Huawei Updates Smart Glasses With Live Translation

China’s Huawei Technologies has launched an upgraded version of its smart glasses with simultaneous translation and other AI-powered features, in a market where competition is intensifying.

The latest edition of Huawei’s Eyewear 2 range of smart glasses, Titanium, has titanium temples and either round or squared frames.

New features include voice commands and gesture controls as well as simultaneous translation, the Shenzhen-based company said.

Gesture controls

Gesture controls include nodding one’s head to answer a call or shaking it to reject the call.

Huawei said the device supports 11 hours of music playback and nine hours of talk time.

The device can provide audio reminders of weather and scheduled activities.

Huawei launched the range in 2023 with optical lenses and added a sunglasses version last May.

The device comes at a time when smart glasses are expected to surge in popularity, due to the integration of new generative AI technologies.

Meta Platforms added “Live AI” to its Ray-Ban smart glasses last December, with features including simultaneous translation.

Global shipments of AI-enabled glasses are expected to grow 130 percent this year to 5.5 million units, up from 2.34 million last year, with China accounting for around 500,000 units, according to Wellsenn XR figures.

Market growth

IDC estimated that China’s total AI glasses shipments would reach 2.75 million this year.

The overall AI glasses market is expected to grow to 80 million units in the next five years, Wellsenn XR projected.

In China, Alibaba, Baidu, TikTok parent ByteDance, Huawei spin-off Honor and Xiaomi have all launched smart glasses beginning last year.

Xiaomi, which is best known for smartphones but also makes electric cars and home appliances, launched its second-generation Mijia smart glasses offering in March with five different frames, up to nine hours of talk time and features powered by its Xiaoai AI assistant.

Apple has reportedly dropped plans for smart glasses in favour of an immersive headset similar to its Vision Pro that can link to a Mac for use with low-latency apps.