Metaplatform has proven there is demand for well-designed smart glasses, making Alibaba the latest Chinese company to rush to sell its own version. Analysts at Goldman Sachs said this month that “continued” launches of glasses with artificial intelligence and augmented reality capabilities, including upgrades by Meta himself, should benefit supply chains based in Greater China. Although Ray-Ban Meta glasses are not officially available in China, they use components manufactured by China-based suppliers. And, demonstrating its wide appeal, various third-party sellers sell the glasses online in China. Just in time for the Singles’ Day shopping event, Alibaba on Friday began pre-ordering its own Quark AI Glasses in China for $660, with a minimum price of $519 for e-commerce platform members, with shipping expected to begin in December. Alibaba says the glasses offer hands-free calling, music streaming, real-time language translation, and meeting transcription capabilities based on Alibaba’s Qwen AI model. The launch comes after Xiaomi last summer began selling smart glasses in China that allow users to change the tint of the lenses by tapping the frame. Meizu, HTC and startup INMO have debuted AI glasses in the past three months, while Chinese startups RayNeo and ByteDance all plan to release versions in the coming months, Goldman analysts said. “Along with strong AI capabilities focused on interaction with real objects, longer battery life will improve the practicality of AI/AR glasses, which is expected to attract more potential customers and increase purchase intent,” the analyst said. Goldman said Ray-Ban Meta’s second-generation AI glasses have sold more than 3 million units in less than two years. The mainland China and Hong Kong-listed component suppliers responsible for the smart glasses trend that Goldman has rated buy include: OmniVision — One key improvement in smart glasses is the display, Goldman analysts said. Shanghai-listed OmniVision makes the liquid crystal-on-silicon (LCoS) used in Meta Ray-Ban displays, according to Goldman analysts. The material has lower cost and higher color purity than previous micro-LED and micro-OLED technologies, they added. Lingyi — The Shenzhen-listed precision parts maker has about 15% revenue exposure to the AI/AR glasses supply chain, according to Goldman. In 2024, Lingyi recorded sales related to AI and augmented reality (XR) wearables of 4.04 billion yuan ($570 million), an increase of more than 40% year-on-year. Lingyi says its customers include Xreal, a Chinese startup that sells augmented reality glasses. AAC — The Hong Kong-listed company makes a variety of sensors and thin speakers used in consumer electronics and has about 5% involvement in the AI/AR glasses supply chain, according to Goldman. According to AAC, the revenue of the audio business in the first half of this year was 3.52 billion yuan, an increase of about 2% from the previous year. “Several artificial intelligence glasses have adopted the group’s ultra-thin speakers,” AAC said in an interim report at the time. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
