As AI large models rapidly merge with wearable devices, smart glasses are once again becoming a focal point for the tech industry. From Meta’s AI glasses developed with Ray-Ban, to Apple’s Vision Pro, and Google’s renewed push into the AR ecosystem, global tech giants are competing once again for the next major computing platform. In this race, Chinese companies are also beginning to take center stage.
Today, at the opening ceremony of BEYOND Expo 2026 in Macau, XREAL CEO Xu Chi shared his views on AI glasses, globalization, and the next generation of computing devices. As the founder of Chinese AR glasses company XREAL, he revealed that XREAL has established a long-term partnership with Google, and that products jointly developed by the two companies are expected to launch later this year.
Xu Chi recalled that after the launch of Apple Vision Pro, the industry quickly realized that high prices and bulky form factors remain the biggest obstacles to mass adoption of XR devices. By comparison, lighter and more wearable smart glasses are emerging as the new direction. Truly mature AI glasses will eventually become as natural as ordinary prescription glasses, where once you put them on, AI and the real world merge together, he said.
