Meta’s not just dipping its toes in the AI smart glasses market — it’s cannonballing into the deep end and making the biggest splash. According to fresh numbers from Counterpoint Research, Meta now controls a jaw-dropping 73% of the global market. That’s not just winning; that’s “I’m the main character” energy.
The first half of 2025 saw worldwide smart glasses shipments more than double, and 78% of them were AI-powered. Translation? People are finally actually buying into the idea of putting AI on their faces — after years of smart glasses being the awkward tech cousin nobody wanted to sit next to at dinner (looking at you, Google Glass).
Meta’s Ray-Ban collab is the secret sauce. They’ve managed to make AI-powered eyewear look… well, normal. No sci-fi cyborg vibes. No clunky headset energy. Just stylish frames hiding voice assistants, visual AI, and a bunch of features you’ll pretend you don’t need — until you start using them.
But Meta’s not alone on the runway. Chinese tech heavyweights Huawei, RayNeo, and Xiaomi are hustling to grab their share. Xiaomi, in particular, made waves in June with its first AI glasses — selling 50,000 units in weeks and landing in the top four bestsellers overall (and third in the AI category). Not bad for a debut.
The catch? The market’s still small compared to other wearables. Last year, only about 2 million smart glasses shipped globally, while smartwatches, earbuds, and other wearables hit a massive 534.6 million units. In dollar terms, the smart glasses space was worth about $853.8 million in 2024 — basically a rounding error next to the big leagues.
But the growth rate is wild, and with AI now in the mix, this niche might just go mainstream faster than your favorite TikTok trend. For now, though, Meta’s the one setting the pace — and everyone else is sprinting to keep up.
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