[MWC26]AI for Your Eyes... The Era of Wearable Extended Reality Draws Closer

On the afternoon of March 4 (local time), the third day of the world’s largest mobile exhibition, the Mobile World Congress (MWC), two booths stood out with particularly long lines in the outdoor space between the main exhibition halls 3 and 4. While other outdoor booths were quiet with few visitors, these two booths, which drew crowds, belonged to the US-based Meta and China’s Alibaba.

The common feature of both companies is that they showcased artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart glasses that can be worn like regular eyeglasses. Meta allowed visitors to try on its AI-powered glasses, "Ray-Ban Meta," at the exhibition space designed as a Meta Lab. Alibaba also set up a booth themed around its AI glasses, "Qwen Glass," which were launched in November of last year. Alibaba named its AI glasses after its own AI brand, Qwen.

Visitors are waiting to experience the Meta booth at the Mobile World Congress (MWC). Photo by Lee Myunghwan

원본보기 아이콘

As it was a rare opportunity to try on newly commercialized AI glasses, streams of visitors continued to flock to both booths. Since the experience was provided on a one-on-one basis, the waiting time exceeded 30 minutes. A representative at the Qwen Glass booth explained, "Only a small number of people can try Qwen Glass at a time, which makes the wait long," adding, "We cannot say exactly how long it will take to try them."

During demonstrations, both devices highlighted AI-powered features. For Meta’s Ray-Ban Meta, the demo showed the glasses taking photos and providing real-time translation via voice commands. For Qwen Glass, the demonstration involved the device listening to a user’s request to order an item and then placing the order through Taobao (Alibaba’s e-commerce platform). The process of the AI listening to and answering user questions was also demonstrated.

Alibaba's AI smart glasses 'Qwen Glass' displayed at the Mobile World Congress (MWC). Photo by Myunghwan Lee

원본보기 아이콘

Other companies besides Meta and Alibaba also put wearable devices such as extended reality (XR) devices at the forefront. Samsung Electronics displayed its Galaxy XR, introduced last year, and offered an experience at a dedicated booth where visitors could explore the Sagrada Familia Cathedral using Galaxy XR. Google set up an experience booth for devices equipped with its XR-focused operating system, "Wear OS by Google," and Qualcomm exhibited products powered by its dedicated Snapdragon AR·XR chipsets.

Global IT companies are focusing on extended reality (XR) devices as there are growing expectations that XR will become the next-generation device after smartphones. Following Meta’s success with the Ray-Ban Meta, companies such as Alibaba, Xiaomi, Baidu, and TCL have also entered the market. Samsung Electronics is preparing to launch AI glasses under the project name "Project Haian," and Google is also developing smart glasses with a target release this year.

With advancements in AI, the smart glasses market is expected to expand further. Market research firm Omdia projects that global shipments of smart glasses will surpass 10 million units this year. The firm also predicts the market will grow at an average annual rate of 47%, with shipments exceeding 35 million units in 2030.

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.