In China, AI-powered smart glasses now allow wearers to make payments in shops with just a glance at a QR code and a simple voice command, as more companies set their sights on both domestic and international markets.

After over a decade of limited progress, interest in smart eyewear is surging worldwide, driven by advances in artificial intelligence that have revitalized the sector.

While U.S. tech giant Meta currently leads the global market, a range of Chinese companies from major players like Alibaba and Xiaomi to startups such as Rokid and XREAL—are working to catch up.

“China’s advantages are self-evident,” Rokid CEO Misa Zhu told AFP after a recent launch in Hangzhou. “The ecosystem and supply chain are all in China, and production is strong.”

Chinese firms enjoy a significant domestic edge, as Meta’s services are largely inaccessible without a VPN. The country also represents a potentially huge and lucrative market for wearable technology.

Smart glasses sales in China are projected to grow by 116 percent year-on-year in 2025, according to market research firm IDC. Daily life in China is highly digitalized, with even older citizens routinely using smartphones for payments, transport, and other services.

Zhu added that China’s digital infrastructure, including widespread QR code payment systems, is already more advanced than in Europe or the United States, giving local companies a strategic advantage in developing and selling smart eyewear.

‘Dark horse’ Xiaomi

Other Chinese companies like Xiaomi, RayNeo, Thunderobot and Kopin are active players in the smart glasses sector, wrote Flora Tang, an analyst at research firm Counterpoint.

Xiaomi in particular was a “dark horse”, she said, its debut AI glasses the third best-selling of their kind for the first half of 2025 despite only being on sale for about a week.

Interest is also being shown in smaller companies like Rokid, with the company raising more than $4 million on crowdfunding site Kickstarter recently.

Rokid is “observing and learning… from big global companies”, CEO Zhu said.

To straddle the domestic and overseas markets, the firm allows customers to use Chinese apps in China, and others elsewhere, unlike competitors like Meta, which limit the apps on offer.

The Rokid glasses are not locked to one generative AI model, either.

“We are very open that we use OpenAI, and can also connect with Llama, Gemini, and Grok” Zhu said.

“That’s why many people like us.”

Another feature Rokid demonstrated in Hangzhou was simultaneous translation, featuring phosphor-green English subtitles that rolled across the glasses’ inner lenses as an employee talked in Chinese.

But shattering Meta’s dominance overseas will be challenging.

In the first half of 2025, Meta commanded a 73 percent share of the growing global smart glasses market, according to Counterpoint.

Its success has been attributed to the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, almost indistinguishable from everyday, and crucially fashionable, eyewear.

Privacy concerns

In Hangzhou, Rokid unveiled new collaborations with Bolon, which is also owned by Ray-Ban’s parent company EssilorLuxottica.

With weight also a crucial factor, Rokid says its models are among the world’s lightest.

“Appearance remains the top priority — it has to make people actually want to wear it,” 25-year-old customer Wu Tianhao told AFP.

Chinese firms showcase “numerous brands and models, rapid iteration, and ability to quickly adapt to market changes”, industry expert Zhu Dianrong said.

However, “overseas brands still hold an advantage in hard tech like full-colour displays and optical waveguides”.

Rokid’s vice president Gary Cai acknowledged an “obvious gap” in chip technology available in China and overseas, but noted the difference between AI models “has narrowed considerably”.

Despite interest in smart glasses rising, Chinese and foreign firms alike face major challenges ahead of widespread adoption.

Across the board, the user experience needs more polish and accessibility, said Will Greenwald, writer for consumer electronics outlet PCMag.

“I don’t think anyone has really made it a smooth experience just yet,” he told AFP.

Privacy concerns remain a hurdle, with the ramifications of widely worn glasses discreetly and near-constantly recording throwing up potential regulatory pitfalls.

Still, manufacturers such as Zhu remain confident.

“Today, our AI glasses are phone peripherals,” he said. “But in the near future… phones will become accessories to the glasses.”