AI glasses market continues to expand! Major internet companies accelerate hardware deployment

With the continued rise in popularity of AI products, major internet giants are accelerating their deployment in the smart hardware field.

On February 27, Securities China reporters learned that Alibaba’s personal AI assistant “Qwen” has officially entered the AI hardware market, planning to launch multiple different types of AI hardware products globally within the year.

It is understood that Qwen will debut its first AI glasses of the same name at the 2026 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, with online and offline full-channel reservations opening on March 2. According to internal Alibaba sources, in addition to AI glasses, Qwen also plans to gradually release products such as AI rings and AI headphones within the year, targeting global markets.

International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that the global smart glasses market will surpass 23.687 million units shipped in 2026.

Extending capabilities into hardware

Looking back, on the first day of the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), Alibaba announced progress on its self-developed AI glasses “Quark AI Glasses.” Later, in November last year, the Quark AI Glasses series models S1 and G1 were officially released.

However, the latest information from Securities China indicates that all new AI glasses launched by Alibaba afterward will be uniformly branded as “Qwen AI Glasses” (Qwen Glasses) for the global market. The existing Quark AI Glasses will continue to receive synchronized updates in functionality and will integrate with Qwen AI services.

Behind this unified branding is Alibaba’s strategic push for Qwen as a cross-device AI assistant. It is reported that the Qwen app, which currently offers services like food delivery and ride-hailing, plans to connect with Qwen AI glasses and other terminal devices in the future. Regarding user growth, data shows that during this year’s Spring Festival, users across the country used Qwen to place nearly 200 million AI shopping orders.

Global market size continues to expand

IDC forecasts that the global smart glasses shipment volume will exceed 23.687 million units in 2026, with China’s smart glasses shipments surpassing 4.915 million units, marking a new phase of scaled growth.

Driven by global expansion and domestic manufacturing, Chinese smart glasses manufacturers are expected to account for 45% of the global market in 2026. IDC also predicts that in 2026, over 30% of mid-range smart glasses will support AI, and more than 75% will support large models for voice assistants, enabling support for complex tasks.

In terms of scene exploration, besides Alibaba, brands like Rokid, Xiaomi, and Thunder Bird jointly demonstrated AI smart glasses capable of payments with Alipay in mid-2022. After wearing Rokid Glasses, users could give voice commands to scan payment codes, and once recognized, complete the payment, showcasing the potential for AI glasses in mobile payment scenarios.

Spring Festival sales data confirms strong demand

Recently, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) Taier Terminal Laboratory released the “Research Report on Key Technologies and Industry Ecosystem of AI Glasses (2025),” indicating that the deep integration of AI large models with lightweight glasses products is accelerating the commercialization of consumer-grade devices.

The report also points out that optical modules, chips, and display units are the three major value hotspots. Chinese AI glasses brands are rapidly deepening their global influence, leveraging supply chain efficiency, cost control, and agile hardware-software iteration capabilities accumulated in consumer electronics to quickly expand in international markets.

In mid-February this year, Shenzhen Huaqiangbei collaborated with major markets and merchants to systematically analyze real sales data from the past two months, creating the “Huaqiangbei AI Eight Horses” list, revealing the top eight popular tech New Year goods: drones, robots, AI glasses, AI toys, AI watches, AI translation devices, AI learning machines, and AI speakers.

Data shows that as of February 22, revenue in Huaqiangbei during the Spring Festival increased by 35% year-over-year; over the past two months, overall sales of tech products grew by more than 30%, with AI glasses sales surging by 70% to 80%, making it one of the fastest-growing categories. Additionally, drone and robot sales increased by 30% to 50%.

China Galaxy Securities recently published a research report stating that AI glasses are gradually evolving into the core medium for new human-computer interaction, with the industry entering a critical turning point in 2023, driven by breakthroughs in multiple core technologies. The addition of AI functions will demonstrate an efficient value logic of “small incremental costs for large incremental experience,” naturally appealing to the large existing user base of traditional glasses and sunglasses.

(Article source: Securities China)