Product1 publisher3 min readPublished
Meta took 94% of display-less AI glasses shipments in the first half
Counterpoint Research's first-half numbers show the category up 263% and one vendor holding almost all of it. Anyone building for smart glasses is building for Meta's Ray-Bans in North America and Western Europe.
The Product Desk · Product desk
What happened
- Counterpoint Research counted a 263% rise in global AI glasses shipments in the first half of 2026, with Meta out in front of the display-less segment.
- 9to5Mac reports that Meta's camera-equipped frames have drawn increasing scrutiny and the label "perv glasses" as accounts of non-consensual filming and harassment reached a wider audience.
- In the separate see-through AR segment, Rokid led on 41% of units, Meta came second on 37% and Even Realities took 11%.
Compiled by The Product DeskSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- constraint A team shipping a glasses feature next quarter ships against one vendor's frames, which puts SDK access, hardware revisions and retail pricing in Meta's hands.
- decision Teams have to settle whether their feature needs a camera that captures other people or one that only reads the wearer's surroundings, since Counterpoint expects camera-free and context-only models to arrive.
- exposure A newcomer putting a camera in a frame inherits a reputation set by someone else's product, and the wearer is the one who gets asked about it in public.
- cost With 78% of display-less shipments landing in North America and Western Europe, the privacy compliance work that bites is American and European, and it falls on whoever ships the app.
A team picking a reference device for a glasses feature does not have much of a choice this half. Strip Counterpoint's 263% down and most of it is one company's volume, with Meta at 94% of display-less shipments and growing 260% year over year [3][4]. Xiaomi and Alibaba sit at 1% each and the remaining brands share 4%, so every non-Meta vendor combined holds six points of the segment [2]. The category rate and Meta's own rate are three percentage points apart [5].
The vendor's own count does not line up with that growth. Francesco Milleri, CEO of Ray-Ban owner EssilorLuxottica, said earlier this year that the two companies had sold more than 7 million AI glasses in 2025 and that a 10-million annual target was within reach for the end of 2026 [9]. Split those 7 million evenly across 2025 and apply Counterpoint's 260%: the first half of 2026 on its own comes to about 12.6 million units, above the full-year target [1]. Either the two organisations are counting different things, or the growth did not arrive evenly across the halves.
Geography splits this into two markets. China took 3% of display-less shipments [5]. In the see-through segment Counterpoint reports separately, which it defines as glasses carrying the displays and optics for an optical see-through experience, China took 45% of units [6][8]. Rokid led that segment on 41% and Meta came second on 37%, four points back [7][4]. Apple's rumored entry is targeted for 2027, display-less, leaning on Siri and Apple Intelligence with cameras, microphones and speakers in the frame [10].
Counterpoint expects the camera itself to become the variable. "We also expect a wider range of AI glasses form factors to emerge to address privacy concerns associated with cameras, including camera-free AI audio glasses and AI glasses equipped with cameras primarily for contextual understanding rather than photo or video capture," the firm said in its report [12].
Every figure above is a unit shipped. Shipments size the installed base an app can address, and they are not evidence of retention, hours worn or repeat purchase. The generation gap matters here: 9to5Mac describes Meta's first Ray-Ban generation as having failed to gain much traction and the second as far more successful [2]. The validated form factor is one generation of one product.
Two axes are enough to place your own feature. The first is whether it needs a camera aimed at other people, or only sensing that reads the wearer's own surroundings. The second is whether it needs a display. No camera and no display puts you on the largest addressable base, with Meta's frames as the reference device. Context-only sensing without a display is the cell Counterpoint expects vendors to build into [12]. Capture plus no display is where the harassment reports live [11]. Anything that needs a display puts 45% of your buyers in China and your reference device with Rokid [7][8].
What to watch
- Whether EssilorLuxottica publishes a full-year 2026 unit count against the 10-million target, and whether it reconciles with Counterpoint's shipment figures.
- Whether camera-free audio glasses appear as a measurable share in Counterpoint's next shipment count.
- Whether Xiaomi or Alibaba move above 1% of display-less shipments in the second half.