Chinese startup beats Apple to the punch with its AR glasses

A startup from China is all set to reveal its augmented reality glasses – and take a shot at the big break that’ll help it expand to the US.

Rokid Glass, to be shown at CES 2018 next month in Las Vegas, is the team’s first wearable gadget after years of making gizmos for the home. Here’s a prototype:

Photo montage by Tech in Asia, using image from Rokid

Reynold Wu, product director at Rokid and the man charged with bringing the AR glasses to market, was an early adopter and big fan of Google Glass, the much-mocked headset that never really caught on. He feels that both technology and consumers have moved on a lot since Google’s effort was first made public in mid-2012.

“The battery… The components… The camera is much smaller,” says Wu, and these fast-moving changes should help the startup’s product be sleeker and funkier. “I can’t say it’s perfect timing, but it’s better timing now,” he tells Tech in Asia.

Also on Wu’s side is the fact that people are showing a decent amount of enthusiasm for AR right now, which can do a lot of useful and fun things. The success of Pokemon Go proves that beyond doubt.

However, that’s all happening on the phones that people already own, like this IKEA app for seeing how new furniture will look in your home.

GIF credit: Adweek

Getting people to fork out for a new gadget devoted entirely to AR will still be a big ask.

Rokid Glass takes voice inputs as well as heeds commands users make with their hands. It also has a touchpad, in case people feel more comfortable using that.

Between the eyes you’ll notice there’s a camera. The lenses are also OLED screens

Photo credit: Rokid

Adding lightness