Omdia: Global AI glasses shipments reached 4.2 million units in the first half of 2026, up 127% year-on-year

The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to Omdia's latest data, global AI glasses shipments reached 4.2 million units in the first half of 2026, an increase of 127% over the previous year. AI glasses are still in the development stage of an emerging category. As the market continues to expand from a lower base, the growth rate is gradually stabilizing. At the same time, competition among different frame designs is intensifying, user privacy issues are receiving more attention, and the market environment is becoming more complicated.

Ju Qiran, senior analyst at Omdia, said, “The growth of the AI glasses market in the first half of 2026 was mainly due to Meta's continued market momentum and the influx of Chinese manufacturers. “Equally important, manufacturers can more intuitively feel the actual value of AI glasses by focusing on hands-free photography and video shooting, open audio, and AI assistant functions incorporated into everyday glasses.”

In the first half of 2026, Meta continued to maintain its absolute leading position, with shipments of AI glasses reaching 3.4 million units, accounting for 81.3% of the market share. At the same time, smaller competitors are also injecting new impetus into overall market growth by exploring different frame designs and specific application scenarios. Even Realities represents this trend. Driven by increased demand for the G2 series in North America and Western Europe, its global ranking rose from fifth place in the second half of 2025 to second place in the first half of 2026, with shipments reaching 102,000 units, with a market share of 2.4%.

Ju added, “Even Realities uses a different design approach than most AI glasses. It ditched cameras and speakers in favor of a slimmer design, small monochrome displays, and productivity features such as real-time transcribing. This shows that manufacturers are exploring different ways to make AI glasses play a more practical role in everyday life.”

Although the US is still far ahead and is the world's largest AI glasses market, mainland China is also playing a key role as an important global supply chain hub and an important market for manufacturers to explore different hardware solutions. In the first half of 2026, shipments of AI glasses in mainland China surged 306% year on year, and local manufacturers are exploring various display, camera and audio solutions. However, the mainland China market is still highly fragmented, and the three leading manufacturers Alibaba, INMO and Xiaomi together account for only 46.1% of the market share.

Jason Low (Jason Low), director of research at Omdia, said: “What we have seen in the Chinese market has sent an early but very clear signal that there is no single solution for the AI glasses market that can meet the needs of all users. As this category continues to be enriched in terms of product forms and functional combinations, this differentiated development will gradually become the main feature of the global AI glasses market.”

Liu Jiansen added, “Privacy considerations and differences in user preferences are important factors driving the differentiation of the AI glasses market. As AI glasses equipped with cameras face increasingly strict privacy scrutiny, simply strengthening privacy settings or enhancing information disclosure is no longer enough. Manufacturers also need to clearly explain what information the always-on camera will collect, how this information will be used, and ensure that the relevant data is not shared with third parties.”