Xiaomi announced new AI Glasses (that’s the product’s actual name) at an event in China this week. The wearable tech is yet another take on smart eyewear, a space currently dominated by Meta’s Ray-Ban (and soon Oakley) partnerships.
Before you get too excited, the smart specs are only slated for sale in China at present. There’s no indication when, or even if, they’ll make their way to the rest of the world. But why would you want to plonk a pair of these over your ears?
Time to fill your AI Glasses
For much the same reason as you’d opt for Meta’s offering, really. Xiaomi has given its AI Glasses a Snapdragon AR1+ chipset, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. That’s quite a feat for the limited space allowed by eyewear, but the company follows up with a 12MP Sony IMX681 image sensor capable of capturing 4K images (4,032 x 3,024) and 2K video at 30fps.
That it does all of this with a claimed battery life of eight hours on a charge is even more impressive, though we expect real-world performance won’t sport the stamina Xiaomi says its AI Glasses have. The 263mAh battery will charge to full in 45 minutes, according to the company, and an IP54 rating should keep them reasonably protected if you’re wearing them out and about.
If, like many, you’re wondering what the point of the Smart AI glasses are, there are software functions beyond the embedded camera. Xiaomi’s Vela OS runs the show, giving wearers access to its Xiao AI assistant, translation support between ten languages (we can safely assume that Afrikaans and Zulu are not on the launch list), and calorie estimates of the food they’re eating via the 12MP camera. These are AI functions, of course, mostly similar to what folks can get from new-generation smartphones. But these fit on your face and are therefore somehow better.
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Xiaomi’s AI Glasses support Android 10 and iOS 15 smartphones, but for full functionality, a Xiaomi handset running the company’s HyperOS environment is needed. Devices from 2023’s Xiaomi 14 (and its brethren) onwards meet the criteria for that, so any early adopters might want to also upgrade their handset.
Pricing in China for the AI Glasses begins at R5,000 (CNY 2,000), up to an approximate R7,500 for the most expensive edition. If they can keep this pricing structure in South Africa, assuming they ever arrive, they’ll undercut Meta’s admittedly not-officially-sold-in-SA Ray-Ban equivalent rather neatly.
It’s not the first foray into smart glasses for Xiaomi. The company previously launched its Smart Audio Glasses, spectacles that also play audiobooks (or music, we guess) into your ears.
