LONDON, September 22, 2026: According to the latest Omdia data, global AI glasses shipments reached 4.2 million units in 1H26, up 127% year-on-year (YoY). AI glasses remain an emerging category, with growth stabilizing as the market expands from a very low base. Meanwhile, the sector is facing a more complex environment, driven by intensifying competition across different frame designs and mounting scrutiny over user privacy.
“Growth in the AI glasses market in 1H26 was driven by Meta’s continued market momentum and a wave of new market entrants from China,” said Qiran Ju, Senior Analyst at Omdia. “Just as critically, vendors have made the value proposition immediately clear to buyers by focusing on hands-free photo and video capture, open-ear audio, and AI assistance within everyday frames.”
Meta retained its dominant position in 1H26, shipping 3.4 million AI glasses to capture an 81.3% market share. However, smaller competitors are also contributing to the overall market growth by exploring alternative frame designs and targeted use cases. Even Realities demonstrated this trend, climbing from fifth place in 2H25 to second in 1H26 with 102,000 units shipped (a 2.4% share), driven by demand for its G2 series across North America and Western Europe.
Ju added: “Even Realities takes a different frame design from most AI glasses. By removing both the camera and speakers, and focusing instead on a slimmer design, a small monochrome display and productivity features such as real-time transcription, it shows how vendors are exploring different ways to make AI glasses useful in everyday life.”
While the US remains by far the largest AI glasses market, Mainland China is playing a pivotal role as both a primary supply chain hub and a testbed for new hardware configurations. Shipments in China surged 306% YoY in 1H26, as local vendors experimented with varied display, camera, and audio setups. However, the market remains highly fragmented – top players Alibaba, INMO, and Xiaomi collectively accounted for just 46.1% of shipments.
“What we are seeing in China provides early but definitive signs that there is no single, one-size-fits-all solution in the AI glasses space,” said Jason Low, Research Director at Omdia. “As the category continues to diversify across different form factors and feature sets, this will inevitably become the defining trend for the global market.”
Low added: “Privacy, alongside varied user preferences, is a major driver of this fragmentation. As scrutiny of camera-equipped AI glasses intensifies, tighter privacy settings and clearer messaging will not be enough. Companies must define exactly what always-on cameras capture, show users how that content is used, and guarantee it never reaches third parties.”
