How Smart Glasses Are Reshaping the Eyewear Segment

Fresh from the floor of CES 2026, it is clear that the Smart Eyewear market is undergoing a significant transformation. While bulky Extended Reality headsets face a downturn, the segment is seeing robust growth driven by the rising popularity of Audio Eyewear and the rapid emergence of true Smart Glasses.

As always, this newsletter is designed to be a light, easy read on this week’s topic. For deeper insight into individual markets, we cover 200+ equipment markets on our market intelligence platform, dataportl.

Walking the halls of CES earlier this month, the shift in energy was palpable. CES 2026 wasn't just about concepts anymore; it was about viable, consumer-ready smart glasses. The floor was crowded with new start-ups and recent entrants from well-established brands, all competing for a share of this rapidly expanding market.

As always, this newsletter is designed to be a light, easy read on this week’s topic. For deeper insight into individual markets, we cover 200+ equipment markets on our market intelligence platform, dataportl.

We saw significant movement from agile players like XREAL, Rokid, and Brilliant Labs, but the real story is the arrival of established tech giants who have entered the fray in the last 12 months. For example, Baidu finally made its move in November 2025 with the Xiaodu AI Glasses Pro, followed closely by Alibaba's entry with the Quark AI Glasses in October. dataportl now tracks more than 30 smart glasses brands, 10 based in the USA, and many more based in China.

Crucially, Google has been quietly fuelling this fire, providing robust software ecosystems and AR developer tools that are lowering the barrier to entry for these new hardware players. This infrastructure support is allowing smaller brands to compete on features without building an OS from scratch.

The rise of Smart Glasses is reshaping the broader "Smart Eyewear" segment. According to dataportl's definitions, this segment is composed of three distinct categories:

The market is pivoting away from the heavy, isolating form factor of Extended Reality Headsets, which are seeing a decline in shipments. It looks like people don't want to be locked away in a metaverse after all. However gaming applications for XR remain strong and the market is now seen as similar to the gaming console market, with cyclical growth based on new device launches (e.g. Samsung VR in late 2025).

Outside of gaming, consumers are choosing lightweight, all-day wearable options that keep them connected to the real world. Consequently, we expect Audio Eyewear to continue its steady growth, serving as an accessible entry point, while Smart Glasses accelerate rapidly to capture the high-end demand for visual augmentation.

This article is based on dataportl’s ongoing tracking of global device and equipment markets. dataportl provides structured visibility across 200+ markets, helping teams understand where demand is forming, how it’s changing, and which players are active in each vertical.

For teams that need to stay close to how demand is shifting across multiple markets, dataportl acts as a single reference point for ongoing analysis and planning.

With that, back to the article.

The numbers back up the buzz. Using dataportl’s equipment shipment tracking, the Smart Eyewear segment is forecast to exceed 200 million units over the next seven years.

While the total volume grows, the internal mix is changing dramatically. Smart Glasses are taking an increasingly large share of the market, driven by improvements in display technology and AI integration. Simultaneously, Audio Eyewear remains a strong volume driver, proving that the form factor matters just as much as the feature set.

Meta remains the titan to beat. It established early dominance with its Quest series (Extended Reality Headsets), but as that specific category softens, it is successfully pivoting to the mainstream with the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. Its ability to blend familiar fashion with functional tech has set the standard for the segment.

However, the monopoly is under siege. Rapid adoption is coming out of China, led by heavyweights like Xiaomi, which aggressively refreshed its line up with the Mijia Smart Audio Glasses 2 in March 2025. These competitors are iterating fast, offering sleek designs and aggressive price points that are challenging Meta's grip on the global market.

For product marketers in the semiconductor space, the decline of XR headsets and the rise of Smart Glasses signals a shift in engineering priorities. The demand is moving away from the high-power, heat-generating processors needed for immersive VR rendering. Instead, the focus is shifting toward highly efficient audio DSPs, miniaturized camera sensors, and ultra-low-power AI inference chips that can operate within the thermal constraints of a standard spectacle frame.

This market forms part one of dataportl’s 200+ device coverage. Displayed on our dashboard and used by teams to track how demand evolves over time, where volume is concentrating by region, and which brands/OEMs are driving scale. Market Data. Made Simple.