OpenAI CEO Sam Altman poured cold water on the increasingly competitive smart glasses market.
On September 1, local time, Otterman was asked on tech journalist Alex Heath's Sources Podcast whether he was optimistic about smart glasses. He said straightforwardly, "I don't like glasses. Talking to someone with a camera on their face and a light next to it makes me very uncomfortable."
This statement means that Zuckerberg does not have to worry about OpenAI competing in the smart glasses market for the time being. Ortman's concerns mainly stem from the vastly different feelings between the wearer and the person being photographed when a camera is worn on the face.
To the wearer, it is an always-on AI terminal that can take pictures, recognize objects, translate, and record life; to the person standing opposite, it is a camera that may be turned on at any time, with no clear idea where the images ultimately end up.
Altman still has room for imagination when it comes to wearable devices. In the same conversation, he revealed that consumer hardware developed by OpenAI and Jonny Ive may include devices placed on desks, devices that fit in pockets, and devices worn on the body. The core direction is a kind of "active computer" that can continuously understand the user and their environment, proactively providing assistance at the right time.
It is also because devices need to continuously perceive their environment that privacy becomes an issue that the Otterman repeatedly emphasizes. He suggests that legal protections similar to those between doctors and patients or lawyers and clients should be established for conversations between humans and AI. When OpenAI launches environment-aware hardware in the future, it will also need to come up with a clear privacy control plan.
From this perspective, Otterman remains optimistic about wearable devices, with the real challenge lying in the unresolved social boundaries of camera-equipped glasses, which hits on the most difficult issue to avoid in the entire industry.
Three routes
Smart glasses are transitioning from geeky gadgets to a mass market.
According to IDC data, global smart glasses shipments reached 3.566 million units in the first quarter of 2026, a year-on-year increase of 130.1%. Among them, audio and camera-enabled glasses accounted for 2.248 million units, while AR and VR devices accounted for 1.318 million units. In the Chinese market, shipments totaled 610,000 units during the same period, representing a year-on-year increase of 23.5%; camera-enabled glasses accounted for 43.4% of audio products.
The growth in the domestic market is more intuitive. According to the broad statistical caliber of LuoTu Technology, which covers AR, photography, and audio products, in the first half of 2026, the total sales of smart glasses in China's entire channel reached 909,000 units, up 85.5% year-over-year; sales revenue was 1.88 billion yuan, up 98.7% year-over-year. Among them, AR glasses sales were 408,000 units, up 109.4% year-over-year; photography glasses sales were 313,000 units, up 158.2% year-over-year, becoming the fastest-growing category; audio glasses sales were 188,000 units, growing only 8%.
Sales are starting to rise, but product forms are far from uniform, with the market roughly forming three distinct lines.
The first is the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses that support shooting without a display. It does not display information on the lenses, instead using cameras, microphones, and open audio to achieve first-person shooting, visual Q&A, and voice interaction. By omitting the display module, the product is lighter, has longer battery life, and its appearance is closer to that of ordinary glasses. Companies such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Baidu Xiaodu, Alibaba's Tianwen G1, Li Xiang's Livis, and Flashforge's Loomos have all chosen this path.
This is also the route that users most readily understand and that has advanced the fastest commercially. EssilorLuxottica disclosed that AI glasses sales exceeded 7 million units in 2025, driven largely by Ray-Ban Meta. But as cameras lower the barrier to capturing images, some venues have begun restricting smart glasses from entry, and social platforms have seen a rise in harassment content involving strangers being secretly filmed through the glasses.
Meta recently had to upgrade its technical defenses. A recording indicator light, once covered or removed, would shut down the camera function of the glasses. The company said that affected devices account for less than 0.1% of cumulative sales, which still translates to thousands of products. The camera brought the most direct user value but also hit the trust boundary of public spaces first.
The second category is lightweight display-type AI+AR glasses. Rokid Glasses, Lei Niao X3 Pro, iO, Qian Wen S1, Ying Mu INMO GO series, and Xing Ji Meizu StarV series all offer navigation, translation, teleprompting, scheduling, messaging, and meeting summaries on the lenses. This type of product is closer to the next-generation computing terminals depicted in science fiction, allowing users to access information directly in their field of vision without needing to take out their phones.
Its challenges are also the most concentrated, with optical waveguide display, brightness, power consumption, weight, heat dissipation, battery life, and myopia adaptation all intertwined. Adding functions often means thicker temples and increased weight, while glasses are extremely sensitive to weight. Many devices can be demonstrated continuously at launch events, but it's difficult for users to wear them on their faces from morning to night.
The third track is represented by manufacturers such as XREAL and VITURE, focusing on spatial display routes. These products concentrate on video viewing, gaming, and mobile office work, turning glasses into a portable large screen. Their usage value is relatively clear, but most products still require connection to a phone, computer, or independent computing unit, which is distinctly different from AI glasses that can be worn all day.
Three trends are converging: smart glasses without screens are starting to access more powerful multimodal models, display glasses are striving to reduce weight, and spatial computing products are attempting to move computing power and batteries to the pocket. The focus of competition is also shifting from piling up functions to balancing weight, battery life, display, and scenario value.
The ideal AI glasses have taken shape. Firstly, they should be a qualified pair of glasses, with a natural appearance and a weight similar to ordinary frames, capable of completing vision testing and myopia adaptation, and supporting all-day wear. Secondly, they should be an AI terminal that can understand continuous context, providing navigation, translation, prompting, and reminders when needed, without constantly disturbing the user.
Cameras should become an optional, constrained capability. Physical switches, non-bypassable recording indicator lights, removable camera modules, on-device data processing, and clear deletion permissions may all shift from add-on features to baseline configurations. Users inside the frame need AI to keep its eyes open at all times; those outside the frame need to know when those eyes are watching.
Chinese solution
China's smart glasses market has entered a period of intense competition, with internet companies, mobile phone manufacturers, automakers, AR startups, and traditional eyewear channels all entering the fray, each pair of frames representing a different company's vision for the next-generation terminal.
The market landscape is still changing rapidly. According to CINNO Research data, the top five domestic consumer-level AI/AR device manufacturers in the first quarter of 2026 are Leimeng Innovation, Rokid, XREAL, Qianwen, and Xiaomi, in that order. In the same period in 2025, the top five were Leimeng Innovation, XREAL, Xingji Mozi, VITURE, and Rokid. Over the past year, two positions have changed hands, and the rankings of the original manufacturers have also been rearranged.
Platform-based giants are vying for control of the ecosystem entrance. Alibaba's Thousand Questions covers both screenless photography and display forms with G1 and S1, and has integrated services such as AutoNavi navigation, Alipay, Taobao price comparison, and Fliggy into the glasses. Xiaomi's AI glasses focus on first-person shooting, Super Xiao Ai, and Mi Home collaboration. Huawei has brought Xiaoyi, HarmonyOS device collaboration, payment, and live streaming capabilities into the frame. Baidu's Xiaodu AI Glasses Pro emphasizes visual Q&A, object recognition, and content recording. Meanwhile, Li Xiang's Livis has made its glasses an extension of automotive AI, connecting vehicle control with travel scenarios.
These companies have models, accounts, payment and device ecosystems, and glasses can become a new entry point for existing services. What they need to make up for is optics, fitting, wearing comfort and offline service capabilities.
The advantages of AR native companies mainly come from their accumulation in optics and overall machine development. Lei Niao has established a range of products including the V series camera glasses, the X series full-color AI+AR glasses, and the GT series entertainment displays. Rokid has entered the fields of navigation, translation, prompting, and payment with its Rokid Glasses featuring a display, while also expanding into daily wear with lightweight, screenless products. XREAL and VITURE continue to deeply cultivate the field of spatial displays. Yingmu INMO focuses on strengthening real-time translation, prompting, and swappable batteries. Xingji Meizu StarV, on the other hand, leverages the Flyme ecosystem to explore the synergy between smartphones and glasses.
Beyond the mainstream camps, Loomos emphasizes its around-the-clock recording and AI memory capabilities as its selling points. Companies such as Hui Ring, Li Weike, iFlytek, Lenovo, and China Telecom's Tianyi have also entered the market from different angles, including audio, translation, office, AR display, and operator services. This has resulted in a rare cross-industry competitive landscape in the domestic smart glasses market over the past decade.
Ultraman's concerns over camera issues are also starting to change the product definitions of Chinese manufacturers.
On August 21, Lei Bird released the iO AI glasses. The product weighs 34 grams and features a dual-eye monochrome display, but does not include a camera or speaker. It provides meeting recording, content summarization, real-time translation, prompting, and schedule reminders through a microphone and AI. When the recording function is activated, the privacy status light bound to the hardware will light up synchronously. The official price of the product is 2,499 yuan, with a starting price of 1,996 yuan for the first launch.
The lack of a camera means the iO cannot take first-person photos or visual queries, but it reduces weight, power consumption, and social pressure. It retains display and proactive AI, providing a completely different answer from the Ray-Ban Meta.
Lei Bird has not given up on the photography route, as evidenced by the simultaneous launch of the V4 photography glasses, which are priced at 1,699 yuan after subsidies. The release of these two products at the same time reflects the manufacturer's judgment on the market: creators, travelers, and cyclists need first-person perspective images, while office, prompter, and translation users may not be willing to bear the extra weight and privacy costs of a camera. In the future, smart glasses may not converge into a standard configuration, and the camera will become an important dividing line for product differentiation.
Focus on Huaqiangbei
Shenzhen is becoming the most densely packed testing ground for these routes.
In May this year, the Doctor Glasses smart glasses concept store located in Shenzhen's Deep Industry City has been selling over a dozen brands, including Lei Niao, Qian Wen, and XREAL, with product prices ranging from 500 yuan to 5,000 yuan. After subsidies, some products are priced around 1,000 yuan. The functions that users care about have expanded from photography to include teleprompting, audio recording, translation, meeting minutes, and navigation. Whether the store can provide synchronized vision testing and adaptation for nearsighted lenses has begun to directly impact sales.
Smart glasses have also transitioned from 3C electronics stores to professional optician shops. A visit to a Shenzhen store revealed that some users who initially came to purchase regular glasses would try on AI glasses on the spot. Some users from Hong Kong opted to place an order after taking advantage of subsidies, store discounts, and tax refunds upon departure. The subsidies have lowered the threshold for first-time users, while the glasses fitting service addresses the "last mile" issue that has long been neglected by smart hardware manufacturers.
Huaqiangbei is showing a different kind of heat. According to statistics from the Huaqiangbei Street authorities, from January to July 2026, the sales of AI products in the business district increased by more than 55% year-over-year, with AI glasses sales doubling. A local AI glasses company's monthly shipments have grown from 1,000-2,000 units last year to 4,000-5,000 units, with 95% being exported. India, Russia, Spain, as well as Southeast Asia and the Middle East, are becoming important destinations for Shenzhen's AI glasses.
The pickup in sales is underpinned by Shenzhen's complete industry chain. From cameras, microphones, optical waveguides, and frames to chip solutions, complete-device manufacturing, and cross-border sales channels, many links can be quickly matched in and around Huaqiangbei. An AI glasses exhibition held in Shenzhen this year attracted more than 300 exhibitors, with the AI glasses section spanning 7,500 square meters—a sign that the city has extended beyond OEM manufacturing and component supply into product definition, branding, and distribution.
This sales boom still requires differentiation. Within the 500 yuan to 5,000 yuan price range, there are audio glasses with relatively simple functions, as well as camera glasses and light guide display products. Subsidies have amplified domestic sales, while foreign procurement has driven up shipments from Huaqiangbei. The doubling of sales indicates that category awareness is forming, but there is still a distance to go before high-end products achieve stable re-purchase and daily high-frequency wear.
The next stage of competition for smart glasses will shift from launch events to the faces of users. Whether the weight can be tolerated in the long term, the battery life can last a full day, AI functions can be used frequently, glasses and after-sales support can keep up, and the public can accept cameras in public spaces will all determine how long today's bestsellers can sustain their popularity.
Altman's "dislike" therefore reads more like a product note. Zuckerberg has already proven the market value of camera glasses with 7 million units sold, while Chinese manufacturers are offering more answers across capture, display, and spatial computing.
The camera determines how far AI can see; the boundary determines how far the glasses can go.