🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Huawei enters a fast-growing market where China is gaining ground in AI glasses

• Global AI glasses shipments jumped 322% to 8.7 million units in 2025, well above Omdia’s earlier forecast of 6.86 million 1, 2.
• Mainland China took 10.9% of the global market in 2025, with shipments nearing 1 million units. That made it the second-largest market by volume after the United States 1.
• China also makes 80% of the world’s AI glasses, giving it a central role in production 3.

Competition is shifting toward the data pipeline and connected services

• As the category develops, competition is moving toward ecosystem integration, which links AI glasses with wider device and service networks, rather than hardware alone 4.
• Chinese brands are driving that shift through display-equipped glasses. They held 71% of shipments in that segment in 2025 1.
• That added functionality brings privacy worries. Parks Associates found 72% of consumers in US internet households worry about the data and privacy effects of AI 5.
• Questions around how these devices handle video and audio have led to calls for regulators to examine the full data pipeline behind them 5.