China's Alibaba enters AI wearables race with its Quark AI Glasses

Chinese e-commerce and technology giant Alibaba has officially entered the AI wearables market with the launch of its Quark AI Glasses series in China. The move represents Alibaba's most ambitious push yet into consumer-facing hardware, aiming to integrate its proprietary AI directly into users' daily lives and challenge the global dominance of Meta and the high-end appeal of Apple and Samsung.

The new smart glasses are powered by Alibaba's in-house large language model, Qwen, and its corresponding Qwen App, allowing users to access AI assistance via voice commands ("Hello Qwen") or touch controls.

An ecosystem play: Commerce on your face

Unlike rivals that often emphasize gaming or immersive entertainment, Alibaba’s strategy is heavily focused on leveraging its massive digital ecosystem to integrate AI directly into daily life and commerce.

The glasses offer a suite of hands-free, multimodal functions:

• Instant price recognition: Users can point the glasses' camera at any product and instantly pull up price comparisons and product details on Taobao, Alibaba's shopping platform.

• Payments: Integration with Alipay allows for quick, voice-controlled payment when a user glances at a QR code.

• Real-time assistance: The Qwen AI provides on-the-go language translation, near-eye navigation instructions, AI-generated meeting notes, and contextual Q&A via voice command.

This deep, transactional integration positions the Quark glasses not just as a consumer gadget, but as an "AI life assistant" designed to accelerate user engagement across Alibaba's core services.

Pricing and global ambition

The Quark AI Glasses are launching in two main series:

• G1 Series: Starting at 1,899 yuan (approx. $268), a lighter model built for everyday lifestyle with core AI and camera features, but without the dual displays.

• S1 Series: Starting at 3,799 yuan (approx. $537), the flagship model featuring dual micro-OLED displays and an industry-first swappable dual-battery system for up to 24 hours of continuous use.

This pricing strategy places the Quark well below premium devices like Apple's Vision Pro and makes it highly competitive with Meta's $799 Ray-Ban Display glasses, positioning Alibaba to capture a wide segment of the mass market.

Alibaba has confirmed that while sales are currently focused on China (available across major e-commerce platforms and over 600 retail stores), an international rollout is planned for 2026, starting with select markets in Asia and Europe.