By Alimat Aliyeva
Chinese tech conglomerate Alibaba has announced its entry into the wearable technology market with the upcoming launch of its first smart glasses, powered by the company’s proprietary artificial intelligence platforms, Azernews reports, citing foreign media.
The Quark AI Glasses are set to debut in China by the end of 2025 and will be supported by Alibaba's advanced Qwen large language model and its intelligent assistant, Quark.
This move marks Alibaba’s first significant step into the smart eyewear space, placing it in direct competition with Meta, which has led developments in the sector with its Ray-Ban-branded smart glasses, as well as with domestic rival Xiaomi, which introduced its own AI-powered glasses earlier this year.
While full specifications and pricing remain under wraps, Alibaba has confirmed that the glasses will feature hands-free calling, music playback, real-time language translation, meeting transcription, and a built-in camera.
The device will seamlessly integrate with Alibaba’s broader ecosystem, enabling users to access navigation tools, make payments via Alipay, and shop on Taobao directly through the glasses. This deeper integration emphasizes Alibaba’s vision of creating a more connected, immersive experience for consumers.
Alibaba, headquartered in Hangzhou, views the Quark AI Glasses as part of a broader trend in the tech industry—where smart glasses are becoming the next evolution of personal computing, alongside smartphones and wearables like smartwatches.
The Quark assistant, which was launched earlier this year as a standalone mobile app, will now extend its functionality through dedicated hardware. This strategic move is designed to enhance user interaction and boost adoption of both the assistant and the smart glasses.
With this development, Alibaba positions itself as a dominant player in China’s AI ecosystem, striving to rival global firms like OpenAI with its homegrown models and products.
Although no official release date or pricing details have been provided, the company has confirmed a domestic launch by the end of 2025, with plans to expand to international markets thereafter.
