Rayban Meta, which was not taken seriously by Zuckerberg at first, has now become a fashionable item for Silicon Valley technology experts. It has been 9 months since its release. Rayban Meta glasses (hereinafter referred to as Meta) The second generation has sold more than 1 million units, while the first generation only sold 300,000 units in one and a half years.

The second generation of this AI glasses jointly launched by Meta and Rayban is connected to Meta’s self-developed large model LIama3, which improves the camera/photography level and enables voice interaction, object recognition, and text translation. With functions such as good product strength, it has suddenly become a dark horse in the field of intelligent hardware.

Domestic and foreign countries are flocking to it. According to incomplete statistics from Tech Planet, a number of large companies or startups, including Baidu, Xiaomi, Samsung, Thunderbird, and Xianji, have announced that they will release AI glasses equipped with large models.

Although compared with the pioneering product of the mobile Internet era, the first-generation iPhone, which exceeded 1 million units in more than two months, Meta glasses are still inferior, but they are already unprecedented in the field of smart wearable devices. The hardware industry has always regarded "2 million unit shipments" as the life and death line for AI hardware. With the support of large models and judging from Meta's current popularity, there is no suspense about completing this task.

As the most anticipated AI technology at the moment, large models have experienced rounds of craze in the past 600 days, but they have been unable to find a suitable hardware carrier. The introduction of mobile phones is more like a functional supplement to the original product, and it does not bring about disruptive changes or significantly increase sales. Will AI glasses be an exception?

At a time when mobile phone innovation is lackluster , AI glasses became the most attention-grabbing item in the fourth quarter.

On November 12, at the main forum of the 2024 Baidu World Conference, Xiaodu Technology CEO Li Ying released the world’s first native AI glasses equipped with Chinese large models-Xiaodu AI Glasses. Although Li Ying wore it throughout the speech, she did not demonstrate it. As a result, users do not know what the real experience is like for this single product that will only be launched in the first half of 2025.

Within a week after the release of Xiaodu AI glasses, Rokid, founded by former Alibaba M Studio head Zhu Mingming, also released AI glasses Rokid Glasses jointly created with BOLON in Hangzhou, which will be launched soon.

According to the official introduction, this pair of glasses is equipped with a large model of Tongyi Qianwen, which can immediately provide users with the historical background and relevant knowledge introduction of the exhibit when visiting the museum; when they meet unfamiliar people during travel, When looking at plants or animals, users can also easily obtain information in this way, and can also use glasses to pay and other functions.able.

Rokid Glasses has started pre-orders and is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of next year. But when Tech Planet opened the official reservation page, the number of reservations was not displayed.

Tech Planet statistics found that since Meta released its first AI glasses in September last year, 10 domestic manufacturers have been laying out corresponding products. Currently, only Meta, Meizu, Huawei and Although Honeycomb Technology and other manufacturers have released products, most of their deliveries have been postponed to next year.

However, the difference is that Meta AI glasses became popular because they were the first to launch the shooting function. The products of Huawei, Meizu, and Honeycomb Technology mostly support audio translation, etc., and their sales are not ideal.

Tech Planet inquired about the official Douyin flagship store of Meizu StarV and found that less than 100 units of the newly released Star Air2ar glasses priced at 2,799 yuan have been sold. The data on JD.com is better, but its official flagship store only has more than 1,000 sales. The Jiehuan AI audio glasses released by Honeycomb Technology, priced at 699 yuan, have sold more than 2,000 units in JD.com’s self-operated flagship store, which opened on July 11 this year.

Industry insiders predict that the earliest domestic product with video shooting function may be Shanji. Shanji cooperates with Hong Kong fashion brand LOHO, equipped with iFLYTEK large models. Ji Shisan, CEO of Guoke, its investor and founding partner of the Future Light Cone Frontier Technology Fund, said that in the domestic AI shooting glasses war, Shanji has gained the upper hand and will become the first mass-produced brand in fact.

The price of Shanji AI glasses is only 999 yuan, which is currently the cheapest among all AI glasses. An industry observer said that after the product was released, Shanji started pre-sales on the official WeChat mini program and originally planned to ship the product at the end of November. Later, Shanji closed the pre-sale and opened it again at the end of October.

As for the delivery time, Shanji’s latest explanation is that it will be delayed again due to research and development and supply chain production links, and the specific time is still unknown. Whether they can be delivered on time may be the first hurdle most AI glasses face.

Tech Planet has consulted a lot about AI Most of the potential consumers of glasses say that they only want the shooting function and are not interested in other AI functions. For example, a beauty service staff hopes to use AI glasses to take a first-person video when planting eyelashes on a customer, and a doctor hopes to take a video of the surgical process.

Currently, the only AI glasses with shooting functions that users can buy are Rayban Meta. Users can take photos or videos by voice or pressing buttons, and support real-time live broadcast on Facebook and Instagram. Also because of Facebook and iWith the ecological support of nstagram, Rayban Meta is able to have good sales.

The contribution of large models to sales is still limited. Most of the AI ​​functions of AI glasses are currently used in knowledge question and answer, translation, tour guide, meeting recording and other functions, but these are low-frequency scenarios. "AI is currently the most useless. The main selling points of products in this direction are cameras and audio, followed by displays, and finally the AI ​​assistant model," said an AR industry practitioner.

As a pair of glasses, the wearing experience of AI glasses is not perfect. Most AI glasses are display-less solutions, which reduces weight to a certain extent. However, because they are equipped with chips and sensors, most of the AI ​​glasses that have been launched or are about to be launched weigh around 45 grams, but the premise is that they are not nearsighted. A consumer who purchased Rayban Meta equipped with myopia lenses told Tech Planet that with the addition of myopia lenses, the glasses weighed 57 grams.

Generally speaking, the weight of lightweight glasses is usually around 15 grams, while the weight of ordinary glasses is usually between 20-30 grams. This means that almost all existing AI glasses have the problem of poor wearing experience for long periods of time.

In addition, almost all AI glasses currently do not solve the battery life problem. Compared with mobile phones, cameras or other handheld shooting devices, Meta can continuously shoot for up to 3 hours. This is also the pain point of most current AI glasses products.

Many people in the industry believe that another core reason for Meta’s success is the fashionable appearance brought by Rayban. However, many technology enthusiasts have not placed orders because if Asians’ noses are not high enough, the glasses will easily slide down. An optical shop owner told Tech Planet that appearance is the first consideration for many people when buying glasses, especially myopia glasses that need to be worn for a long time. And the Shan Ji that he is most optimistic about is because its appearance does not collapse.

In other words, there is currently no AI glasses on the market that perfectly match user needs in terms of weight and functionality. In the final analysis, AI glasses must first be a pair of glasses. If they are not comfortable and beautiful enough, they can only be a niche electronic product.

Compared with mobile phones that demonstrate multi-modal interaction of AI, glasses have the best sound reception form and the best visual perception channel, and are considered to be the most perfect product image after large models empower hardware.

Rayban Meta’s popularity exceeded almost everyone’s expectations. A recent research report released by Guojin Electronics stated that considering that the current AI function is only available to users in the United States and Canada, if regions and languages ​​are promoted to the world in the future, the corresponding sales may exceed 6 million units. Compared with the first-generation product (300,000 units), Meta’s sales have doubled and it is beginning to take shape as a hit model.

For the first time, AI glasses have allowed manufacturers to see the prototype of large models in terminals. Many manufacturers, including Xiaomi, Samsung, and OPPO, have already entered the industry or are exploring the possibility of projects. According to VR Gyroscope's multi-party verification and incomplete statistics, there are currently as many as 36 manufacturers (including overseas) that have publicly disclosed or been revealed to be involved in AI glasses, and the number of products is expected to exceed 50+.

Startups with limited resources hope to seize the short window period. Tech Planet statistics found that this year, only Rokid, XREAL, Thunderbird Innovation, and Yingmu took away 1 billion yuan in half a year. Although it is not the same as large model star companies like Dark Side of the Moon, it is still for For the AR industry, which was almost dying in the past, this is already a large amount of money.

An AI industry practitioner told Tech Planet that the hardware threshold for AI glasses is not high, and cameras and other devices are mature modules. In other words, the competition for AI glasses is more about the ability of large models and whether the ecosystem behind them is huge. At present, the only one in China that is connected to the super app is Rokid Glasses, which can help people solve payment problems. Many investors assume that this is the business of large manufacturers, and the probability that startups can grab a seat is limited.

But the reality that players need to face is that few people pay just for AI functions, just like early autonomous driving was unable to drive sales of new energy vehicles on a large scale. As powerful as Meta, it only sells one million units a year. This is a sales volume that mobile phone manufacturers can achieve in three days when they release new products. China's AI glasses may not be able to accommodate too many players.