Alibaba has taken a significant step forward in the ongoing competition among tech giants in the artificial intelligence sector. On March 2, the company officially launched the Qwen AI glasses, which are scheduled to be available starting March 8 and are expected to enter the global market within the year.
According to industry sources, the Qwen AI glasses are not an entirely new product but rather a rebranded version of the Quark AI glasses released late last year. The core team behind the Qwen AI glasses remains the same as the one that developed the Quark AI glasses, with both hardware and algorithms largely unchanged.
The Qwen AI glasses will also be fully integrated with the Qwen app, with initial functions such as food delivery and hotel bookings expected to be available to users by the end of March.
Several industry insiders noted that among the AI glasses currently on the market, the Quark AI glasses are considered one of the best in terms of user experience. The rebranding reflects not only a product update but also Alibaba's strategic thinking about future AI traffic entry points: positioning AI glasses as a hardware gateway for consumer-facing AI applications and attempting to integrate various applications within the Alibaba ecosystem to gain an edge in the AI era.
However, some observers point out that Qwen's entry into the AI glasses market complicates its relationship with AI glasses startups, as they now function as both collaborators and competitors. In the early stages of the industry, the question remains whether Alibaba's move is a well-considered strategy or a significant experiment.
**Driven by Qwen**
Launched on March 2, the Qwen AI glasses have replaced their predecessor, the Quark AI glasses, becoming Alibaba's new flagship product in the consumer hardware segment.
From a product perspective, intriguing contrasts between the "virtual" and "real" aspects can be observed. On the "virtual" side, the newly released Qwen AI glasses show no fundamental differences in core hardware specifications compared to the Quark AI glasses introduced a few months earlier. The G1 series features dual flagship chips with dual operating systems, a five-microphone array with bone conduction technology, and high-performance acoustic hardware with large diaphragm speakers. The device is rechargeable and weighs approximately 40 grams. In terms of photography, it supports 0.6-second quick capture, 3K video recording, and AI-enhanced 4K video output, with strong low-light performance.
On the "real" side, the integration of Alibaba's software ecosystem and AI capabilities stands out. Shen Jin, former Global Vice President of Qualcomm and former Managing Director of Qualcomm Ventures, analyzed that, driven by the underlying Qwen AI model, Alibaba can more seamlessly integrate its disparate apps—such as Amap, Taobao, and Alipay—into the AI glasses, delivering a smoother automated AI experience. He believes that compared to other tech giants, Alibaba is already ahead in building a consumer-facing AI application ecosystem.
Users will be able to perform tasks such as scan-to-pay, real-time navigation, product identification, and even handling work messages directly through the glasses. This reflects Alibaba's true ambition: to create a closed-loop ecosystem where AI glasses serve as the entry point, linking all its core services through integrated software and hardware.
Hardware is merely the vehicle; the ecosystem and services are the ultimate goal.
More significant changes are happening beneath the surface. Along with the new glasses release, Alibaba has undergone an important internal organizational restructuring. In December 2024, Alibaba spun off "Tongyi" from Alibaba Cloud and merged it into the Alibaba Intelligent Information Business Group, where Quark resides. Subsequently, the Tmall Genie hardware team was also placed under the leadership of Wu Jia, President of the Alibaba Intelligent Information Business Group (and an Alibaba vice president born in the 1980s).
Reports suggest that the Intelligent Information Business Group was recently renamed the "Qwen C-End Business Group." Song Gang, former head of intelligent terminal business in the group, who led the development of the Quark AI glasses (now Qwen AI glasses), will also report to Wu Jia. Song is an experienced hardware product architect who previously led the development of several Alibaba smart hardware products, including Tmall Genie.
Another key figure is Jin Xian, the product lead for the AI glasses, responsible for product roadmap planning and specific feature definitions.
The shift from "Quark" to "Qwen," though subtle in wording, signals an important change in Alibaba's approach to consumer AI hardware. The core of this shift is establishing "Qwen" as Alibaba's flagship brand in the global AI space, particularly in consumer hardware.
Quark is essentially an application driven by search functionality. Branding the AI glasses under the Quark name initially tied the product形象 closely to information retrieval and knowledge-based Q&A scenarios. In contrast, "Qwen," as the unified brand for Alibaba's large language model, represents a more native and fundamental AI capability. Renaming the glasses to Qwen indicates a repositioning: it is no longer just a wearable "search bar" but aims to become an ever-present, instantly accessible native AI assistant, serving as Alibaba's AI traffic gateway among consumer users.
Additionally, while Quark has limited recognition among international consumers, Qwen, as Alibaba's AI model brand, enjoys greater visibility overseas. This rebranding also suggests that Alibaba plans to intensify efforts to expand the global market for its AI glasses. Official information indicates that the Qwen AI glasses are scheduled to enter the international market fully by 2026, with deep adaptations for mainstream global services like Spotify, PayPal, and Google Maps.
**A Game for Giants**
Initially, many believed that domestic tech giants were only testing the waters with AI glasses, with products that underperformed—for instance, Baidu's AI glasses did not receive strong industry or market feedback. However, the release of the Quark AI glasses in late 2024 somewhat altered this perception.
Several industry professionals stated that the product quality and user experience of the Quark AI glasses are already at a leading level domestically. Data shows that the Quark AI glasses S1 ranked first on Tmall's XR设备 annual bestseller list, with sales exceeding 8,000 units within 90 days of launch. The Quark AI glasses G1 ranked third on Tmall's smart glasses hot-seller list, with over 1,000 units sold.
Despite Alibaba's AI glasses leading in sales, some user feedback indicates issues with AI fluidity, such as accidental activations, inability to interrupt commands, and mismatched instructions—for example, ordering an Americano instead of a latte.
According to IDC predictions, global shipments of smart glasses are expected to surpass 23.687 million units by 2026, with shipments in the Chinese market exceeding 4.915 million units, showing significant growth. However, the penetration rate of AI glasses in the overall eyewear market remains low, still in its early stages, and product awareness needs further expansion.
The entry of giants like Alibaba brings both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, their market influence and resource investment can greatly accelerate market education, helping more people understand the concept of AI glasses. On the other hand, their presence increases competitive pressure on startups in the industry, speeding up consolidation.
In the short term, however, the relationship between tech giants and startups is not a zero-sum game, as the market is sufficiently large and far from reaching a stage of fierce competition for existing market share.
Moreover, startups still have viable opportunities: leading unicorns need to refine their products to offer better user experiences than tech giants, while emerging startups should focus on addressing rigid demands in niche markets and capturing the loyalty of core user segments.
**Partners and Competitors**
Some industry experts believe that in the current AI glasses market, the implementation of AI capabilities is more critical than aspects like外观 design or display specifications.
Raven, an analyst at iResearch, noted that the AI automation in most mainstream domestic AI glasses is not yet smooth, with issues such as mismatched commands and results or the need for multiple manual calibrations during use, which negatively impacts the user experience.
Most AI glasses startups in China lack in-house AI development capabilities and rely on third-party large AI models. However, when AI model providers like Alibaba's Qwen enter the hardware market themselves, the relationship between startups and these AI companies becomes complex: they are simultaneously partners and direct competitors.
Rokid, a leading startup in China's AI glasses space, stated during a product launch that its AI glasses have integrated multiple AI models, including Qwen, Doubao, and DeepSeek. Regarding Alibaba's launch of the Qwen AI glasses, Rokid officially commented, "We are an open platform. The release of Qwen AI glasses does not affect Rokid's access to the Tongyi model."
Opinions differ within the industry on whether it is optimal for tech giants' AI models to venture into hardware production. This role conflict inevitably leads to a trust crisis. A founder of an AI glasses startup might question: Why choose a direct competitor as a core technology partner? Does this mean that their product plans, user data, and market strategies become transparent to their "partner"?
This trust issue could potentially push startups, which might otherwise become paying customers of AI models, toward competitors, risking stable software ecosystem revenue and market share for uncertain hardware income.
From a personal perspective, Liu Weijun, Investment Director at Goertek's Strategic Investment Department, suggested, "Changes in the competitive landscape of AI glasses depend not only on technical strength but also on ecological positioning. AI model companies don’t necessarily have to produce hardware; acting as core software suppliers empowering various AI hardware might be a better strategy."
He added, "In the long run, AI model companies could develop something akin to an Android system for AI hardware. In the short term, however, they should and must test the waters themselves, both for technical and ecological reasons."
Regardless, the AI glasses market is still in its infancy, and the future industry landscape remains highly uncertain. How it will ultimately evolve remains to be demonstrated through the actions of industry players.
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