AI glasses shipments rose 263% in H1 2026, with Meta holding 94%

Global shipments of AI glasses rose 263% year over year in the first half of 2026, Counterpoint Research says, with display-less models accounting for 96% of everything shipped. The figures come from the firm's Intelligent Eyewear Market Tracker, published on September 21, and are estimates of shipments into retail channels rather than audited sales.

Meta holds 94% of the display-less segment

Display-less glasses took 96% of shipments in the first half of 2026, a single point below the 97% recorded a year earlier. The segment grew 258% year over year and 22% against the second half of 2025.

Meta accounted for about 94% of that category, with volumes up 260% year over year and 22% on the previous half. Xiaomi and Alibaba came in at roughly 1% each, and other brands split the remaining 4%.

Counterpoint credits the wider lineup from Meta and EssilorLuxottica — including the cheaper Meta Glasses line — plus entry into new markets and heavier retail promotion. EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri has said the pair sold over 7 million AI glasses in 2025 and target 10 million in 2026.

AR glasses grow faster from a much smaller base

The AR & AI glasses segment, covering devices with a display and the optics for see-through viewing, grew 449% year over year and 18% sequentially, yet still accounts for only 4% of all AI glasses shipped.

Rokid led with 41%, ahead of Meta at 37%, Even Realities at 11%, Alibaba at 7% and INMO at 2%. China took 45% of these shipments and North America 41%.

Principal Analyst Flora Tang says the driver is supply rather than demand: "At this early stage, the competitive landscape is shaped more by product supply than consumer demand."

Apple's entry and two named risks

Research VP Peter Richardson notes that the competitive landscape "remains largely unchanged" three years after the Ray-Ban Meta glasses arrived in 2023. Apple is rumoured to be readying display-less glasses for 2027, built around Siri and Apple Intelligence with cameras, microphones and speakers in the frame.

Counterpoint names two challenges for the next stretch of growth: rising component prices, memory in particular, and public concern about cameras in AI glasses, which has drawn scrutiny under the "perv glasses" label. It still expects Meta, Google, Samsung and Apple to invest harder, and sees the next phase in agentic glasses that act on context.