Alibaba Launches AI Glasses in Rare Consumer Gadget Foray

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has begun sales of its first smart glasses powered by its Qwen AI models, marking a rare foray into consumer hardware, Luz Ding and Vlad Savov reported for Bloomberg News.

The launch marks an extension of Alibaba’s ambitious reorganization into an AI-first business. (Photo: Alibaba Group X)

The new Quark S1 glasses include built-in translucent displays that superimpose contextual information over the user’s field of view.

Equipped with cameras, bone-conduction microphones, and swappable batteries rated to last 24 hours, the product aims to offer the Chinese market an alternative to Meta Platforms Inc.’s Ray-Ban smart glasses.

The launch marks an extension of Alibaba’s ambitious reorganization into an AI-first business.

The company made a major splash with last week’s release of its Qwen app, consolidating its various consumer AI services into a single upgraded platform that quickly attracted more than 10 million users.

Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu said the company has seen “exceptional user retention” with the new release.

Alibaba has also integrated the Qwen suite into its Quark desktop browser and is now broadening its reach with the Quark wearables lineup. Alongside the S1, which starts at 3,799 yuan ($537), Alibaba will offer a 1,899-yuan Quark G1 model that omits the micro-OLED displays.