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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Alibaba’s new smart glasses are now available for preorder.
- The Quark AI glasses cost $659 and are available in China.
- They are Alibaba’s first consumer-facing AI product.
Another company is throwing a pair of smart glasses into the ring. Chinese tech giant Alibaba unveiled its first smart glasses, the Quark AI Glasses, in July, and they are officially on pre-sale starting today, Oct. 24. Could they be Meta Ray-Bans’ newest rival?
The AI-infused glasses are powered by the company’s Qwen large language model, which already has over 400 million downloads and 140,000 derivative downloads, Alibaba wrote in a press release at the time.
Also: Missed out on Meta Ray-Ban Display? Verizon is selling the smart glasses now, but act fast
The glasses integrate with Alibaba’s ecosystem of services, including navigation through Amap, payments through Alipay, price comparisons through Taobao, and travel bookings through Fliggy. Like other smart glasses, the Quark AI Glasses support calls, music streaming, and language translation.
Alongside the preorder announcement on Thursday, Alibaba also launched a new AI Chat Assistant within the Quark app. Users can query the assistant for conversations, ask questions, and more.
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The pre-sale launch of the smart glasses is now live in Asia, and interested customers can buy them through Tmall for 4,699 yuan ($659). Orders will ship in December, according to Alibaba.
Also: I tested the Oakley Meta Vanguard on a 5-mile walk – here’s how it beat my Ray-Bans
Alibaba’s Quark AI smart glasses are the company’s first attempt to develop a consumer-facing AI product, as most of Alibaba’s products are made for businesses. They also represent a growing trend among tech companies to develop their own smart glasses.
According to Markets and Markets, industry analysts expect the smart glasses market to grow by 29.4% from 2024 to 2030, hitting a predicted valuation of $4,129.3 million. AI is powering these innovations, alongside advancements in eye and gesture tracking, AR and MR, and growing adoption, those analysts determined.
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Meta has seen a successful run of its smart glasses so far, with sales of its Ray-Bans tripling over the year, according to EssilorLuxottica. Last month, Meta unveiled a new lineup of smart glasses at Meta Connect, including the second-generation Meta Ray-Bans, Meta Oakley Vanguard, and Meta Display.
Artificial Intelligence
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