Refusing to Join the AI Glasses "Hundred-Mirror War"? What Does This Smart Glasses Company Partnered with Google Want to Do?

Since the emergence of ChatGPT and DeepSeek igniting the domestic large-model boom, AI-related hardware products have once again come into focus, with glasses being one of them. Since 2024, multiple tech giants have entered the AI glasses market one after another. Xiaomi launched a product focused on photography + voice interaction, while Alibaba explored AI wearable devices with AliOS as its core system. At the same time, dozens of hardware manufacturers originally making power banks and speakers have pivoted to enter the market.

XREAL, known as one of the "Four Little Dragons of AR Glasses in China," has not participated in this trend. At the launch event of the One Pro, its founder Xu Chi told reporters that XREAL aims to integrate the functionalities of headsets like Apple's Vision Pro into the form factor of glasses, because "the replacement of physical screens with digital screens is an irreversible trend." In contrast, most AI glasses today are more like "extensions of conversational assistants." Xu Chi described these products as "having the intelligence of a 5-year-old child"—capable of answering questions and retrieving information but lacking continuous interaction capabilities and ecosystem scalability.

A report stated that the global smart glasses market saw a 110% year-on-year increase in shipments in the first half of 2025. Among them, AI smart glasses accounted for 78% of total shipments in the first half of 2025, up from 46% in the first half of 2024. The annual growth rate of the AI glasses segment exceeded 250%, far surpassing the overall market.

Different paths may lead to the same destination. As the smart glasses market continues to expand, AI glasses and AR glasses may eventually converge.