At the CES 2026 trade show in Las Vegas, a wave of Chinese tech companies including Rokid, Xreal, and LLVision showcased a diverse array of AI-powered smart glasses, collectively posing the most significant challenge yet to Meta Platforms’ dominance of the category. Their lightweight designs and specialized AI applications highlight a rapid manufacturing evolution powered by China’s dense electronics supply chain.
If you thought the battle for your face was a one-horse race between you and Meta’s Ray-Bans, think again. The hallways of the recent CES in Las Vegas were dominated by a surprising contender: Chinese smart eyewear. While Meta has defined the early market with its audio-focused Ray-Ban Display glasses, a formidable cohort of Chinese manufacturers arrived with an arsenal of innovative, AI-infused alternatives. From translation-focused specs to ultra-lightweight augmented reality (AR) wearables, these companies demonstrated that the future of personal computing on your face will be fiercely contested, and China is betting big on being the one to shape it.
“The rise of smart glasses is riding directly on advances in AI,” said Wu Fei, founder and CEO of LLVision, in a report by the South China Morning Post. His Beijing-based company exemplified the focused approach, showcasing its Leion Hey2 glasses dedicated entirely to real-time translation, with transcripts floating in the user’s view. This AI specialization was a common theme.
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Rokid debuted its audio-centric Rokid AI Glasses Style, Xreal launched new AR wearables like the Xreal 1S, and RayNeo introduced glasses with built-in eSIM support for standalone connectivity. In total, Chinese brands made up the majority of the roughly 60 smart eyewear exhibitors at the show, a clear signal of concentrated industrial ambition.
Their confidence is backed by surging market data. According to research firm Counterpoint Research, global smart glasses shipments more than doubled in the first half of 2025, rising 110 per cent year on year. While Meta still leads with a 73 per cent market share, Chinese firms are closing the gap rapidly. In China alone, Q3 2025 shipments reached 623,000 units, a jump of 62.3 per cent from the previous year, reported IDC. This growth is fueled by a world-class supply chain that excels at miniaturization.
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Companies like Appotronics, which exhibited ultra-compact optical engines at CES, are enabling sleeker designs. “Demand from smart eyewear makers had surged,” said Chen Menghao, general manager of the innovation centre at Appotronics. He predicts 2027 will be a breakout year as glasses become “good enough” and affordable, potentially dipping below US$300.
The strategic focus is also global. Rokid reports about a quarter of its orders come from outside China, with the U.S. making up half of that international demand. Xreal derives about 70 per cent of its sales from overseas markets, and Even Realities sells exclusively abroad. Back home, a new Chinese government subsidy covering 15 per cent of the purchase price for glasses under 6,000 yuan (US$859) in 2026 could turbocharge local adoption.
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With Rokid forecasting it will ship 1 million units across its product line in 2026, the scale of ambition is clear. The era of smart glasses is no longer a Western-led experiment; it’s a global hardware sprint, and Chinese companies, armed with agile manufacturing and AI software, are now running stride for stride with the industry giants.
