Weighing only 49 grams and priced at half of Meta's, how does Rokid Glasses win the recognition of overseas geeks? | Pioneers in Global Expansion
Introduction:
Going global is no longer an option for enterprises, but there are still many choices in the way of going global. Brand going global, supply chain going global, cross - border e - commerce... Behind each model, there are countless stories of arduous exploration by Chinese companies; North America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America... On every distant continent, there are more and more internationalized figures of Chinese brands.
From attracting foreign investment forty years ago to "going global in groups" today, Qiantang, as the main front of Hangzhou's export - oriented economy, has always been the bridgehead for enterprises to transform themselves and break through for innovation. The China Enterprises International Service Center has long been concerned about overseas markets and enterprises going global. Based on this, in 2025, we launched a new column "Wave Riders Going Global" to find benchmark enterprises going global in various fields, disassemble practical cases from a professional perspective, precipitate methodologies in the process of seeking consensus, and explore differentiated development paths in non - consensus.
The following is the fourteenth article in this column.
From the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai to the Hangzhou Digital Trade Fair, a pair of "big glasses" from Rokid has become a star at many global technology events this year.
The enterprise behind these "glasses" is Rokid, founded by Zhu Mingming in 2014. It focuses on human - computer interaction technology products, including the R & D of software and hardware products such as AR glasses and the construction of an ecosystem based on the Yoda OS operating system.
In November last year, Rokid launched its latest AR glasses, Rokid Glasses. With significantly improved performance and wearing experience, it has attracted market attention and widespread acclaim. As the popularity of the product has been increasing at home and abroad, Rokid has also been called the "Seventh Little Dragon" in Hangzhou by the industry.
The popularity of Rokid to some extent reflects the overall explosion of the global AR glasses industry. With a series of technological breakthroughs in the hardware supply chain and the accelerated commercialization of AI technology, the practicality and market prospects of AR glasses are being recognized by more people, and they are expected to become the next popular terminal after mobile phones. In this race of technology and products, Rokid, which has been running for ten years, has not relaxed its pace.
01 Technological Breakthroughs Drive the Global Popularity of AR Glasses
On August 26, the overseas press conference of Rokid Glasses was held in New York, and the global crowdfunding also started simultaneously on the Kickstarter platform. As of October 9, the crowdfunding amount has exceeded $3.4 million, breaking the historical record of the global XR industry and surpassing the highest records of all AI and AR glasses. Rokid is now racing against itself and constantly refreshing its own records. "The recognition of our products by the public has completely exceeded our previous expectations." Shao Huaqiang, the person in charge of Rokid's overseas business, told us.
During the IFA 2025 (Berlin International Consumer Electronics Show) in September, Rokid Glasses won dozens of overseas media awards and received acclaim from tech enthusiasts. Wareable, an international tech media focusing on wearable device reviews, even published three consecutive recommendation articles.
Rokid Glasses were first released on November 18, 2024, and officially went on sale nearly a year later. It sold more than 40,000 units in just 5 days in the domestic market. Compared with Rokid's previous AR glasses products, Rokid Glasses have significantly improved in terms of functions and wearing experience. They are suitable for all - day daily wear, support "immersive music experience", can quickly take photos, and also have an AI assistant function, supporting AI voice chat and real - time navigation.
In Shao Huaqiang's view, the popularity of Rokid Glasses is not only due to the product's strength being recognized by consumers but also a sign of the maturity of the AR glasses industry. AR glasses, after experiencing nearly a decade of ups and downs from the initial popularity of the concept to a period of depression, finally broke through the circle comprehensively in 2025.
Shao Huaqiang recalled, "Ten years ago, before I joined Rokid, the first AR glasses I developed during my own entrepreneurship weighed 159 grams. They were basically 'doomed to failure' and couldn't be sold at all." In 2018, the prototype of Rokid glasses released at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) weighed 120g, lighter than ordinary ski goggles and one - fourth the weight of an AI helmet. But some people still said after the experience, "They are a bit heavy, and the fit of the head shape, ear height, and nose pad position is not good enough."
Zhu Mingming, the founder of Rokid, once compared making AR glasses to "doing a Taoist ritual in a snail shell". This is because for a long time, it has been difficult for AR glasses to evolve from immersive and bulky helmets to be as light and stylish as ordinary glasses or sunglasses, while also integrating multiple practical functions like a mobile phone to meet daily usage needs.
Only when the portability, wearability, and practicality reach a certain level can AR glasses make users willing to use them for a long time in daily life and truly become a popular terminal. Therefore, in the past decade, Rokid has carried out systematic iterations at an average annual cycle. Currently, the latest Rokid Glasses have reduced the weight of the glasses to 49 grams, comparable to ordinary glasses.
Before the core technological breakthroughs, many manufacturers, including Rokid, regarded split - type products as a transitional solution, that is, separating the main unit from the glasses and connecting them with a transmission line during use, so they were mainly used for movie - watching and entertainment.
"Now, the operating system, chip, and battery of Rokid Glasses can all be placed in the thin glasses frame, enabling all - day wear. It goes into sleep mode when not in use and lights up when there is an operation need. The built - in 210 - mAh battery supports 6 hours of continuous music playback." Shao Huaqiang said, "I'm sitting at the airport in Tokyo right now, talking to you on Rokid Glasses."
The breakthrough in AI technology has also enabled AR glasses to have more intelligent performance, greatly promoting the overall explosion of the AR glasses market. In terms of AI functions, Rokid Glasses match the camera in the glasses with the multi - modal recognition ability of Tongyi Qianwen. It analyzes and judges by quickly recognizing the objects or scenes captured by the camera and then feeds back to the user through voice or vision, such as quickly calculating the calorie content of food and displaying it immediately, and automatically translating into text when communicating with foreign friends.
02 High Cost - Performance, Localized OS System, and an Open Developer Ecosystem
Rokid revealed that the number of domestic and overseas users who have purchased AR glasses has exceeded 300,000. Shao Huaqiang said excitedly, "Currently, our overseas business is just in its infancy. The achievements of this crowdfunding can be regarded as a good start. As the overseas popularity of our brand gradually increases, we have also set the goal of catching up with our domestic counterparts in terms of performance within three years."
After long - term contact with overseas customers and consumers, Shao Huaqiang found that although AR glasses have mainly targeted entertainment scenarios such as gaming and movie - watching in the past few years, consumers actually pay more attention to practical needs, such as photo - taking effects, continuous music playback, and navigation functions. "During the IFA in Germany, unexpectedly, friends with hearing and vision impairments came to the exhibition specifically. They were very excited and happy about our products. They wanted to buy our products because they need the real - time environmental recognition function and AI voice - to - text function of the glasses. Referring to the successful experience in China, we have also developed glasses with a 'Wise Eyes' mode for the blind, which can report all obstacles in front of them in real - time and give real - time obstacle - avoidance reminders."
As a relatively cutting - edge consumer electronic product, the users of AR glasses are mostly concentrated in developed regions in Europe and America, which are also the most important overseas markets for Rokid. The price of Rokid Max 2 AR Glasses on the Amazon US site is $429 (about 3,056 yuan), which is basically the same as the price on Taobao. In addition, Rokid's overseas sales channels also include independent online stores, offline glasses stores, or chain digital supermarkets.
In early April this year, the "reciprocal tariff" policy in the United States once brought a great impact on the domestic AI hardware industry. Fortunately, the category of smart glasses (including AR and AI glasses) was included in the tariff exemption list. In this regard, Shao Huaqiang said that even with higher tariff costs, Rokid Glasses still have a strong cost - performance advantage in the overseas market. For example, the latest AR glasses Meta Ray - Ban Display launched by Meta on September 17 this year has a starting price of $799 (about 5,688 yuan), the same as the new iPhone 17, which is nearly twice the price of Rokid Glasses. Shao Huaqiang said, "At present, according to the actual test, Meta's strategy is still to define this product as a pioneer version mainly for professional users and developers, not for ordinary consumers."
In addition to the price advantage, the new Rokid Glasses weigh only 49 grams, lighter than the 69 - gram Meta Ray - Ban Display. The binocular design of Rokid Glasses is more in line with the eye - using habits than Meta's monocular design. In scenarios such as speech prompting or cross - language communication, users can customize and adjust the display range, height, position, and font size of the prompter, and the user experience is also better than that of Meta. Moreover, Rokid Glasses can support myopia and hyperopia correction up to 1600 degrees, almost suitable for all users, while the Meta product can only support 400 degrees.
Compared with other AR glasses manufacturers and technology giants, the technological advantage of Rokid Glasses also lies in the self - developed YodaOS - Master operating system. The operating system was the technological direction of Zhu Mingming's previous entrepreneurship. The mobile operating system company Mammoth Technology he founded after leaving Alibaba was later acquired by Alibaba and became the basis of Alibaba's YunOS operating system.
It is understood that the YodaOS - Master system supports multiple function updates and system changes of the AR Lite spatial computing suite, thereby optimizing the accuracy and usability of the spatial ray pointer and simplifying the user's interaction learning cost. Shao Huaqiang told us that Rokid has launched the world's first (and possibly the only one at present) operating system that supports Cantonese localization, AI understanding, and AI Q&A capabilities for the Hong Kong region. Currently, it is also promoting the localization of languages such as Japanese, German, and Spanish.
For Rokid, the greater value of the self - developed operating system lies in being a key part of its developer ecosystem. Through spatial perception, understanding, and rendering capabilities, it provides full - link services from hardware, the basic layer, the platform layer to the application layer for developers.
Zhao Weiqi, the person in charge of Rokid's global developer ecosystem, told us that currently, more than 15,000 developers around the world have joined the Rokid Open Platform. The construction of the overseas community is in a stage of rapid development, and local developer networks have been established in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. "The Rokid Open Platform allows overseas developers to have earlier and more frequent access to our hardware and SDK through bi - annual global developer competitions, cooperative college courses, and online and offline operations."
In early September this year, Rokid officially launched the Rokid Glasses SDK development kit, for the first time opening a complete AR smart glasses development toolchain to developers. This kit is integrated into the upgraded Rokid Open Platform, providing full - process services from SDK access, development guides, and Rokid Academy courses. It supports the dual operating systems of YodaOS - Master (including AR Studio/AR Lite) and YodaOS - Sprite (Rokid Glasses) to break down the technical barriers of AR application development.
At the same time, on September 26 this year, Rokid also launched the "Spatial Joy 2025" Rokid Global AR & AI Development Competition, which is open to developers around the world, with a total prize pool of 2.5 million yuan. This year, the competition has added an independent AI track for the first time, focusing on the in - depth integration of AR and AI, aiming to explore and innovate future human - computer interaction methods.
03 AR Glasses as the Best Entrance for AI Technology, Expected to Define the Next Terminal Era
Before the popularity of Rokid in the consumer market, its application in the business - to - business (B2B) market was more mature, and the commercialization in the industrial field has the fastest growth rate. Zhu Mingming once introduced that in 2023, Rokid's revenue increased by 200% year - on - year, and the industrial field accounted for one - fourth of the total revenue, with a year - on - year growth rate of 100%.
Another major B2B application scenario is in the field of cultural relics and tourism. Currently, Rokid has cooperated with more than 200 museums across the country in digital exhibition. Through the YodaOS - Master operating system and the AR creation tool Rokid Lingjing, it conducts AR restoration and display of cultural relics and other exhibits. When visitors wear the AR glasses provided by Rokid to visit, the glasses can also recognize the exhibits in front of the visitors in real - time and provide guided explanations.
For AR glasses manufacturers like Rokid, the current new challenge is how to balance the contradiction between industrial production and customized consumption. Shao Huaqiang said, "Consumer electronic products need to achieve economies of scale through mass production, but the consumption of glasses must be customized. Everyone has different suitable sizes and degrees. Moreover, glasses naturally have matching and fashion attributes, and users pursue more different styles and colors. So now we are still iterating and optimizing, and product strength will always be the top priority."
Shao Huaqiang believes that the ten - year development of Rokid is also a microcosm of the ten - year transformation of the AR industry. Rokid Glasses are the result of Rokid's ten - year R & D investment, which is the "iPhone 1 moment" of the AR glasses industry. Each company will launch products in various forms to explore the "iPhone 4" of the industry, thus truly defining the future development path of the products.
Currently, the industry generally believes that AR glasses are the best entrance for AI interaction. With the rapid commercialization of AI technology, smart AR glasses empowered by AI technology will become the next - generation mainstream terminal products after mobile phones. Shao Huaqiang said, "Our vision is to contribute to the migration of the next - generation human - computer interaction paradigm. Global peers are all working in this direction. It depends on which company can make better products."
This article is from the WeChat public account "Hangzhou Qiantang Enterprise Going Global Service Base". Author: Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global. Published with the authorization of Qiantang.
