6 hours ago
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Rokid enforcement Liang Guan wearing Rokid Glasses.
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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways
- Rokid Glasses are a rival to Meta Ray-Bans but connection respective much precocious features.
- The institution launched a pre-order selling run via Kickstarted and raised implicit $1 cardinal successful pre-orders successful the archetypal 3 days.
- The AI glasses are apt to entreaty to tech aboriginal adopters who worth features implicit aggregate benignant selections.
The fashionable Meta Ray-Bans astute glasses are astir to get a batch much competition, including from large tech companies similar Samsung and Google. However, Rokid Glasses are shaping up to beryllium 1 of the up-and-coming products to ticker successful this space. On August 26, Rokid launched a Kickstarter campaign to effort to nail down $20,000 successful pre-orders for its astute glasses by October 10. Less than 72 hours later, Rokid Glasses had already cleared implicit $1 cardinal successful pre-orders.
I'm not definite anyone successful the tech manufacture is each that surprised.
The Rokid Glasses harvester the 3 champion features of Meta Ray-Bans -- convenient photography, receptor buds-like audio, and a quick-access AI adjunct -- with a head-up show similar the ones you'll find successful AR glasses specified arsenic the Even Realities G1 and Brilliant Labs Halo.
Rokid Glasses heads-up display.
Beyond conscionable the heads-up display, the Rokid Glasses besides connection respective different upgrades implicit the Meta Ray-Bans:
- Support for 89 languages (compared to 4)
- Shoot photos successful horizontal oregon vertical mode (rather than conscionable vertical)
- 210 mAh artillery (compared to 154 mAh)
- Native ChatGPT enactment (compared to the Meta's Llama AI model)
- Audio Memo for notes and reminders (no equivalent feature)
- Magnetized pop-in lenses (compared to accepted lenses)
With each of that tech inside, the Rokid Glasses measurement 49g -- the aforesaid arsenic Meta Ray-Bans -- and person a precise akin carnal footprint to the flagship Wayfarer benignant of Meta Ray-Bans successful black.
Also: 5 Meta Ray-Ban upgrades I privation to spot connected September 17
The Rokid Glasses volition retail for $599, compared to $299 to $379 for Meta Ray-Bans, $299 for Brilliant Labs Halo, $599 for Even Realities G1, and $399-$499 for the much caller Meta Oakley astute glasses. But for the Kickstarter, Rokid is offering the archetypal 2,000 backers a 20% discount astatine $479. Rokid says it volition vessel the last merchandise successful November 2025.
To beryllium clear, this is much of a pre-order selling run than a Kickstarter campaign. Rokid is simply a Chinese institution with a beingness successful Silicon Valley and has been gathering astute speakers and astute glasses since 2014. More recently, the institution has been focused connected much bulky and full-featured AR glasses specified arsenic the Rokid Max 2 and partnering with implicit 200 museums successful China to integrate immersive integer content. The institution has been giving demos of the Rokid Glasses since CES successful January 2025, wherever ZDNET archetypal tried them.
ZDNET spoke with Liang Guan, Rokid's US General Manager based successful Redwood City, California and Irene Long, Head of Global Operations based astatine the company's office successful Hangzhou, China. Guan said that globally the institution has already received orders for implicit 300,000 units of the Rokid Glasses. Since the US Kickstarter run lone has astir 1,900 orders arsenic of September 1, the immense bulk of the pre-orders are apt from partners and retailers.
Guan mentioned that determination are antithetic versions of the merchandise for antithetic markets, and that includes immoderate antithetic features arsenic well. For example, the mentation for the Chinese marketplace volition see a wireless outgo diagnostic portion the mentation for the US and planetary markets volition see turn-by-turn navigation. Rokid expects some features to beryllium precise fashionable successful their respective markets. Most of the different features are the aforesaid oregon akin crossed markets.
Rokid Glasses navigation successful heads up display.
Long said, "At CES successful January, our glasses were much similar a prototype, and present they're ready. And truthful wide accumulation begins successful October."
Meta has said it volition unveil its adjacent astute glasses products astatine its Meta Connect lawsuit astatine its Silicon Valley office connected September 17. The institution is expected to motorboat its "Hypernova" glasses that volition reportedly see a tiny colour surface successful 1 eye, a neural wristband to alteration manus gestures, and volition outgo $800. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Meta is preparing to merchantability 150,000 - 200,000 units of these Hypernova glasses implicit the adjacent 2 years.
However, Meta is besides reportedly going to motorboat a successor to its audio-only Meta Ray-Ban glasses astatine Meta Connect with a fig of upgrades -- apt to lucifer oregon transcend the capabilities of the Meta Oakley astute glasses released successful summertime 2025. The 3.o mentation of Meta Ray-Bans are expected to retail betwixt $300-$500.
So the Rokid Glasses would beryllium close successful betwixt the 2 Meta products -- much susceptible than the audio-only glasses but not rather arsenic precocious arsenic Hypernova. They besides won't person the marque powerfulness of Ray-Bans, the wide retail organisation successful the US, oregon connection the assortment of antithetic styles that the Meta Ray-Bans do. Nevertheless, among tech aboriginal adopters who privation the astir precocious features, Rokid Glasses are apt to beryllium precise competitive.
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