Smart glasses, powered by the thriving AI technology, have surged to the forefront of China's electronic gadget market, showcasing their potential to evolve into a more mainstream appeal.

The new wave came after Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, rolled out its Ray-Ban AI glasses and made an immediate hit. Those smart glasses are designed with see-through displays and are usually sleeker than helmet-mounted displays, resembling a pair of conventional eyeglasses.

Data from JD.com, one of China's largest online shopping malls, has shown a 200 percent year-on-year increase in AI smart glasses sales during the country's "Double 11" online shopping peak season in the recent month.

Models from home-grown makers like Rayneo, Xreal and Meizu each sold over 1,000 units, with Rayneo Air3 launched last month topping 5,000 units, making it the top-selling standalone Augmented Reality (AR) glasses, priced at 1,699 yuan (about 234 U.S. dollars).

Founded in Shenzhen in 2021, Rayneo has become a leading contender in the AR glasses industry. The AR technology blends digital content with the physical world.

A recent industry report has shown that the global smart glasses market size is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 14 percent between 2023 and 2028. China has been listed as one of the most promising markets.

Particularly, China's strengths include a robust consumer electronics supply chain that can fulfill the requirements for AI glasses, including components like cameras, lenses, chips, batteries and sensors, thus fostering robust competition.

JOINING THE GAME

Major Chinese electronics manufacturers like Huawei and Xiaomi are now vying for a share in the smart glasses market. In late October, Huawei unveiled a patent aimed at cutting the standby power usage of these devices.

A search for "smart glasses" on the official website of the National Intellectual Property Administration reported more than 2,000 patent application entries.

Among the tech firms eager to capitalize on consumer enthusiasm for integrating generative AI with wearables is Baidu, a leading AI service provider in the country.

At the Baidu 2024 World Conference on Nov. 12, its subsidiary Xiaodu Technology unveiled the impending release of an AI-enabled smart glass. This innovative device, powered by Baidu's large Chinese language model (LLM), is designed to integrate smartphone essentials like photography, music playback, navigation, and voice calls.

Furthermore, thanks to the support of its LLM, Baidu's smart glasses are capable of real-time translation, organizing meeting minutes, and analyzing what the eyes see during travel to provide real-time knowledge Q&A.

Rokid, a Hangzhou-based AR manufacturer, jumped on the bandwagon of AI glasses. Partnering with Alibaba's LLM model, the tech firm showcased last week a pair of intelligent glasses expected to go on sale next year, priced at 2,499 yuan.

According to its demonstration, wearers can simply gaze at museum exhibits for instant historical knowledge from the glasses. Likewise, users can access information about unknown plants and animals during travel.

A digital tech aficionado commented on the Chinese lifestyle-sharing platform Xiaohongshu, "I can finally own a pair of Conan's glasses," referring to the magical prop from the Japanese anime Detective Conan.

MULTIPLE SCENARIOS

The AR plus AI glasses are also making significant strides in professional fields and are expected to reshape the landscape of China's manufacturing industry.

At JA Solar's smart photovoltaic module factory in Hefei, an engineer wears 5G-enabled Rokid glasses and directs his gaze at an assembly machine.

With a simple verbal command to capture an image, the AR system, supported by AI algorithms, swiftly presents a detailed equipment inspection report in less than a second, reporting its status: "No vibration, clamping normal, no screw protrusion on the nylon block."

This cutting-edge system has boosted the production line's efficiency by over 50 percent.

The smart workflow came amidst China's efforts to foster new-quality productive forces, which include the intelligent transformation of traditional manufacturing.

In August, Superhexa, a Beijing-based startup that is a hardware partner of Chinese tech giant Xiaomi, introduced its AI audio glasses Jiehuan, an ultra-lightweight model at just 30.9 grams (lens-free), with a starting price tag of 699 yuan.

This kind of smart audio glasses has found an unexpected customer base in China: delivery riders. It can understand the instant messaging pop-up alerts, even emojis, before summing them up into a sound notification, which the riders find helpful for more quickly and safely managing customer orders while on the go.

In a country with a highly prosperous express delivery industry, the widespread habit of delivery riders using mobile phones while driving raises increasing safety concerns, underscoring the need for innovative messaging solutions.

During a launch event at a cafe, Xia Yongfeng, founder of Superhexa, shared a response from a food courier. "I used to deliver around 900 orders a month, but with the glasses, my monthly deliveries rose to over 1,000, increasing the monthly income by more than 1,000 yuan."

Google's pioneering launch of smart glasses in 2012 did not secure the commercial success it had hoped for, and the software support was finally discontinued last year. The advent of AI technology has now brought new opportunities for the sector.

"Throughout millions of years of evolution, humans have been endowed with two hands, but dedicating one only to holding a smartphone is quite an extravagance," said Xia. "I am hoping to see the liberation of that hand."