Smart Glasses: Growth in the first half of 2025 is impressive

According to market researchers, the global market for smart glasses grew by 110 percent in the first half of 2025. The growth is driven primarily by the persistently high demand for the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses and the market entry of Chinese providers such as Xiaomi and TCL-Rayneo, as from the current ”Global Smart Glasses Model Shipments Tracker” by Counterpoint Research emerges.

Meta dominates with a 73 percent market share

According to the figures, Meta was able to further expand its market leadership and reached a market share of 73 percent in the first half of 2025. The Ray-Ban Meta Ai Glasses recorded growth of over 200 percent in the year. Meta was able to start the production capacities through his partner Luxottica. New variants and sales through their own sales channels also contribute to success.

The triumphal march of AI-based smart glasses was particularly noteworthy: they made 78 percent of all deliveries-an increase compared to 46 percent in the first half of 2024. The AI segment even grew by over 250 percent and thus fled the already strong overall market growth.

Xiaomi as a surprising newcomer

The biggest surprise effect was achieved by Xiaomi with its AI Glasses, which, despite a sales period of only one week in the first half of the year, was already the four-best Smart Glasses model as a whole and the third-party AI model. Success is based primarily on the strong support from tech enthusiasts and fans in China. In addition to Xiaomi, other Chinese providers have established themselves: TCL-Rayneo with the V3 series, Thunderobot with the Aura Smart Glasses and Kopin with the Solos Airgo V.

The new Ki-Smart Glasses offer extended functions such as photo and video recording, image and object recognition, encyclopedic questions and live translation. As a result, pure smart audio glasses such as Huawei, Amazon and Mijia are increasingly under pressure and recorded declining sales in the reporting period.

Payment solutions for the glasses

Chinese companies such as Xiaomi and Alibaba (with the not yet commercially available curd Ai Glasses) already experiment with glasses-based payment solutions to reduce smartphone dependence on outdoor shopping and food orders. Qualcomm announced a revised version of its premium SoC for Smart Glasses on the hardware page-the AR 1+ Gen 1, which is 26 percent smaller and consumes 7 percent less energy. At the same time, Chinese chip manufacturers such as Allwinner Technology are pushing on the market with budget solutions.

Counterpoint Research has corrected its forecasts for 2025 and 2026 due to the positive market development. Average annual growth of over 60 percent was expected by 2029. The analysts assume that Apple is also actively working on its first AI glasses.