In the first half of 2026, China's smart glasses sold 909,000 units across all channels, up 85.5% year over year, with sales revenue of RMB 1.88 billion. AR glasses are splitting into lightweight AI HUD models and large-screen cinema/spatial computing models.
Conant Optics' wholly owned subsidiary Jiangsu Lantu has been renamed Jiangsu Conant Intelligent Technology, focusing on the smart glasses business.
VRAR Planet counted 11 global VR/AR funding deals worth about $142 million in August 2026. Three domestic deals concentrated on optical waveguides, while overseas deals leaned toward the application layer.
INMO Technology has completed a C3 funding round led by Sichuan Zhenxing Sci-Tech Innovation Fund; the article reviews the loss-making listings of leading AR glasses companies.
RUNTO data show that China's online smart glasses sales fell 15% year on year in July, the first decline, while AR glasses bucked the trend with a 70% surge.
Lumus and Quanta have signed a licensed manufacturing agreement to produce Z-30 2.0 and A-Lens waveguides with 30-degree and 50-degree fields of view.
California lawmakers are advancing a bill that would impose criminal penalties for covert filming using devices such as AI glasses.
Even Realities has sued XGIMI in the United States, halting the USD 1.2 million Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for its MemoMind One AI glasses.
Zeiss has invested EUR 2.2 million in Finnish eye-tracking startup SeeTrue Technologies, betting on eye tracking for smart glasses.
The article argues that optical technology is the core breakthrough for the XR industry, with wafer-level optics reaching million-unit volumes and major players entering the market simultaneously.
Sharge Technology unveiled the loomos L1 AI glasses in Wuhan on August 18.
Conant Optics posted first-half revenue of 1.167 billion yuan, up 7.6% year on year, with its XR business growing roughly fifteenfold.
Startup Oxford Optical Labs showcased a liquid lens at AWE that switches focal length in 70 ms, with potential use in varifocal XR headsets.
VR Tuoluo reviews the 2026 optical waveguide landscape: array waveguides are heating up, SRG diffractive waveguide production is expanding, and VHG volume holographic gratings are being commercialized.
Guangna Siwei has completed a Series A round of nearly 200 million yuan, with investment from Guangzhou Industrial Investment, Guangzhou Financial Holdings and others, to develop full-color optical waveguides.
Ruidian Intelligent disclosed progress in its strategic cooperation with Gudong Intelligent, with the smart optics production base slated to begin trial production in the second half of the year.
Collaborative research between China and Japan has delivered an optical breakthrough for AR glasses, so the lenses no longer look like dark sunglasses.
The article analyzes the eyewear giant's halved share price, exclusive agreements and succession issues amid strong AI glasses sales.
Nika Optics has completed a Series A round of nearly 100 million yuan, with investors including BOCI, breaking the overseas blockade on volume holographic materials.
Conant Optics has signed joint development or procurement framework agreements with four leading technology companies in China and abroad.
Google showcased Android XR ecosystem progress at AWE 2026, and XREAL AURA opened for pre-order.
Why we recommend it: The original article provides specific data and details that help assess the actual progress in this direction.
On May 19, Google unveiled new frames for Android XR smart glasses from Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, set to launch this fall.
Why we recommend it: The original article provides specific data and details that help assess the actual progress in this direction.
Google showcased Android XR at the Las Vegas Sphere during CES.
Google unveiled new features for the Galaxy XR headset and previewed future devices at The Android Show.
Samsung has launched Galaxy XR, its first device based on Android XR. Google said it integrates Gemini, which can understand what users see and perform actions across apps, with voice, gesture and eye-tracking interaction.
Why we recommend it: Google introduced Galaxy XR from the system and application side, focusing on how Gemini uses what the wearer sees to help, and provided the price and launch regions, serving as a reference point for Android XR device rollout.
At I/O, Google demonstrated glasses running Android XR. The glasses feature a camera, microphone and speaker, work with a phone, and offer an optional in-lens display for private information, along with a live language translation demo. Google announced partnerships with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker to build Android XR glasses, and is co-developing the glasses' software and reference hardware platform with Samsung. Developers will begin building for the platform later this year.
Google has announced an agreement with HTC to bring part of the HTC VIVE engineering team into Google, with the deal subject to customary closing conditions. Google said the team has extensive VR experience and will help accelerate development of the Android XR platform across headsets and glasses ecosystems.
Google, working with Samsung and Qualcomm, has launched Android XR, an operating system for extended-reality devices such as headsets and glasses that combines Gemini to understand user intent and the surrounding environment. A developer preview was released the same day, supporting tools including ARCore, Android Studio, Jetpack Compose, Unity and OpenXR. The first device is a headset from Samsung, codenamed Project Moohan, planned for launch next year.
Why we recommend it: The article outlines Android XR's partners, development tools and the launch plans for the first device, Project Moohan, providing background for understanding subsequent Android XR headsets and glasses.