Artificial intelligence (AI) glasses made by Chinese companies are gaining growing popularity in the global market with customer-driven designs.
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.
In 2025, overseas shipments of AI smart glasses manufactured in China surged 64.9 percent year on year.
The surge is inseparable from the continuous upgrades of AI glasses, which now offer a range of functions including voice-guided navigation for the visually impaired, text reading, real-time translation of dozens of languages, and price tag scanning.
"Our open ecosystem adapts to global consumer habits, whether it's multi-language support or regional usage scenarios. Overseas sales now account for 40 percent of total business, because we listen to what consumers really need," said Zhu Mingming, founder and CEO of Rokid, a Hangzhou-based technology company specializing in augmented reality and AI hardware.
The competitiveness of Chinese AI glasses also lies in the country's complete industrial chain and manufacturing strength.
"We rely on China's complete industrial chain to deliver the reliability that users demand. We optimized over 200 components to cut weight from the 110 gram prototype to 49 grams for mass production, wearing them just like ordinary glasses," said Xu Degang, product lead of Rokid.
Market researcher International Data Corporation 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.
"Global wearable device shipments reached 611.5 million units in 2025, with AI glasses as the fastest-growing segment," said Qiu Han, associate professor at Ali Business School, also executive dean of Zhejiang Modern Internet Institute.
Chinese AI glasses gain global popularity with customer-driven designs
