Lenovo AI Glasses V1 | The battle for the field of vision: How the next computing revolution begins at our nose

Only 38 grams: These new Lenovo glasses aim to replace your smartphone – and are lighter than anything before.

The smart glasses market is buzzing with excitement, and Lenovo is further intensifying the competition with its new Visual AI Glasses V1, which weigh a mere 38 grams. But behind the direct duel with competitors like Rokid lies a far larger battle: the fight for the next dominant computing platform, one that could one day replace our smartphones. While Meta leads the market with its millions of Ray-Ban glasses, a powerful front is forming in Asia, comprised of manufacturers like Xiaomi, Rokid, and Huawei, who are not only catching up technologically but also controlling the entire supply chain.

What we are witnessing is not a simple product launch, but the beginning of a tectonic shift in how we interact with technology – away from the screen in our hand, towards its direct projection into our field of vision. This struggle forces manufacturers to make brutal compromises: between light weight and long battery life, between useful cameras and protecting our privacy, and between affordable prices for the masses and the expensive technology of the future, which even Apple initially failed to achieve with its Vision Pro. The question is no longer whether, but who will win this revolution. It is a race for control of our digital field of vision – and one that will set the course for the next era of technology.

Lenovo launches its attack on Rokid – but the real war is taking place elsewhere.

The smart glasses market is a battlefield where the foundations of future computing are being decided. Lenovo has issued a challenge with the Visual AI Glasses V1, which at first glance appears to be a simple product update. At 38 grams, the company undercuts the previous lightest fully functional AR glasses, the Rokid Glasses, by a remarkable ten grams. The price is around €484, just under Rokid's €515. But these figures mask a far more profound transformation currently underway: the transition from the smartphone as the dominant platform to a new ecosystem in which wearable computers operate directly before our eyes.

The market launch of Lenovo's smart glasses on November 9, 2025, marks a pivotal moment in this competition. Not because the product is revolutionary, but because it exemplifies how rapidly the landscape in this sector is shifting. Within just a few months, Chinese manufacturers like Rokid, Xiaomi, and now Lenovo have established a product category that barely existed two years ago. While Meta dominates the global smart glasses market with a 73 percent market share and has sold over two million Ray-Ban Meta glasses since October 2023, with sales tripling in the first half of 2025, the Asian competition is making it clear that this lead is fragile.

What is happening here is more than a product cycle. It is the beginning of a tectonic shift in the way people will interact with technology. The question is not whether smart glasses will replace smartphones, but when and under what conditions this transition will take place. This reveals fundamental economic dilemmas: between weight and functionality, between battery capacity and wearing comfort, between data privacy and usefulness, between the mass market and the premium segment.

The anatomy of a product comparison: Technology as an economic compromise

The Lenovo Visual AI Glasses V1 represent a specific approach to solving these dilemmas. Weighing just 38 grams and with a glass thickness of 1.8 millimeters, they rely on radical weight reduction as a key selling point. Lenovo uses a micro-LED display with a brightness of 2000 nits and, for the first time, employs a resin diffraction waveguide technology. This technology allows the display system to be manufactured from resin instead of glass, reducing both weight and production costs.

In comparison, the Rokid Glasses, weighing 48 grams, offer two separate displays with a brightness of 1500 nits, a 12-megapixel camera, and a larger 210 mAh battery. Lenovo has omitted the camera and reduced the battery capacity to 167 mAh. This omission is not a technical weakness but a deliberate strategic decision. Cameras not only increase weight but also raise significant data privacy concerns, which are becoming an obstacle in Europe and increasingly in Asia as well.

The Lenovo glasses offer a battery life of eight to ten hours in translation mode, with a full charge taking 40 minutes. These figures sound impressive, but they mask the reality: actual usage time depends heavily on the application. Live translations and AI navigation are less battery-intensive than continuous screen use or video recording. Xiaomi's AI Glasses achieve a runtime of 8.6 hours, while the Ray-Ban Meta only manages four hours, but offer an additional 32 hours with a rechargeable case.

These technical specifications reveal a fundamental economic truth: Every design decision is a compromise between competing requirements. Weight reduction necessitates smaller batteries, which limits usage time. Brighter displays consume more power. Cameras increase functionality but also regulatory hurdles. Binocular displays offer a better visual experience but are heavier and more expensive than monocular solutions.

Lenovo's choice of a monocular display is particularly revealing. Studies show that monocular displays can lead to increased eye strain, especially with prolonged use. A six-month observational study in the logistics industry documented that 86.5 percent of users reported eye fatigue, 67.6 percent reported rubbing, and 64.9 percent reported burning. Men and people over 40 were particularly affected. Despite these findings, monocular designs dominate the market because they are lighter, cheaper, and more energy-efficient.

These compromises are not temporary solutions, but rather structural features of the technology. The physics of miniaturization imposes limits that can only be pushed forward gradually. The development of micro-LED displays for AR glasses exemplifies this cost dynamic: The market for micro-LED chips in AR glasses is projected to grow from five million US dollars in 2025 to 41 million in 2026, an eightfold increase. This explosive growth is driven by technological breakthroughs in red chips, laser transfer, wafer bonding, and full-color technology, which improve yield and reduce production costs.

The Chinese offensive: Ecosystems as a strategic weapon

Lenovo's entry into the smart glasses market is part of a broader Chinese strategy to dominate the sector. Xiaomi, Rokid, RayNeo, Huawei, and OPPO have built impressive product portfolios within just a few months. Xiaomi positions its AI Glasses as a portable AI gateway and sold nearly 50,000 units in the first three days, while Rokid Glasses garnered over 250,000 pre-orders globally. These figures are all the more remarkable given that many Western observers were largely unfamiliar with these brands.

Chinese dominance extends across the entire value chain. Chinese companies control over 80 percent of the core components of smart glasses, from camera modules and optical waveguides to micro-electromechanical systems and batteries. Sunny Optical dominates in camera modules, Crystal Photoelectric in optical coatings, and Goertek in final assembly, each with market shares exceeding 50 percent. Manufacturing is concentrated in Weifang, Shandong, and Shenzhen, Guangdong, while Electronic Manufacturing Services is increasingly shifting parts of its production to Southeast Asia to diversify supply chain risks.

This vertical integration gives Chinese manufacturers significant cost advantages. While Western companies rely on complex global supply chains, Chinese manufacturers can source components faster and more cheaply. Despite diversification efforts, Meta remains heavily reliant on Goertek for its Hypernova smart glasses, a company that has further consolidated its control through acquisitions such as OmniLight and its involvement in the Plessey takeover. An insider described the situation: “Goertek is very aggressive. They recognized the opportunity offered by the Metaverse early on. Meta has no choice but to work with them because they are the most stable and reliable supplier of key components.”

This dependency is not only operationally but also strategically problematic. It gives Chinese suppliers considerable negotiating power and makes Western companies vulnerable to geopolitical tensions. The reliance on Japanese and South Korean manufacturers for critical components such as micro-OLED displays creates additional risks. If geopolitical problems or production bottlenecks lead to supply shortages, the shipping volumes of the entire industry could be affected.

However, the Chinese strategy goes beyond cost advantages. It aims to control ecosystems. Rokid has partnered with Alibaba's Large Language Model, Xiaomi is integrating its XiaoAI assistant, and Lenovo is developing its proprietary AI. These ecosystems create lock-in effects that extend far beyond individual products. Users who have become accustomed to an AI assistant will be less inclined to switch to competing platforms. This is particularly relevant in a market that increasingly relies on AI capabilities.

The Chinese market itself is a crucial factor. Sales of AI smart glasses surged 200 percent year-over-year during the Double 11 shopping season. Models like the Rayneo Air3 sold over 5,000 units, becoming the best-selling standalone AR glasses at a price of 1,699 yuan. The Chinese market is projected to reach 900,000 units by 2025, with an industry volume exceeding 100 billion yuan. These figures demonstrate that China is not only a production hub but also increasingly a leading market for this technology.

The market structure: Between mass consumption and industrial application

The global smart glasses market exhibits a clear division. On the one hand, there are consumer-oriented products like the Ray-Ban Meta or the Xiaomi AI Glasses, which target lifestyle, entertainment, and everyday productivity. On the other hand, there are industrial applications focused on maintenance, training, logistics, and remote assistance. These two segments follow different economic logics.

Price sensitivity dominates the consumer market. Surveys show that the optimal price point for mass adoption is below $800. Ray-Ban Meta Glasses started at $299 and rose to $379 for the second generation. Ray-Ban Display Glasses, with a full-color display and neural wristband, cost $799. These prices reflect the balancing act between technological prowess and mass-market appeal. Apple Vision Pro, priced at $3,499, vividly illustrates how quickly a product can fail due to price barriers. Despite its impressive technology, Apple sold fewer than one million units, representing a disastrous return on an estimated $33 billion in development investments.

Apple's reaction is telling: The company halted development of a more affordable Vision Pro version and shifted its focus to developing Meta-like smart glasses, slated for release in 2027. This about-face marks Apple's first major product failure in years and demonstrates that even tech giants cannot ignore fundamental market dynamics. People are not willing to spend thousands of dollars on socially isolating, bulky devices, regardless of their technical capabilities.

In the industrial sector, different rules apply. Here, return on investment takes precedence over price sensitivity. AR glasses are viewed as tools that must deliver measurable productivity gains, error reductions, and cost savings. Companies like Microsoft, Vuzix, and RealWear focus on rugged devices for manufacturing environments, field service, and hazardous work environments. These devices typically cost between $800 and $2,000 or more, but are justified by quantifiable benefits.

Ford documented measurable quality improvements after equipping technicians with HoloLens 2 at its Dearborn engine plant. Coca-Cola achieved 99.9 percent order picking accuracy in its warehouses using AR glasses. DHL significantly improved order fulfillment speed with AR overlays that visually show workers where to find packages. TotalEnergies uses AR glasses for the maintenance of complex refinery equipment, increasing efficiency and improving safety in hazardous environments. Lockheed Martin uses AR glasses for the assembly of complex aerospace components, reducing assembly errors and increasing precision.

These use cases demonstrate that the industrial market is driven not by technological possibilities, but by concrete business problems. Companies are investing in AR glasses because they reduce downtime, lower training costs, enable remote expertise, and improve compliance. The ROI is measurable and justifies higher price points. This explains why the enterprise and industrial segment is expected to hold the largest market share during the forecast period, even though unit sales are lower than in the consumer market.

The overall market is showing explosive growth. The market size for AR glasses is estimated at $0.98 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow to $9.98 billion by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 59 percent. The broader smart glasses market, including displayless models, is expected to grow from $1.93 billion in 2024 to $8.26 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 27.3 percent. Global shipments of AR and VR headsets combined with displayless smart glasses are projected to grow by 39.2 percent to 14.3 million units in 2025, driven primarily by smart glasses such as Meta's Ray-Bans, whose category is growing by 247.5 percent.

These figures suggest an unstoppable rise, but they obscure the significant challenges facing mass adoption.

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The structural barriers: Why smart glasses haven't won yet

Despite impressive progress, the technological challenges remain substantial. Battery technology continues to be a bottleneck. Despite improvements, most smart glasses offer only four to eight hours of active use. This is sufficient for sporadic use, but not for all-day wear. The miniaturization of batteries is reaching physical limits that can only be overcome by breakthroughs in battery chemistry, which are not currently on the horizon.

Display technology faces a trilemma: brightness, energy efficiency, and cost. Micro-LED displays offer superior brightness and contrast compared to micro-OLEDs, but are significantly more expensive to produce. The complex manufacturing of micro-LEDs with pixel sizes below ten micrometers on 300-millimeter silicon wafers requires three-dimensional semiconductor system architectures and advanced heterogeneity integration through hybrid bonding. This complexity explains why Meta's Orion prototype with micro-LED displays reportedly costs $10,000 to manufacture.

Optical architecture presents another area of ​​tension. Diffractive waveguides, used in HoloLens, Magic Leap, and Meta's Orion, allow for a wide field of view but suffer from wavelength-dependent diffraction, which causes color distortion and rainbow effects. Geometrically reflective waveguides, as used in Ray-Ban Meta Display Glasses, offer better image quality, brightness, and efficiency, but a narrower field of view. Meta's decision to use silicon carbide instead of glass for the Orion waveguides widens the field of view to 70 degrees and reduces color distortion, but makes the product prohibitively expensive for commercialization.

The regulatory hurdles are no less formidable. Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) treats biometric data, such as speech patterns and facial features, as sensitive data requiring user consent and a legitimate interest. Recording people with a handheld camera falls into a gray area where consent is neither requested nor given. The EU AI Act categorizes AI systems according to risk and severely restricts technologies for real-time facial recognition, emotion recognition, and remote biometric identification in public spaces.

In 2021, Italy's data protection authority raised concerns about Meta's Ray-Ban Stories, particularly regarding the unconscious recording of people in public. The Irish Data Protection Commission launched investigations into how the glasses collect biometric data, whether users are adequately informed, and how bystanders are protected. These concerns are structural, not superficial. By their very design, smart glasses are fundamentally incompatible with the core principles of global data protection laws, unless used in restricted, use-case-specific environments such as work or home.

Social acceptance is another hurdle. Google Glass failed in 2013 not primarily due to technological issues, but rather due to societal reservations about wearable cameras. While these reservations have lessened, as the ubiquity of smartphone cameras and the absence of public protest against Ray-Ban Meta Glasses suggest a shift in attitudes, concerns remain, particularly in Europe, where the trauma of surveillance in Germany and the sanctity of public privacy in France shape perceptions.

The accuracy of the AI's capabilities is another issue. Live translations work well for standard conversations but suffer from background noise, regional accents, dialects, and slang. A sentence like "no manches" in Mexican Spanish is translated literally as "no stains" rather than idiomatically as "no way" or "you're kidding." Rapid speech introduces delays because processing takes time. The technology works best with clear, moderately fast speech, which limits its usefulness in real-life situations.

The economic logic of platform wars: Why the winner takes everything

The smart glasses market follows the logic of platform markets, where network effects and ecosystem lock-in determine success or failure. Meta understands this and is investing heavily not only in hardware but also in the development of software, AI assistants, and developer tools. Ray-Ban Meta Glasses are not just a product, but an ecosystem gateway. Users who become accustomed to Meta AI are more likely to buy Meta products in the future.

Apple also recognizes this dynamic, hence the shift from Vision Pro to smart glasses. With iOS, Apple possesses one of the world's most valuable ecosystems. Smart glasses that integrate seamlessly into this ecosystem could strengthen Apple's position, even though the company is a latecomer to the market. The announcement of launching Meta-like smart glasses in 2027 and a version with a display in 2028 demonstrates that Apple has recognized the strategic importance.

Google, which failed with Google Glass, is attempting a comeback. The announcement of a $150 million partnership with Warby Parker to develop glasses with Google's AI assistant signals that Google wants to regain its position in wearable computing. Alibaba also announced smart glasses with its Quark AI assistant. OpenAI is also reportedly developing smart glasses.

These developments illustrate that major tech companies view smart glasses as the battleground for the next computing platform. Whoever dominates here controls not only hardware sales, but also access to users, their data, and ultimately, monetization through services, advertising, and transactions. The history of the tech industry shows that platform leaders reap disproportionately high profits. Apple controls only about 15 percent of the smartphone market by unit sales, but over 80 percent of the industry's profits.

The Chinese market follows its own logic. The Great Firewall isolates Chinese users from Western platforms, giving domestic providers a structural advantage. Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, and Baidu are vying for control of the AI ​​assistants that power smart glasses. Whoever wins this battle will control access to over 900 million potential users.

Chinese manufacturers' control over the supply chain is a strategic lever that is causing increasing concern for Western companies. The concentration of manufacturing capacity in China creates dependencies that could become problematic in times of geopolitical tension. Meta's efforts to shift production capacity to Vietnam are an attempt to mitigate these risks, but Goertek remains a key partner there as well.

Future scenarios: Three paths to mass adoption

The future course of the smart glasses market depends on several variables, which allow for different scenarios.

In the optimistic scenario, technological breakthroughs in battery life, display quality, and form factor overcome current limitations. Regulatory frameworks provide clarity regarding data privacy and permitted applications. Social acceptance grows as the technology becomes more useful and less intrusive. AI assistants become so helpful that people are willing to compromise on privacy and comfort. In this scenario, smart glasses become the dominant computing device for everyday tasks. Smartphones remain relevant for certain applications but lose their central role. The market grows to over $100 billion by 2035, with hundreds of millions of users worldwide.

In the moderate scenario, development remains gradual. Smart glasses establish themselves as a complement to smartphones, not a replacement. They find specific use cases in navigation, translation, fitness tracking, and notifications, but most people use them only sporadically. The industrial market grows more robustly than the consumer market, as ROI-driven decisions accelerate adoption. The total market reaches $50 to $70 billion by 2035, with tens of millions of daily users.

In the pessimistic scenario, mass adoption fails due to structural problems. The technology remains too bulky, too expensive, or too energy-intensive. Regulatory restrictions, especially in Europe, hinder marketing. Data privacy concerns and social resistance prevent widespread acceptance. AI assistants fail to deliver the promised added value, and users see no sufficient reason to change their behavior. In this scenario, smart glasses remain a niche product for tech enthusiasts and specific industrial applications. The market remains below $20 billion, and major manufacturers withdraw or consolidate.

The reality likely lies somewhere between these extremes, with regional variations. China could adopt more quickly due to less stringent data privacy regulations, stronger ecosystem integration, and national champions pursuing aggressive pricing strategies. Europe remains hesitant due to regulatory concerns and cultural sensitivities. North America is finding a middle ground, driven by pragmatic approaches and strong tech ecosystems.

The showdown: Lenovo versus Rokid or Meta versus the world

The comparison between Lenovo and Rokid, with which this analysis began, proves to be too narrow. The real competition takes place on a higher level. It's not about who builds the lightest or cheapest glasses, but about who creates the most compelling ecosystem. Meta currently has the edge here, with a 73 percent market share and over two million units sold. The partnership with EssilorLuxottica, the world's largest eyewear manufacturer, secures access to established distribution channels and design expertise. EssilorLuxottica reported revenue growth of 11.7 percent to €6.9 billion for the third quarter of 2025, with over four percentage points of this growth attributable to wearables, primarily Meta glasses.

Meta AI is deeply integrated into the glasses, offering object recognition, live translation, and contextual assistance. The Ray-Ban Display Glasses, with their full-color display and neural armband for muscle-based control, represent the next evolutionary step. Meta is investing billions in developing this technology, not for philanthropic reasons, but because Mark Zuckerberg recognized that Meta's failure to dominate the mobile revolution was its biggest strategic mistake. Facebook was forced to submit to the terms of Apple and Google, which control mobile operating systems. Smart glasses offer the chance to break this dependency.

Chinese manufacturers are pursuing a different strategy. They are focusing on speed, cost-efficiency, and the size of the domestic market. Rokid dominates the AR glasses market in Chinese national museums with a 99 percent market share. The company even supplied AR glasses to the Chinese space station, a symbolic achievement. Xiaomi is leveraging its ecosystem of smartphones, IoT devices, and electric vehicles to seamlessly integrate smart glasses. The price of 1,999 yuan for Xiaomi's AI Glasses is aggressive and aims for mass market penetration.

Lenovo positions itself between these two extremes. As a global player with a strong focus on enterprise products, the company targets both consumers and business customers. The decision to forgo cameras reduces privacy concerns and makes the glasses lighter and more affordable. The focus on AI-powered translation, teleprompters, and navigation addresses specific user needs without the complexity and cost of photo and video capabilities.

The question is whether this middle ground can be successful. Meta's ecosystem approach and Apple's planned entry are creating formidable competition. Chinese manufacturers have a home-field advantage in the largest single market. Lenovo must demonstrate its ability to compete in both the consumer and enterprise segments, a challenge few companies can meet.

The field of vision as contested territory of the future

The Lenovo Visual AI Glasses V1 are neither revolutionary nor insignificant. They represent a further step in the evolution of a technology that has the potential to fundamentally change the way people interact with digital information. Their economic significance lies not in the product itself, but in the strategic implications of competition for this platform.

The market is at a turning point. Technological conditions have improved dramatically. Demand is growing exponentially. Regulatory frameworks are beginning to take shape. Social acceptance is increasing. But crucial hurdles remain: battery technology, display costs, data privacy concerns, social norms, and the question of whether the offered benefits are sufficient to change established behaviors.

The companies that prevail in this competition will not be those that deliver the best specifications, but those that create the most compelling value proposition. This means aligning technology with ecosystems, design with user experience, functionality with data privacy, and innovation with regulation. It requires long-term investments, strategic partnerships, and the ability to respond quickly to changing market dynamics.

The duel between Lenovo and Rokid is a preliminary skirmish in a much larger war. The real battle is being fought between the tech giants vying for control of the next computing platform. Meta, Apple, Google, Alibaba, and others are investing billions in smart glasses because they understand that the field of vision is the most contested territory of the digital future. Whoever wins here will define not only how we use technology, but also who profits from that use.

Economic history shows that platform shifts create winners and losers. IBM dominated mainframes but lost ground to Microsoft and Intel in the PC era. Microsoft dominated PCs but lost ground to Apple and Google in the mobile age. The question for the coming decade is: Who will dominate the smart glasses era? The answer will create or destroy trillions of dollars in market value and determine who controls the digital future. Lenovo has thrown its hat in the ring. The game has only just begun.

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