The High Expectations for Xiaomi's AI Smart Glasses in China's Market

Introduction

In late December last year, we shared an article about Xiaomi's AI smart glasses, titled "Xiaomi to Debut in April Next Year, Domestic AI Glasses Market's Window of Opportunity May Only Last Three Months." At that time, the market anticipated that Xiaomi's AI smart glasses would be officially launched in the second quarter of 2025, likely during the April米粉节 (Mi Fans' Festival). As the "hundred mirrors war" in the AI glasses market heats up, it is a fact that if smartphone manufacturers like Xiaomi enter the market, it will pose a significant challenge to many domestic brands.

However, from another perspective, the outbreak or real take-off of an emerging product market must be triggered by a representative product from a leading manufacturer. This is very clear from the development path of smartphones. It was the iPhone from Apple that ignited the entire smartphone market, and it was Xiaomi that eliminated all山寨 (shanzhai, referring to counterfeit or low-quality) phones. Although several domestic manufacturers have already released AI smart glasses, there has not been a product with representative status. Therefore, news about Xiaomi's AI smart glasses has been highly sought after.

The Anticipation for Xiaomi's AI Smart Glasses

On February 7, a digital blogger revealed that Xiaomi's AI smart glasses had obtained network access permits. The message stated that the original plan was to release the glasses in March or April 2025, but now the plan has been moved up to February, to be unveiled alongside the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. It was also claimed that the official Weibo account for Xiaomi's glasses had already gone live, with the certified entity being Xiaomi Communications Technology Co., Ltd.

This news spread like wildfire in the market, prompting Wang Hua, General Manager of Xiaomi's Public Relations Department, to come forward to clarify: "We are very pleased that everyone is so concerned about Xiaomi's glasses and thank you all. However, we are sorry to disappoint everyone. This account was applied for many years ago and is not newly launched. We hereby make this clear!"

Just a few days after this rumor, on February 11, another piece of news about Xiaomi's AI smart glasses emerged, stating: "Xiaomi's AI smart glasses will adopt a new self-developed customized camera module solution, possibly making it the first domestic AI glasses manufacturer to use a customized camera solution. Moreover, the camera has adopted an innovative optical structure design, which has further optimized the Ray-Ban Meta solution, not only有望 (有望, meaning "有望" or "expected to") improve shooting quality but also bring a more outstanding appearance design." This has directly been reflected in the stock prices of related supply chain companies.

The high heat surrounding Xiaomi's AI smart glasses shows how much the market is looking forward to them, especially with Lei Jun's expected sales target of 300,000 units. The cost of educating users is very high. Once a manufacturer can ignite the market as a representative and expand the market size, more manufacturers can truly share in the profits.

Why Xiaomi's AI Smart Glasses Need a Customized Camera Solution

Although Wang Hua, General Manager of Xiaomi's Public Relations Department, did not deny the February release of Xiaomi's AI smart glasses, compared to the February release news, the message that "Xiaomi's AI smart glasses will adopt a new self-developed customized camera module solution" is much more credible. We also believe that if Xiaomi wants to create a truly representative product, a customized camera solution is necessary.

A good AI smart glasses product must meet several elements:

• Light enough for comfortable wearing;

• Low power consumption, not only in standby mode but also during operation, with higher requirements;

• Aesthetically pleasing appearance;

• The scenarios that reflect the product's functions must have a strong demand;

• The interaction experience, especially the AI experience, must be a highlight and smooth.

Of course, AI smart glasses do not necessarily have to be equipped with a camera. For example, Halliday has abandoned the camera solution. However, for most AI smart glasses, the camera is one of the core functions. If a standard camera solution is used, it would be difficult to differentiate from other products in terms of power consumption, weight, and functional experience, and it would not bring a better experience.

Other brands are not able to be representative products in the market. Besides their own brand appeal and supply chain capabilities, there are various defects in product design, wearing experience, and functional configuration. This is partly due to the technology itself, and on the other hand, it is due to the pursuit of mass production speed and lower costs with existing solutions. As a result, the development of interaction and experience is affected, making it difficult to create highlights. Therefore, making a product requires more patience.

Conclusion

On one hand, we hope that Xiaomi's AI smart glasses can be released as soon as possible to truly ignite the AI smart glasses market and break the current stage of "having heat but no actual significant achievements." On the other hand, we hope that Xiaomi will not rush to release the product if it cannot achieve a truly impressive solution in terms of product experience, functional design, or supply chain. There have already been cases of being too eager for quick success. Compared to speed, we are more willing to wait a bit longer for a truly useful and practical AI smart glasses product.

Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has announced that the sales of the smart glasses launched in cooperation with Ray-Ban have exceeded 1 million pairs, and the company plans to increase the sales volume to 2 million pairs within this year, with a future target of 5 million pairs.

The overseas benchmark has already been set. With such a large market domestically and internationally, the market outbreak is just a matter of time. The core is still the product itself.