It is learned that a technology media has published a blog post, reporting that Apple (AAPL) is strengthening its competition with Meta (META) and other companies, and is brewing a new smart glasses that supports touch and voice control, which is expected to be released between 2026 and 2027.
Apple’s first smart glasses are exposed
It is reported that Apple’s first smart glasses are expected to appear as iPhone accessories like Apple Watch smart watches and AirPods headphones. They may not have screen display functions and rely on cameras, speakers, artificial intelligence integration and sensors to provide practical functions for wearers.
In addition, in terms of AI, the camera of Apple smart glasses will be able to transmit information to the artificial intelligence assistant. This artificial intelligence will be able to answer questions about what the wearer sees, similar to the visual intelligence on the iPhone.
Zuckerberg reinvests 25.2 billion in AI glasses
Not long ago, according to foreign media reports, Meta just invested 3.5 billion US dollars (about 25.2 billion yuan) in Ray-Ban’s parent company, EssilorLuxottica, the world’s largest eyewear manufacturer. Meta acquired less than 3% of Essilor’s shares and may increase its holdings to 5% in the future.
The AI glasses launched by Meta in cooperation with Ray-Ban will ship more than 1.5 million units in 2024 (far exceeding the 400,000-500,000 units of Apple Vision Pro). Essilor is a globally recognized eyewear giant, owning well-known brands such as Ray-Ban and Oakley, and also manufacturing glasses for luxury brands such as Chanel and Prada, which will help Meta’s AI glasses to seize the mass market.
Meta founder Zuckerberg is betting big on AI, not only paying a high salary of 9 figures, but also poaching AI researchers from OpenAI and Apple to strengthen its AI large model capabilities.
Zuckerberg has said more than once: “Glasses will be the best carrier for realizing AI. Currently, there are one to two billion people wearing glasses in the world. In ten years, every pair of existing glasses will at least be AI glasses.” Meta’s investment this time shows that it is further betting on AI glasses. It is estimated that he sees AI glasses as a possible entry-level opportunity in the era of AI big models.
Undoubtedly, the AI smart glasses industry is ushering in a key development node. According to IDC’s forecast, the global smart glasses market shipments are expected to reach 14.518 million units in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 42.5%; the Chinese smart glasses market shipments are expected to reach 2.907 million units in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 121.1%.
In addition, with the continuous innovation of AI glasses products and the growing market demand, more and more listed companies have keenly noticed the huge potential in this field and have begun to actively layout the upstream and downstream industrial chains of AI glasses. Well-known companies have joined in, and the AI glasses market will usher in a broader development space, bringing more revolutionary changes to people’s lives and work.
WiMi injects new vitality into the industry
Public information shows that Wimi Hologram Cloud Inc (WIMI) has always focused on the research and development of cutting-edge technologies and product manufacturing. In the process of AI smart glasses technology research and development, it has invested a lot of human, material and other resources. Its products cover AI/AR/VR glasses, AI headsets and other types of AI+ smart terminals, and has established in-depth strategic cooperation with many leading brand customers to promote the continuous progress and innovation of technology.
In the fiercely competitive smart glasses market, technology research and development investment is the key to maintaining competitiveness. In recent years, WiMi has continued to invest resources in AI smart glasses technology research and development. The technical achievements have been applied to AI smart glasses, significantly improving the capabilities of environmental perception, real-time translation and gesture recognition, supporting real-time translation, face recognition and other functions, optimizing the virtual-real interaction experience, and making AI smart glasses have more application scenarios in the future in the fields of office, film and television, games, etc., bringing new vitality to the development of the industry.
Conclusion
Recently, AI has rapidly entered thousands of industries, making AI glasses a product form that is easy to implement for large models (using intelligent agents to achieve tasks such as translation, conversation, and photography), entering the so-called “iPhone moment”. The track is unprecedentedly hot, new AI glasses are frequently launched, and they are constantly iterating in terms of functions and applicable scenarios. New and old players are constantly taking action. In the long run, AI glasses are expected to become an important carrier of AI applications, and we are optimistic about the opportunities of a new round of AI innovation cycle in the consumer electronics industry.
