Rokid takes on Meta with new AI-powered smart glasses
Rokid will unveil its newest wearable, the Rokid Glasses, at a launch event in New York City on August 26. The company says the device is the world’s lightest full-function AI and AR smart glasses, combining translation, navigation, transcription, and a first-person camera in an everyday design.
The glasses run on Qualcomm’s AR1 platform and include features such as real-time multilingual translation, live transcription, a teleprompter function, and object recognition. Rokid is also building around a developer ecosystem that already counts more than 15,000 developers in China, with plans to expand internationally.
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AR and AI-powered glasses have been gaining momentum this year as companies race to bring wearable computing into the mainstream.
Since 2021, Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses have led the category, recently expanding with an Oakley-branded “performance” model, while rivals including Google, Alibaba, Xiaomi, Snap, and potentially Apple are preparing their own AI-enabled eyewear.
Unlike headsets, AI glasses are designed to blend into daily life without the bulk.
Rokid Glasses
Rokid is positioning its product as both a productivity tool and a consumer accessory, offering enterprise-level functions in a smaller frame.
The company’s open SDK and developer platform are also intended to accelerate new use cases, from workplace collaboration to accessibility applications.
The New York launch, titled “Future in Sight,” will include panels on wearable AI, hands-on demos of the Rokid Glasses, and an “AI Glasses For Social Good” podcast. Rokid also plans to kick off its “Dream Journey” world tour, promoting the glasses to global audiences.
The competition to define what smart glasses can be is heating up, and Rokid is betting that a lighter design combined with practical AI features will help its device stand out in a crowded field, but it’s going to be a struggle to convince consumers that smart glasses are ready to move beyond novelty and into everyday use.
What do you think about Rokid’s AI smart glasses? Let us know in the comments.