Behind the denied AI glasses lies ByteDance's greater ambition for AI terminals.
On January 5th, according to a report by Lanjing News, the "Doubao" AI glasses under ByteDance are about to enter the shipment stage. The news said that this product is equipped with a self - developed spatial algorithm chip, weighs less than 50 grams, supports collaborative use with the Doubao App, and multiple versions will be launched in the future, including those with or without a camera and those with or without a display module. The starting price is expected to be controlled within 2000 yuan, and it will be jointly developed, mass - produced, and delivered by Longcheer Technology. However, on the day the news was released, "Jingwei Shell Finance" of The Beijing News sent an inquiry, and ByteDance quickly responded that the rumor was untrue and there was no clear sales plan at present.
This "glasses storm" that only lasted a few hours from the revelation to the denial has sparked extensive market attention to ByteDance's hardware path. On one hand, the supply chain has spread specific parameters, cooperation models, and release time nodes. On the other hand, ByteDance has issued an urgent refutation. But the real signal conveyed by the overlap of the two is that ByteDance is not indifferent to AI hardware but is waiting for the right time to play its cards.
Despite the official denial, from the existing information, the R & D path of this AI glasses has already started. According to media reports, many industry chain insiders revealed that the product was launched less than a year ago, and the software and hardware were jointly completed by ByteDance and Longcheer Technology. The R & D was carried out at Longcheer's Huizhou factory, and the mass production was undertaken by its Nanchang factory. Longcheer is responsible for the underlying UI, and ByteDance leads the upper - layer App to achieve in - depth linkage between the Doubao App and the terminal. The product will be released in stages. The version without a screen is expected to be launched in the first quarter of this year, and the version with a display function will be unveiled in the fourth quarter.
If this is just a technological reserve for ByteDance, then combined with its previous actions, it has formed a complete AI hardware matrix. In December 2025, according to a report by "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily", the Doubao team of ByteDance released a technical preview version of the mobile phone assistant, cooperated with mobile phone manufacturers to integrate AI assistant capabilities at the operating system level, and launched the first engineering prototype, the Nubia M153, priced at 3499 yuan. It was sold in limited quantities to the developer community and quickly sold out. There was even a 3500 - yuan premium in the second - hand market. Looking further back, in 2024, ByteDance launched the AI earphone Ola Friend, which also operates in coordination with the Doubao App, emphasizing the AI voice interaction experience. Earphones, mobile phones, and glasses, the three terminal nodes are arranged around one App, forming the prototype of Doubao's AI ecosystem of "light hardware + strong service".
Peng Deyu, a well - known technology industry commentator, analyzed for Guanchao Technology Pro: Different from traditional smart hardware manufacturers, ByteDance does not attempt to make profits from hardware sales itself but tries to build a distribution network centered around "Doubao". From the App to the terminal, from voice to image, from the assistant to the perception entrance, Doubao is expanding its contact points through devices and implanting "seamless invocation" AI capabilities into users' daily scenarios. Even if the Doubao glasses have not been officially launched, the strategic signal it emits is extremely clear: ByteDance does not regard hardware as the end but as the "opening act" to control the AI distribution right.
This strategic intention is particularly important in the current industry landscape. AI glasses are becoming the key battlefield for major manufacturers to compete for the "next - generation human - computer interaction entrance" after mobile phones. Manufacturers such as Alibaba, Baidu, Xiaomi, and Li Auto have entered the market intensively and achieved rapid growth.
In November 2025, after the release of Alibaba's Quark AI glasses, they quickly "exploded in orders", and the delivery cycle was once extended to 45 days. The spot price was speculated to 4000 - 5000 yuan in the second - hand market; Baidu's Xiaodu AI Glasses Pro features real - time translation, photography, and other AI capabilities and was officially launched at the end of 2025; Li Auto and Xiaomi also respectively released AI glasses products starting at 1999 yuan, emphasizing in - vehicle collaboration and imaging experience respectively.
Positive changes are also taking place in the market. According to the report "Global Smart Glasses Model Shipment Tracking" released by the research institution Counterpoint, the global smart glasses shipments in the first half of 2025 increased by 110% year - on - year, of which AI glasses accounted for 78%. Wang Liansheng, the minister of the China Electronics Standardization Association, also pointed out that AI glasses are expected to reach a market size of hundreds of billions. This means that this is not only an upgrade of smart wearables but also a battle for distribution sovereignty against the backdrop of AI becoming the "new operating system".
Wu Yuxing, an expert in brand strategic positioning, pointed out to Guanchao Technology Pro: In this battle, ByteDance has both advantages and challenges. On one hand, it has the strongest content distribution ability in China. The Doubao App already has preliminary AI service capabilities and user scale accumulation, and has a natural advantage in migrating from the "service entrance" to the "scenario entrance". On the other hand, ByteDance did not start from hardware. The Doubao App is still some way from being a system - level entrance, and users' habits have not been fully migrated. It is quite difficult to penetrate high - frequency usage scenarios through hardware in a short time.
This also explains why ByteDance chose to cooperate with mature ODM manufacturers instead of building its own supply chain to achieve rapid trial - and - error and small - batch testing. From the Ola earphone to the Nubia M153 engineering prototype, and then to this glasses rumor, every time a product appears, it is actually a "strategic rehearsal". Whether the hardware can finally be launched depends not on the mass - production ability but on whether the AI experience is good enough and whether it can form a necessary path for users to use.
Li Rui, the executive director of Qishijie Beijing Technology Co., Ltd., believes that "The entrance is the key moat and also the toll station. Whoever controls the distribution right has the right to speak."
In an era driven by AI, this statement holds even more true. ByteDance is not a traditional terminal manufacturer, but it is riding the wave of AI, bypassing the entrance monopoly of Android and iOS, and re - competing for the control of the "first contact point". Regardless of whether the Doubao glasses are finally shipped, this round of software - hardware collaborative layout has pushed it to the forefront of the new AI terminal competition.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Guanchao Technology Pro", author: Guanchao Technology PR, published by 36Kr with permission.