Audio Glasses Market Trends

The global smart glasses industry is undergoing a notable structural shift, as traditional audio-only eyewear gradually gives way to feature-rich AI and AR glasses. Market segmentation has become increasingly obvious, pushing domestic audio smart glasses manufacturers to adjust their product layouts and production strategies actively.

As Chen Jun, Deputy General Manager and Chief Analyst at Sigmaintell, explained to Yicai Global, the evolving market landscape signals a clear upgrade path for smart glasses. Single-function audio eyewear is being phased out by upgraded alternatives equipped with intelligent interaction, visual sensing and display capabilities. The declining demand for pure audio glasses stems from market substitution, while the booming AI and AR glasses sector benefits from both replaced traditional demand and newly added consumer demand. Overall, AI and AR glasses have emerged as the core growth engine of the global XR industry. Sigmaintell forecasts that global shipments of AI and AR glasses will rise by roughly 40% year-on-year in 2026.

Leading domestic audio smart glasses manufacturers confirmed the industry transition in recent interviews. Having specialized in OEM production for audio glasses since 2019, these factories have witnessed the full development cycle of the audio smart glasses market — from initial market exploration and rapid growth to peak maturity, and now industrial transformation.

Audio smart glasses first gained popularity to meet trial-use demands of cross-border e-commerce users, hitting its market peak between the second half of 2024 and the first half of 2025. At the height of the boom, daily shipment volumes of audio glasses reached 5,000 units. However, market demand has since cooled, prompting manufacturers to redeploy idle production capacity to more intelligent, segment-specific AI and AR eyewear products.

Starting from the second half of last year, the smart glasses industry stepped out of blind, rapid expansion and entered a refined, differentiated development stage. Most local audio eyewear producers have shifted nearly half of their production capacity to AI shooting glasses, covering outdoor, daily wear and business-specific models. After the initial trial period for basic audio glasses, users have raised higher requirements for product functionality and practicality.

Currently, audio-only glasses still account for 60% of the global smart glasses market, while AI camera-equipped shooting glasses make up the remaining 40%. Manufacturers are also accelerating product iteration, with waveguide-based AR glasses set for upcoming launches to enrich high-end product lines.

Industry insiders pointed out that the audio smart glasses sector will soon face a round of market reshuffling and elimination. Many brands that started with Bluetooth earphones and smart watches lack differentiated competitiveness in the upgraded smart eyewear market and may retreat to their original core businesses or be phased out entirely.

Yan Pengfei, CEO of Antway, echoed this view, noting that the technical threshold for audio smart glasses is extremely low, as most smart headphone manufacturers can easily produce such products. His company has pivoted from basic audio eyewear to high-end AI and AR glasses, currently offering single-green monocular and binocular AR glasses models. With domestic audio glasses market demand shrinking and production capacity becoming surplus, inferior manufacturers without technical and product advantages will be gradually eliminated from the market.

Zhang Yi, CEO and Chief Analyst at iiMedia Research, added that single-function audio smart glasses are a transitional product bound to be replaced by technological iteration. AI empowerment and AR visualization functions represent the definitive future direction of the smart eyewear industry. Industrial upgrading and capacity optimization in the audio glasses sector are inevitable trends driven by market evolution and technological progress.

Early players in the audio eyewear supply chain have already completed layout adjustments and expanded into the AI and AR eyewear markets. Jiahe Intelligent, a long-standing headphone manufacturer, has built complete capabilities for R&D, design and mass production of AI and AR glasses. Similarly, GoerTek (02018.HK), a leading acoustic solution provider, has upgraded its product system by integrating waveguide technology from Dispelix. The company now delivers complete "waveguide + light engine" solutions and has achieved mass shipment of full-color light engines for AR smart glasses.