Global smart glasses shipments grew 139% year-on-year in the second half of 2025, according to Counterpoint Research’s Global Smart Glasses Model Shipments Tracker. The headline number reflects a market that is expanding rapidly off a modest base, driven almost entirely by AI-enabled glasses, which accounted for 88% of total shipments in the period.
The growth had two primary engines: Meta’s continued dominance and expansion of its product lineup, and a wave of new launches from Chinese vendors including Li Auto, Rokid and BOLON, Baidu, Meizu, and a cluster of smaller OEMs. Together these forces pushed the category into territory that would have looked implausible two years ago, when smart glasses were largely a curiosity rather than a consumer electronics segment with genuine commercial scale.
Meta Consolidates Its Position
Meta’s market share reached 82% in the second half of 2025, up from a position of dominance it has held since the Ray-Ban Meta collaboration first gained traction. The company’s second-half performance was built on multiple product lines firing simultaneously. Shipments of the original Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses peaked in Q3 2025 on seasonal demand, while the second-generation model launched in September 2025 posted strong early traction. The sports-oriented Oakley Meta HSTN and Oakley Meta Vanguard together accounted for more than 30% of Meta’s total Q4 2025 shipments, a share that underscores how effectively the company has extended the concept beyond the Ray-Ban lifestyle positioning.
Consumer reception to the Gen 2 Ray-Ban model showed a meaningful improvement in video performance ratings, which is consistent with the hardware upgrades: video resolution moved from 1080p to 3K, frame rate options expanded, image stabilization was improved, and hyperlapse and slow-motion shooting were added. Users across the new lineup continued to flag battery life as the area most in need of improvement, a recurring theme for the category that no manufacturer has resolved convincingly.
Pricing and the Two-Tier Market
The pricing dynamics in the second half of 2025 tell an interesting story about where the market is consolidating. The average selling price for AI smart glasses rose to approximately $360 from $347 in the first half, a modest increase driven by Meta’s premium positioning on new products. Basic smart glasses, by contrast, saw their ASP fall sharply to around $63, as shipments shifted away from premium audio-focused products from brands like Huawei and Amazon toward entry-level models below $50 from white-label and smaller OEMs such as OHO Sunshine.
The bifurcation matters for the display and optics supply chain. AI glasses at $360 ASP represent a category where component investment is justifiable and where the conversation about embedded displays, improved cameras, and higher-grade audio becomes commercially viable. The sub-$50 basic segment is essentially a commoditized audio accessory business with a frame attached.
Geography and the China Question
North America remained the largest regional market at 37% of global shipments, but the more notable development was Western Europe surging to 30%, supported by Meta’s new product launches. India saw a 15-fold expansion in shipments following Meta’s official market entry in May 2025, though its volume share remained at just 2% globally. Local players including B by Lenskart, Sarvam Kaze, JioFrames, and QWR have emerged and are expected to launch India’s first domestically developed AI glasses.
China’s trajectory is more complicated. Shipment volumes increased, but the country’s share of global shipments fell to 6%, reflecting a dynamic where numerous products launched late in the year shipped in limited quantities. Xiaomi, the Chinese market leader, ranked second globally after Meta, with shipments growing more than 200% year-on-year following its AI Glasses launch in June 2025 and subsequent software updates that improved performance and broadened market acceptance.
The gap between China’s product launch activity and its shipment share is worth watching. A large number of Chinese OEMs entered the category in the second half of 2025, but most remain subscale. If even a handful of those reach meaningful volume in 2026, the competitive picture outside of Meta could look quite different by the end of the year.
Component Costs on the Horizon
Counterpoint notes that rising memory prices could introduce headwinds for AI glasses in 2026. The firm’s assessment is that the impact will be limited given the relatively high gross margins current AI glasses command and the small proportion of memory in total bill of materials. That may be true at today’s ASP levels, but as the market expands into lower price tiers, the buffer shrinks. It is the same dynamic playing out in the TV market, where component cost increases disproportionately affect brands trying to compete on price rather than premium positioning.
