Alibaba has announced plans to launch smart glasses equipped with its AI model. Quark AI Glasses are Alibaba’s first foray into the smart glasses product category.
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alibabaThe Chinese tech giant’s artificial intelligence-powered smart glasses went on sale Thursday as the Chinese tech giant looks to ramp up its focus on consumer AI in an increasingly competitive market.
First announced in July, the Quark AI Glasses come in two variants, with the S1 starting at CNY 3,799 ($536) and the G1 starting at CNY 1,899.
The tech giant has integrated the Qwen AI model (Alibaba’s version of ChatGPT) with the device, which also links to the newly released Qwen app. This means users can use voice control to perform tasks on the glasses.
The lenses of the glasses are essentially screens, and the frame of the device houses the camera. According to Alibaba, the main difference between the S1 and G1 is the display.
Some of the features include on-the-go translation, AI-generated meeting notes, and the ability to ask questions to a virtual assistant, the company said. When a user takes a photo of an item using the lens’ camera, the device displays the item’s price on Alibaba’s Taobao, China’s main shopping app.
Alibaba, like other technology companies such as the US giant, metais betting that smart glasses could become the next big consumer device after smartphones.
In September, Meta announced the $799 Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses, the social media company’s first consumer smart glasses with a built-in display. Users can control the device through hand gestures using a special wristband.
Alibaba’s glasses will first go on sale in China, where they will compete with domestic rivals such as consumer electronics maker Xiaomi and startup Xreal.
The smart glasses market is still small but growing rapidly. According to Omdia’s forecast, shipments of AI glasses are expected to exceed 10 million units by 2026 and double from 2025.
For Alibaba, the glasses are its latest effort in the consumer AI market as it hopes to build on its recent success. The company’s ChatGPT-style Qwen app achieved 10 million downloads in its first week of public beta. Meanwhile, Alibaba’s cloud computing business, which generates much of its AI-related revenue, saw growth accelerate last quarter.
The Hangzhou-based company is one of the leaders in China’s AI field, and has been actively investing in AI and aggressively launching new models alongside rival giants such as Baidu and Tencent.
