Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) has unveiled its first smart glasses, marking the e-commerce giant’s entry into the growing wearable technology market and stepping up competition with rivals like Meta and Xiaomi.
The Quark AI Glasses, introduced at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, are powered by Alibaba’s proprietary Qwen large language model and Quark AI assistant.
The device supports real-time translation, live meeting transcription, hands-free calling, and music streaming, and integrates seamlessly with the company’s broader ecosystem including Taobao, Amap (AutoNavi), and Alipay via voice and touch controls.
Unlike Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, which focus on entertainment and social connectivity, Alibaba’s glasses are aimed at enhancing productivity in everyday and business settings.
The smart glasses are expected to launch in China by the end of 2025. Alibaba has not yet disclosed pricing details.
Shares of Alibaba rose 2.4% in morning trading on Monday, hovering just below $123 around midday.
Jefferies analysts said the launch positions Alibaba to capitalize on emerging “AI agent” opportunities. “Key elements of AI agents include infrastructure, ecosystem and security,” analysts wrote, adding that Alibaba’s Qwen3 models set a new benchmark in hybrid reasoning and multilingual capabilities.
The new wearable is also part of a broader ecosystem strategy. “Quark AI glasses integrate multiple ecosystem offerings,” Jefferies noted, highlighting functionality such as scanning merchant QR codes, price checks on Taobao, and real-time navigation.
Alibaba’s AI expansion comes amid growing demand in China for AI-enabled consumer products and services. According to the company, over 140,000 models have been developed using its Qwen platform, with more than 400 million downloads on Hugging Face, accounting for 30% of the site’s total.