The Zhitong Finance App learned that CINNO • xResearch data shows that in the third quarter of 2026, the overall sales volume of the domestic consumer AI/AR equipment market was 240,000 units, up 10% year on year and 4% month on month. Compared with the explosive growth of 108% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, the industry's growth rate declined markedly, mainly dragged down by the phased pullback in the screenless AI glasses market. However, structural highlights stand out: Relying on the implementation of AI applications for consumer-grade AR, the volume of integrated AR glasses with displays increased month-on-month, up 116% year-on-year, making it the fastest growing main line in the AI/AR sector this quarter. The sales share of AR headsets has declined to 44%, but they still dominate; the sales share of integrated AR glasses has increased to 34%; and unscreened AI glasses have entered a reshuffle cycle of product power competition.
Category differentiation: AR continues to grow, and screenless AI glasses are phased back
In terms of consumer-grade AR, benefiting from the release of new AR products by brands such as Thunderbird and iFLYTEK, and driven by high-frequency applications such as AI assistants, translation, and navigation, sales in the third quarter reached 187,000 units, up 45% year on year and 10% month on month. In particular, integrated AR glasses increased 116% year over year.
In terms of screenless AI glasses, sales in the domestic consumer market fell back to 53,000 units, down 12% month-on-month and 40% year-on-year. After concentrated new product releases and channel promotions in the second quarter, there were no benchmark new products in this quarter. The market gradually absorbed demand, and the industry's growth rate subsided, entering a reshuffle cycle of product power competition.
Brand pattern: Thunderbird is second to none, with a sales share of 34%
Thunderbird (34%): Thunderbird alone leads AI/AR glasses with a 34% share. Its advantages are the multi-line layout of split AR headsets, integrated AR glasses, and AI shooting glasses, and mature vertical integration of software and hardware. Thunderbird iO AI glasses are the core key to sales this quarter: launched in August, bringing AI+AR glasses back to the “all-day wearable” weight band with a 34-gram fuselage and a starting price of 1,996 yuan; the first batch connected DeepSeek V4 Pro and Qianwen 3.7 Max, shifting the competitive focus of AR glasses from hardware parameters to lightweight and end-side AI experiences. In terms of sales, iO set a benchmark in the first sales phase of AR smart glasses over the years. In August, it sold more than 12,000 units, and topped the sales list of integrated AR devices in August and September, respectively; even in an environment under pressure from the overall market, iO maintained a high growth trend in the Double Eleven cycle. What is more noteworthy is that the fourth-generation binocular full-color AI glasses iO+ were unveiled on October 27, betting on the full-color Micro LED optical waveguide route. Thunderbird's all-category layout. Once the weight of the full-color optical waveguide falls below 40g, its leading edge will expand further.
Rocky Rokid (14%): Relying on the pioneer accumulation of integrated optical waveguide AR, its Glass products continued to be popular, accounting for 14% of sales in the third quarter. On October 27, Rokid released two AR glasses and one smart hardware at a time: Glasses 2 (starting at 3,699 yuan, 3,199 yuan after national supplement, released on November 11) consolidated the iterative basic model, Rokid Color (4,999 yuan) launched the flagship, and the Rokid Ring Interactive Ring (1,699 yuan) promoted the “glasses+ring” two-hand interactive combination to the consumer level for the first time. When full-color optical waveguides became the main line of next-generation AR technology with display, Rocky always took the lead in card positions.
XREAL (11%): Its advantage lies in the mature split headset matrix built by One Pro and 1S, and the XBX sub-brand's image quality reputation directly connecting with the Vision Micro OLED supply chain. At the end of October, XREAL rarely released two major new products in a row, XREAL 1 Pro+ (released on October 27, starting price of 3,499 yuan) and XREAL AURA (sold overseas) in deep collaboration with Qualcomm. The two new products focus on wearing experience and interaction optimization, and are iterative supplements. Currently, XREAL's core market is still focused on the portable movie scene. Its cooperation with Google and Qualcomm in the Android XR ecosystem can be seen as an early layout for spatial computing platforms. The pace of subsequent release depends on the maturity of the ecosystem.
VITURE (9%): Its advantage lies in its deep binding with Sony's high-end color Micro OLED and dominance in the price range above 3,000 yuan; the Beast flagship released in May “520” further strengthened its high-end positioning. What is more noteworthy is its global ranking — Q2'26's share of global AR devices reached 17% (up 4 percentage points from month to month), second only to Thunderbird. In terms of trend, VITURE values profits, and overseas sales are superior to domestic sales. If domestic high-end AV AR is released with Double 11, there is still room for improvement in its 9% domestic share.
Huawei (9%): Its core advantage is the linkage between Hongmeng's terminal ecosystem, localized AI computing power, and other product lines such as mobile phones. It quickly launched after the launch of the AI shooting glasses in April, and its sales peaked in June, ranking first among screenless AI glasses. On October 22, an OTA upgrade was also used to complete localized life scenarios such as parking lot code scanning payment, head motion control payment, and 5-minute video recording to further improve the experience. In terms of trends, relying on the Hongmeng software and hardware ecosystem, Huawei has a relatively independent and controllable synergy advantage. In the current consumer electronics environment, its ability to withstand risks has been highlighted, and eyewear sales are expected to increase further.
Other brands (23%): Xiaomi (01810) relies on mobile phone channels and cost-effective products; Qianwen briefly soared up after the launch of the G1 series in March with big model capabilities, and launched two new products in October to seek a second jump; Inmo Future made its world debut in Chengdu on November 4, and players such as iFLYTEK tried to explore incremental growth with vertical AI scenarios such as education and office.
Prospects and predictions: new products and giants enter the market, full-color AI glasses open a new stage
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter and the beginning of 2027, the industry is expected to usher in a new round of growth. The core drivers come from three aspects.
First, new domestic products are being launched intensively. Thunderbird fourth-generation binocular full-color AI glasses iO+, Rocky Monochrome Rokid Glasses 2 and full-color AI glasses Rokid Color, and Shadow's fourth-generation integrated AR smart glasses INMO Future have been released or unveiled. The full-color Micro LED optical waveguide is becoming the main technology for the next generation of AR devices with displays. AR devices with displays are being implemented at an accelerated pace on lightweight and AI-enabled circuits, which is expected to further increase the sales share of consumer-grade AR.
Second, international giants are entering the market at an accelerated pace. Apple plans to launch the first generation of smart glasses at the end of 2026, focusing on voice interaction and mobile phone collaboration; Google announced that it will release AI glasses equipped with the Gemini model; sales of the Meta Ray-Ban series exceeded 3.7 million pairs in the first half of 2026. In the fourth quarter, they also launched Ray-Ban Meta third-generation AI glasses and a camera-less audio version of AI glasses, further launching real-time video understanding and AI content summarization functions, and increasing the annual production capacity target to more than 13 million pairs. The entry of leading giants will significantly raise category awareness and market ceilings.
Third, market size expectations are optimistic. CINNO • xResearch predicts that global AI/AR eyewear shipments will exceed 15 million units in 2026, an increase of 152% over the previous year after removing ultra-low white cards. The domestic consumer-grade AI/AR market is expected to reach a new high in the fourth quarter due to the continued effects of the Double 11 and Double 12 promotions and the national supplement policy.