just a chatbot in the cloud and have "vision", truly understanding the physical world and providing feedback (such as object recognition, navigation, and augmented reality).
2. Current AI glasses have differentiated into three categories:
- Auditory - focused (e.g., Huawei, Jiehuan): These glasses remove the camera, are extremely lightweight, and focus on all - day audio assistants and notification centers.
- Photography/Assistant - focused (e.g., Ray - Ban Meta, Baidu, Li Auto): These glasses come with a camera and focus on multimodal AI interaction and life recording, which are currently the mainstream in the market.
- Display - focused (e.g., Yingmu, Rokid, Kuaike): These glasses are equipped with waveguides and focus on AR display, translation, navigation, etc., enabling more scenario - based applications.
Chart by 36Kr
3. The battle among the giants: Competing for the next - generation "super terminal"
Tech giants such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Baidu, Alibaba, and Li Auto have all entered the market. They are not only aiming for hardware sales but also trying to secure a position in the next super AI terminal market after mobile phones. This is the most notable hardware field in 2025 after AI - enabled mobile phones, PCs, and headphones.
Chart by 36Kr