BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Freestyle skiing Olympic champion Xu Mengtao wore a pair of AI glasses to record her gym training ahead of the Winter Olympic Games in Milan, while maintenance staff in the city of Hangzhou in east China used this hands-free gadget to conduct inspections at EV charging stations. Additionally, an Australian vlogger shared a glimpse of his AI eyewear in a recent video, saying it has proven his most trusted travel companion in China.
Once beloved only by geeks, AI glasses have now been transformed into sought-after products, drawing capital investment and sparking intense competition among Chinese tech companies. Industry observers believe that this wearable AI hardware has begun moving from a niche market toward mass consumer adoption in China.
As smart wearable devices integrated with artificial intelligence, AI glasses are regarded by many as the next generation personal computing platform, following smartphones and smartwatches.
Earlier this month, Alibaba rolled out its first AI glasses to be powered by its Qwen large language model, while state-owned telecom operator China Unicom unveiled its new AI eyewear. Also, photos of consumers crowding into Huawei and Xiaomi stores to try out their latest AI glasses have flooded social media.
Besides tech giants and specialized smart glasses companies, other major players in China also include home appliance brands and display panel manufacturers.
The entry of leading Chinese companies into the AI eyewear market is not simply a case of following a trend, but is a race for securing a share of the next-generation mobile terminal.
According to Wang Junjie, vice president of smart glasses maker Hangzhou Lingban Technology, smartphones have already reached their physical limits in terms of screen size and interaction methods, leaving little room for further innovation. In contrast, smart glasses, which are close to the human brain and capable of capturing diverse forms of information, can serve as "the bridge between the physical and digital worlds."
Meanwhile, as competition among AI models intensifies, the focus is moving to real-world applications. Si Weixin, an associate professor at Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology in south China, noted that many companies entering the game "aim to secure the right to speak in the next AI-driven computing era."
Market researcher International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts that Chinese manufacturers will account for 45 percent of the global AI glasses market in 2026, with shipments from Chinese brands reaching 22.67 million units worldwide, up 56.3 percent year on year.
A key driver of this mass adoption is government support. In January this year, AI glasses were included in China's national subsidy program for the first time, offering buyers a 15-percent discount on purchases, capped at 500 yuan (72.6 U.S. dollars).
E-commerce platform JD. com has noted that the AI eyewear market has maintained double-digit growth since 2025, and it has seen month-on-month increases following the addition of the subsidy earlier this year.
Beyond policy, China's competitiveness lies in its manufacturing strength. For example, in economic powerhouse Guangdong Province in south China, popular AI glasses, AI toys and intelligent robots can achieve a rapid production cycle: design in the morning, sampling in the afternoon, mass production the next day and export within a week.
According to Zeng Jinze, a senior official with Guangdong's industry and information technology department, sales of AI glasses in Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei electronics market, which is dubbed "China's hardware Silicon Valley," have surged by 80 percent over the past two months, while the number of foreign buyers has doubled in this period.
Despite such rapid growth, challenges remain. Ye Qingqing, an analyst at IDC China, pointed out that the core bottleneck in the mass adoption process is found in the supply chain, particularly in the ramping up of production capacity for key components, such as more advanced chips, display screens and batteries.
Ye added that current functions offered by AI glasses, like photography, translation and navigation, can be easily replicated by smartphones, giving users little incentive to move beyond curiosity to long-term use of these glasses. More efforts should focus on leveraging the unique features of such glasses, including first-person interaction, real-time sensing and proactive services, thus exploring scenarios that integrate into daily life.
As AI glasses gain more capabilities, legal and privacy concerns also loom larger.
Peng Jing, a lawyer from Chongqing Municipality in southwest China, warned that the ability of AI glasses to record video and audio in public challenges existing consent frameworks under China's personal information protection law.
"If AI glasses lose the bottom line of privacy security, the faster they spread, the greater the social risks become," Peng said, urging future judicial practice and interpretations to clarify usage rules and set a clear "red line" for healthy industry development.
Some industry leaders remain cautious about how soon AI glasses will become household products. Xu Chi, founder and CEO of homegrown smart glasses maker XREAL, likened the current state of the industry to the smartphone market in 2005 and 2006, before the launch of the iPhone. "The ecosystem is extremely fragmented," he said at a recent tech fair in Shanghai in east China.
"The 'iPhone moment' for the AI glasses industry has yet to arrive and will require further technological breakthroughs and innovation," he said.
Li Hongwei, founder and CEO of RayNeo, an AI glasses company located in Shenzhen, offered a more specific timeline. "I think 2025 was not the breakout year. Perhaps 2026 is the beginning, and 2027 and 2028 will be the 'iPhone moment'," Li said, suggesting that achieving mass adoption may take a bit longer.
Official data shows that in 2025, the core AI industry in China had exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan in scale, while featuring more than 6,200 enterprises. AI glasses, notably, have emerged as one of the trendiest products in this booming sector.
Earlier this month, China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Lecheng called AI a "powerful incremental driver" of the country's economic development, adding that China will advance "AI + manufacturing" and cultivate distinctive AI agents in 2026.
AI glasses may end up offering a clear view of how AI evolves in the market and reshapes China's economy. ■
