Editor: VR TuoLuo

At 1 a.m., Lao Zhang, an engineer at a Shenzhen mold factory, ponders over the 12th iteration of AI glasses designs. He must cram five noise-canceling microphones into an 8mm temple and ensure that both a 200-pound muscular man and an 80-pound cute girl can comfortably share the same nose pad. Additionally, the client's demand for a "cyberpunk breathing light" is draining the already limited battery capacity.

"Are these people seriously designing glasses like Gundam?" He took a deep drag of his Red Double Happiness cigarette and glimpsed the towering piles of eyeglass frames on the assembly line through the smoke. In a trance, he felt that the fate of these "future technologies" might end up as "99 new" electronic gadgets on Xianyu (a popular second-hand trading platform in China).

This magical realism is a microcosm of the AI glasses craze in 2025. Under the guise of AI large models, humans are embarking on an unprecedented "cyber organ transplant surgery."

From the "Ray-Ban Myth" to the Cyberpunk Leap of "Made in China"

The genesis of it all might trace back to the Ray-Ban Meta jointly launched by Meta and Ray-Ban in 2023. This "fashion item," indistinguishable from ordinary sunglasses, relied solely on the combination of "first-person perspective shooting + AI voice assistant" to sell millions of units within a year, directly igniting excitement in the industry: It turns out that AI glasses do not need flashy AR special effects; as long as they are lightweight, trendy, and capable of shooting Vlogs, consumers will embrace them.

Thus, vendors realized: Competing in AR display technology is too costly; it's better to directly install a camera and a large model on the glasses and label them as "AI." In a short span, the "AI glasses" track has been flooded with four types of players:

• AR Startups: Such as Thunderbird, Rokid, INMO, etc., attempting to leverage AR optical technology for "dimensionality reduction attacks." Some vendors showcased their products more than half a year in advance – akin to shouting, "Diaochan is riding a horse on her way right now!"
• Internet Giants: Baidu, Alibaba, ByteDance, etc., wielding large models and seeking hardware shells everywhere, with the slogan, "AI must reach the sky and enter the earth, and we are the most suitable vendors for AI hardware."
• Mobile Phone Manufacturers: Huawei, Xiaomi, Xingji Meizu, OPPO, etc., thinking, "We've already made earphones and watches; aren't glasses just a matter of convenience?"
• 3C Accessory Factories: Shanji, PISEN, etc., adding magnetic charging banks to glasses while lamenting, "The threshold of this track is indeed a bit more challenging than that of charging banks, but it's not a significant issue."

The logic behind this carnival seems impeccable: Multimodal large models address the problem of "understanding the world," waveguide technology introduces a new medium for 2D/3D images, and end-cloud collaborative computing allows the "Jarvis-style personal assistant" to transcend the Marvel universe. However, we cannot help but ask: Has the new generation of AI hardware revolution truly arrived?

"Pseudo-Demand" or "True Revolution": Vendors and Users Have Different Perspectives

The vendors' blueprint is enticing: AI glasses are the "next-generation interactive terminal" that can assist with real-time translation, recognize everything, and even pay for milk tea with voiceprint. Yet, most consumers ponder a soul-searching question: "Why should I spend 2000 yuan on a pair of glasses that can take photos? Isn't the camera on my phone sufficient?"

Behind this divide lies the collision between technological ideals and market realities:

• Battery Life Anxiety: After activating the camera on Ray-Ban Meta, the battery life plummets from 6 hours to about 1.5 hours, forcing Shanji to invent a "magnetic charging bank range extender ring" – it's suggested to make it larger and transform it into a two-in-one product combining a neck massager and a charging bank.
• Social Awkwardness: To free your hands and awaken the voice assistant, you need to shout "Hi Jarvis" into the air, with the success rate inversely proportional to the intensity of the stares from those around you.
• Technological Limitations: AI cameras sound high-end, but the actual experience might not even match that of a "999 yuan Redmi" – tens of millions of pixels of cameras + millions of image algorithm teams are hyped up, but in the end, you might not even capture a photo worthy of being posted on WeChat Moments, earning you nothing but the label of "straight man" and a white-eye.

The current AI glasses track resembles smartwatches in 2015 – vendors are desperately piling on features, while users barely show interest in the novelty. The difference is that watches can at least tell the time, whereas glasses, once the "AI" filter is removed, might not even possess decorative properties that can compete with Gentle Monster.

The real breakthrough might not lie in the specification sheet but in identifying scenarios where they are indispensable: For instance, visually impaired people using AI glasses to recognize obstacles or cross-border businesspeople relying on real-time translation (but the 200ms latency issue must be resolved first). For wearable consumer electronics, what users care about is never how "good" it is but how much "value" it can bring to their lives.

In essence, what AI glasses need is not more players but a reason for users to forget they are using "AI." Otherwise, the only legacy of this "Hundred Mirrors War" might be piles of "99 new" gadgets on Xianyu and a sigh from investors.

When Glasses Become "Organs," We Still Need the Courage to Take Them Off

In 2024, the capital market hit the fast-forward button for this track: Multiple AR and AI glasses vendors, including Thunderbird Innovation, Rokid, Li Weike, etc., received financing. According to data from relevant research institutions, global sales of AI glasses reached 2.34 million units in 2024.

With the entry of large factories and the release of more AI glasses, it is anticipated that global sales of AI glasses will reach 5.5 million units in 2025, marking a year-on-year increase of 135%. This evokes memories of the eve of the VR bubble bursting in 2016 – when everyone believed they were changing the world, except consumers. However, Oculus Quest survived that year and achieved sales of tens of millions of units in 2021. Perhaps 90% of today's AI glasses are a bubble, but the remaining 10% might be Zuckerberg's new slogan, which he will officially announce this September: "Humans will eventually redefine the way they 'see' with glasses."

There are no losers in this "war on the bridge of the nose," as everyone has bet on the same future – humans will eventually become "new species" that require the support of external intelligent organs. Just remember, when your glasses suddenly suggest, "Pupil contraction detected, it is recommended to immediately purchase a 199 yuan stress relief course," don't forget the freedom we once had without wearing glasses.

Note: This article is generated by the DeepSeek R1 model (online), with specific prompts and related industry materials provided by VR TuoLuo. Some content is purely fictional, and any similarity is purely coincidental. Based on facts, VR TuoLuo has made slight modifications without altering the original meaning.