Alibaba has officially joined the AI hardware race. On Monday, the Chinese tech giant unveiled its first smart glasses—called Quark AI Glasses—which are powered by its in-house large language model Qwen and AI assistant Quark. The glasses are expected to launch in China by the end of 2025, marking Alibaba’s most ambitious step yet into AI-powered consumer tech, according to a report by CNBC.
The AI glasses are positioned as Alibaba’s answer to Meta’s Ray-Ban collaboration and Xiaomi’s AI specs. But the real play here isn’t just hardware—it’s distribution. By embedding Quark into wearables, Alibaba is turning its AI assistant from a standalone app into something you can wear and interact with in real time.
So, what do the Quark AI Glasses offer? Quite a bit, at least on paper. Users can take hands-free calls, stream music, translate languages on the fly, transcribe meetings, and even pay via Alipay. A built-in camera allows for navigation and visual search, and users can also compare prices on Taobao—Alibaba’s flagship e-commerce platform. That means you could be in a store and ask your glasses if something is cheaper online. Naturally.
While Alibaba hasn’t yet revealed pricing or technical specs, the move signals just how seriously Chinese tech giants are taking the AI hardware push. With a dominant presence in mapping, travel, fintech (through Ant Group and Alipay), and retail, Alibaba has the ecosystem to make these glasses more than a gimmick.
In a market where Western players like OpenAI and Meta often steal the spotlight, Alibaba is making clear it won’t be left behind.
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