Chinese Rivals to Meta’s AI Glasses Are Piling Up: How Goldman Sachs Is Playing the Trend.

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Introduction

The smart-glasses market has shifted from niche experimentation to full throttle. While Meta Platforms, through its partnership with Ray-Ban, remains the global front-runner, a surge of Chinese competitors is rapidly intensifying the race.

Chinese tech giants — including Xiaomi, Alibaba, and TCL — are entering the field with AI-powered eyewear that aims to rival Meta’s innovation. Their approach combines cost advantages, advanced local AI models, and strong hardware ecosystems.

Investment banks like Goldman Sachs are now closely watching this movement, seeing it not only as a battle of gadgets but as the next frontier of “wearable AI.” This article explores what’s driving the trend, who the key players are, how Goldman Sachs is playing it, and what it means for investors and the global tech landscape.

What’s Driving the Smart-Glasses Surge

A Rapidly Growing Market

Global shipments of smart and AI-enabled glasses have surged more than 100% year-over-year in early 2025. AI models now account for nearly 80% of total shipments — a sign that consumers are embracing wearable AI as the next computing interface.

China has become the world’s fastest-growing market in this category, with shipments expected to nearly double by 2026 thanks to lower prices, improving designs, and integration with local AI assistants.

Why the Interest Is Exploding

• Smartphone saturation: With mobile growth plateauing, wearables are emerging as the next hardware revolution.
• AI breakthroughs: On-device large language models (LLMs) and improved chips make voice-driven interfaces more capable than ever.
• Miniaturization: Lighter optics, better batteries, and smaller processors are enabling glasses that look and feel like everyday eyewear.
• Validation from Meta: Meta’s Ray-Ban AI glasses proved the concept, with sales more than doubling in 2025.

Competitive Impetus

Mark Zuckerberg has declared that “AI glasses will become the ideal form factor for personal AI.” That bold statement has sparked a wave of competition in China, where tech giants see an opportunity to leapfrog Western rivals and dominate the next phase of human-computer interaction.

The Chinese Rivals: Key Players and Strategies

Xiaomi: The Mass-Market Disruptor

Xiaomi launched its first AI Glasses in 2025, combining affordability with advanced features such as real-time translation, voice assistants, and integrated camera functionality. The device weighs around 40 grams and offers nearly nine hours of battery life.

Despite limited release windows, Xiaomi’s glasses quickly became one of the top-selling AI models globally. The company’s ecosystem integration — linking glasses with its phones, wearables, and smart home devices — gives it a clear edge in user experience and cost efficiency.

Alibaba: The AI Ecosystem Builder

At the 2025 World AI Conference in Shanghai, Alibaba unveiled the Quark AI Glasses, powered by its Qwen language model and Quark AI assistant.

Features include:

• Real-time translation and meeting transcription
• Alipay and Taobao integration for voice-based shopping
• Hands-free calls and music playback
• Navigation through Amap (Alibaba’s mapping service)

Alibaba’s strategy centers on creating a seamless ecosystem where users interact with AI across multiple devices and services, rather than focusing solely on hardware sales.

TCL-RayNeo, Thunderobot, and Others

Other manufacturers such as TCL’s RayNeo V3 and Thunderobot’s AURA line — are entering the space with unique form factors and specialized use cases. TCL focuses on augmented-reality optics, while Thunderobot targets gamers and tech enthusiasts.

These entrants bring aggressive pricing and innovation diversity, helping establish China as the world’s largest smart-glasses manufacturing hub.

How Goldman Sachs Is Playing the Trend

Forecasting the Market

Goldman Sachs projects China’s smart-glasses shipments to reach nearly 3 million units in 2025, with Xiaomi alone capturing around 200,000 units. The firm compares this stage of growth to the true-wireless-earbuds (TWS) boom of 2017 — a signal that the market may be on the verge of mainstream adoption.

Supply-Chain and Component Opportunities

Rather than focusing purely on the device makers, Goldman identifies the biggest winners in the supply chain:

• Optical component manufacturers
• Waveguide and display suppliers
• Sensor and AI-chip producers
• Manufacturing service providers

As demand for smart-glasses accelerates, these upstream players stand to benefit from increased production and R&D investments.

Ecosystem Advantage

Goldman’s research notes that Chinese firms are using their massive ecosystems — in payments, social apps, and e-commerce — to give AI glasses everyday utility. This “ecosystem embedding” could accelerate user adoption faster than in Western markets.

Strategic View

Goldman Sachs believes AI glasses are at an inflection point, moving from early-adopter tech to a mainstream consumer product. For investors, that means now may be the time to identify scalable suppliers and brands positioned to dominate the next hardware cycle.

Strategic Implications for the Market

Winners and Beneficiaries

• Chinese OEMs such as Xiaomi and Alibaba, with low-cost manufacturing and strong ecosystems.
• Component suppliers making optics, chips, and sensors for smart-glasses hardware.
• AI service providers that power translation, vision recognition, and personal assistants.

Challenges and Risks

• User adoption barriers: comfort, privacy, and battery life remain key obstacles.
• Price competition: fierce cost wars could squeeze margins and commoditize the market.
• Supply-chain risks: reliance on sensitive optical components may expose firms to geopolitical tension.
• Ecosystem lock-in: hardware success will depend on the breadth of integrated AI services and apps.

Investor Takeaways

• Focus on supply-chain enablers and ecosystem-driven OEMs, not just final hardware brands.
• Watch for breakthroughs in optics and display tech, which could dramatically improve user experience.
• Expect mass-market adoption between 2026–2028, mirroring past transitions in mobile and audio wearables.

Conclusion

The race to dominate AI-powered glasses is heating up — and China is positioning itself as the world’s most dynamic battleground. Meta may have the early lead, but Chinese companies are closing fast, backed by powerful ecosystems and cost advantages.

Goldman Sachs sees this not as a passing gadget trend but as the next platform shift in computing, much like smartphones and earbuds before it. For investors and industry players alike, understanding the Chinese smart-glasses ecosystem — from devices to components — could unlock major opportunities in the coming years.

As AI becomes more personal, wearable, and context-aware, the question isn’t whether these glasses will go mainstream it’s which company will own the view.