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ZDNET Highlights
- Alibaba’s new smart glasses are now available for preorder.
- Quark AI Glasses are priced at $659 and are available in China.
- They are Alibaba’s first consumer-facing AI products.
Another company is launching a pair of smart glasses into the ring. Chinese tech giant Alibaba unveiled its first smart glasses, the Quark AI Glasses, in July, and they’re officially on pre-sale starting today, October 24. Could they be the latest competitor to Meta Ray-Ban?
The AI-infused glasses are powered by the company’s Quon Large Language Model, which already has more than 400 million downloads and 140,000 derivative downloads, according to Alibaba wrote in a press release In those days.
Also: Missed the Meta Ray-Ban display? Verizon is now selling smart glasses, but act fast
The glasses integrate with Alibaba’s ecosystem of services, including navigation through Amap, payments through Alipay, price comparison through Taobao, and travel booking through Fliggy. Like other smart glasses, the Quark AI glasses support calls, music streaming, and language translation.
With preorder announcement on Thursday, Alibaba also Launched a new AI chat assistant Within the Quark app. Users can interrogate the assistant for conversation, ask questions, and more.
The pre-sale launch of the smart glasses is now live in Asia, and interested customers can purchase them via Tmall for 4,699 yuan ($659). Orders will be shipped in December, according to alibaba,
Also: I tested the Oakley Meta Vanguard on a 5-mile walk — here’s how it beat my Ray-Bans
Alibaba’s Quark AI smart glasses are the company’s first attempt to develop a consumer-focused AI product, as most of Alibaba’s products are made for businesses. They also represent a growing trend among tech companies to develop their own smart glasses.
according to market and marketIndustry analysts expect the smart glasses market to grow by 29.4% from 2024 to 2030, with an estimated valuation of $4,129.3 million. Analysts believe that AI is powering these innovations, along with advancements and growing acceptance in eye and gesture tracking, AR and MR.
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Meta has seen successful performance for its smart glasses so far, with sales of its Ray-Bans tripling over the year, according to it. escilolarluxoticaLast month, Meta unveiled a new lineup of smart glasses in Meta Connect, including the second generation Meta Ray-Ban, Meta Oakley Vanguard, and Meta Display.
