Huawei unveils upgraded AI-powered smart eyewear to compete in crowded market

Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies on Wednesday unveiled an upgraded version of its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered eyeglasses, ratcheting up competition in the already crowded market for wearable hardware.

Priced at 2,299 yuan (US$315), the new eyewear came with a sleek titanium frame and enhanced AI-powered capabilities to handle a range of tasks from gesture control and voice commands to simultaneous translation, the Shenzhen-based telecommunications and consumer electronics giant said on Wednesday.

The product, which represents a small upgrade to Huawei’s second-generation AI eyewear that debuted in 2023, comes at a time when the AI glasses sector is poised to grow exponentially, as players from Big Tech firms to start-ups take advantage of breakthroughs in generative AI – the technology underpinning OpenAI’s ChatGPT – to enhance offerings in the segment.

He Wancheng, an analyst at Wellsenn XR, a market consultancy focusing on the augmented reality and virtual reality sectors, said that the integration of AI and eyewear – with estimated combined sales of over 1.5 billion myopic glasses and sunglasses every year – would propel the new gadget category’s growth in coming years.

“Glasses are one of the best application cases for AI,” He said.

Global shipments of AI glasses will experience 130 per cent growth this year to reach 5.5 million units, compared with 2.34 million in 2024, according to Wellsenn XR.

While China accounted for only around 2 per cent, or 500,000 units, of global AI glasses shipments last year, the country’s tech firms have expressed enthusiasm over the sector’s prospects.