So, I stumbled across this new tech unveiling today—Xiaomi decided to jump into the whole smart glasses scene. They’re calling them Xiaomi AI Glasses. Why? Who knows. Maybe they ran out of clever names, or maybe they’re just straight-up saying what it is. Anyway, they revealed these at their ‘Human x Car x Home’ event, which, honestly, sounds like some kind of futuristic expo… but with cars and homes? Okay then.
Last year, rumors were flying around that Xiaomi was teaming up with some Chinese ODM named Goertek. Not sure if it was some kind of secret mission, but the buzz said they were gunning for the same cool vibe as Ray-Ban Meta glasses. (Fun fact: you can’t even buy those in China officially. Go figure.) So now, ta-da, Xiaomi’s shot their shot.
The glasses come packed with a bunch of techy bits—Hyper XiaoAi voice assistant (catchy name, huh?), a 12MP camera with something called electronic image stabilization (fancy!), five microphones, and two speakers. And under the hood, they stuffed a BES2700 chip and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR1. Sounds like they didn’t skimp on the nerdy stuff.
But, here’s the kicker—no displays, nada. You gotta talk to them or touch ‘em to do stuff, which makes me wonder if talking to your glasses is going to be the new normal. And, apparently, you can shout at them to translate foreign text or snap a pic. Can’t decide if that’s cool or creepy.
Oh, and battery life. Xiaomi says you get about 8.6 hours of doing a mishmash of things like filming or calling via Bluetooth. Something about it also stands by for 21 hours? That seems oddly specific, but hey, I’m not an engineer. They even have a trick where you can pay just by eyeballing a QR code—coming soon in September 2025. I can’t decide if that’s amazing or a little dystopian.
As of today, they’re hitting the shelves in China. Sorry, world. Xiaomi didn’t make them for your average non-Asian face, supposedly. That’s what they’re saying, anyway. But hold on, you can pick from a single frame shape in three snazzy colors! Black, some kind of see-through tortoiseshell, and parrot green. Yep, you read that right—parrot green.
Pricing, you wonder? Starts at ¥1,999 RMB, roughly $280 for the base model. If you’re feeling fancy, spend more for lenses that change tint or go electrochromic—I guess that means they shade themselves somehow?
And, uh, interesting trivia—these glasses are Xiaomi’s first go at putting cameras on their mass-produced glasses. Before, their glasses were, like, camera-less. Except that one time in 2022 when they tried something similar with insane camera specs but kept it super niche.
Regarding the nitty-gritty specs, you’ve got a 12MP camera with a lens angle that I forgot, video stabilizing magic, and it weighs just 40 grams. Sort of feels like a gadget from a sci-fi flick, right?
Lastly, not to get all salesy, but people are kinda excited—25,000 reservations on JD.com already. Clearly, some folks can’t wait to try yakking to their specs.
