Guangdong's emerging high-tech eyewear brand: selling premium AI glasses to wealthy overseas clients, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars

How has AI founder Wang Xiaoyi’s experience with Apple influenced product positioning?

Ji Mian News Reporter | Zhang Xilong

In the bustling Hong Kong Causeway Bay, Li Hao from Guangdong has received the long-anticipated brown smart glasses. These glasses began pre-order at the end of 2025, originally scheduled to arrive by the end of January this year, but were delayed until early March. The store owner told Li Hao he was among the first to get this product.

Even G2—these glasses, weighing just over 30 grams, look and feel like regular glasses. The prescription lenses and display lenses are integrated, and once worn, the display can show various information—teleprompter, translation, navigation, message notifications, and more.

These glasses are from Even Realities, a company founded less than three years ago, currently only selling overseas. In China, only a few brand eyewear stores in Hong Kong carry them.

About 60 kilometers from Causeway Bay, in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, is Even Realities’ R&D headquarters. Further north, about 100 kilometers away, in Huangpu District, eastern Guangzhou, is the company’s production line. In the Greater Bay Area—spanning Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong—this company has established a closed loop of R&D, manufacturing, assembly, and sales.

Ji Mian News obtained exclusive information from industry insiders: since its launch in November last year, the second-generation product G2 has shipped approximately 3,000 units from Even Realities’ Guangzhou factory by the end of January this year.

While 3,000 units may not seem large in the industry, considering the average price exceeding $800, the revenue generated is significant—over 16 million yuan in just a few months.

This high price point sets Even Realities apart in the “hundred glasses war.” Additionally, the product is only sold overseas, with a single screen, which is also a distinctive feature of the company.

Market research firm Omdia reports that by 2025, the market share of AI glasses with display functions will reach 8.4%, with total shipments of 730,000 units. Chinese companies like Rokid, Alibaba, and Even Realities dominate this market.

In overseas markets, Even Realities is gradually penetrating high-end consumer segments: American top venture capital firm a16z partner Anjney Midha used these glasses for real-time French translation when meeting French President Macron; UAE Minister Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, AfroTech CEO Jeff Nelson, and international music producer Steve Aoki have all worn them at public events. Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak even contacted the company through the Chinese Consulate in Dubai to purchase glasses for local royalty.

Back in China, at the Guangzhou Development Zone’s “First Spring Meeting” in February, Huangpu District Deputy Party Secretary and District Governor Xian Yin Song also wore the Even G2 during his speech. Peng Zhihui (Zhi Hui Jun), co-founder of Zhiyuan Robotics, wore the Even G1 at last year’s WAIC to give a presentation.

What impresses the industry even more is the company’s rapid growth and high market valuation. In less than three years, Even Realities has completed four rounds of funding, reaching a valuation of hundreds of millions of dollars, with investors including Sequoia Capital, Dinghui Investment, Aier Eye Hospital, and Qingshan Capital.

Why can a Chinese startup sell such “simple” glasses at such a high price?

Start with glasses, then add smart features

The strategy of selling high-end AI glasses to wealthy overseas consumers reflects the company’s core DNA.

Even Realities’ team comprises two types of members: former R&D or design leaders from global tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, Huawei, Samsung, and industry veterans from luxury eyewear brands such as LINDBERG, MYKITA, and ic! berlin. Founder Wang Xiaoyi recruited LINDBERG’s former CMO Nikolaj Schnoor, as well as Philipp Haffmans, co-founder and chief designer of MYKITA and ic! berlin.

As a nearsighted person, Wang Xiaoyi has been a long-time user of LINDBERG—an ultra-high-end eyewear brand often called “Hermès of glasses.” Early in his career, he worked at Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters, involved in the design and manufacturing of flagship products like the iPhone and Apple Watch.

In 2018, sensing that “Apple’s innovation was slowing,” Wang returned to China and worked at Anker, OPPO, and Nut Projections. These experiences gave him deep insight into the supply chain of Chinese consumer electronics.

“At the first moment, I realized that domestic engineers’ resources and capabilities were rapidly improving, especially in smart hardware. In many areas, we are ahead—core design, hardware, embedded systems—nothing less than Apple,” Wang told Ji Mian News.

His experience with Apple Watch gave Wang a clear perspective on the wearables industry, leading to the idea that “after making watches, the next biggest wearable product” would be smart glasses.

Founded in 2023, Even Realities entered the market during the explosive growth of consumer-grade AI/AR glasses—the “hundred glasses war” was beginning to heat up. The overseas market saw Meta and Ray-Ban launching Rayban Meta, validating the commercial viability of consumer AI glasses; domestically, Huawei, Xiaomi, TCL RayNeo, and XREAL released flagship products like Huawei Smart Glasses 2, Xiaomi Wireless AR Glasses Explorer Edition, TCL RayNeo X2, and XREAL Air 2.

At that time, “doing subtraction” was the mainstream approach. With Rayban Meta gaining attention, most companies added features like photography, HD calls, full-color AR displays, and multimodal AI interactions to demonstrate their technological edge.

However, Even Realities took a different route—its products cut out mainstream features like cameras and speakers, abandoned full-color displays, and focused on single-green display and integration with prescription lenses. This approach was dubbed “doing subtraction” by outsiders.

Wang Xiaoyi has a clear product logic. He told Ji Mian News that consumers don’t need glasses with 20 more functions than regular glasses—they need a product that adds only the most essential feature and can fully replace daily glasses. From this perspective, the company isn’t “doing subtraction.”

“Start with glasses, then add smart features” is the core difference between Even Realities and the mainstream industry trend. Wang believes that “the first reaction when users try on the glasses must be ‘they are lightweight, suitable for daily wear, no different from regular glasses.’ Only then will they be willing to replace their prescription glasses, making smart features feasible.”

Ultimately, both generations of Even Realities’ products weigh around 30 grams, comparable to ordinary prescription glasses.

Market logic of $800 per unit

This “half-function cut” glasses surprisingly sell at double the price.

Even Realities targets the high-end market, pricing its products well above the industry average—G2 is priced at $600, with a $250 smart ring, and an additional $200 for custom prescription lenses.

Li Hao told Ji Mian News that the non-prescription version purchased in Hong Kong cost over HKD 5,000.

Apart from pricing, the company’s sales strategy is another key difference. Currently, the company only sells overseas, mainly in Europe and North America, through high-end eyewear stores. In 2024, G1 will be available in over 300 European stores, shipping to more than 40 countries and regions.

The main user groups are high-income, highly educated individuals, including high-end businesspeople, government officials, executives, and investors.

Wang Xiaoyi said that in markets like Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Japan, the company’s products are among the most profitable in the industry.

His experience in leading consumer electronics companies has shaped his understanding of mature business models—“Apple” is often mentioned as a benchmark when discussing smart glasses.

“AI glasses are still in the early stage. The priority is to get influential and consumer-powerful groups to use them, rather than engaging in price wars to expand volume. Most products that eventually go mainstream or change lifestyles tend to penetrate from highly educated, high-net-worth groups downward.”

This strategy is supported by diffusion of innovation theory, which suggests that the widespread adoption of innovative products follows a top-down path: “innovators → early adopters (highly educated, high net worth, opinion leaders) → early majority → late majority.”

Early Tesla and first-generation iPhone proved this logic: from exclusive high-end products to mainstream choices, scale economies from supply chain maturation and brand appeal—such as aesthetic value, social status, and symbolic meaning—are key drivers of mass adoption.

From an industry chain perspective, just as Apple’s supply chain has produced listed companies like Luxshare Precision, Goertek, and Foxconn, Wang Xiaoyi hopes this logic can be replicated in the smart glasses industry. He believes that high market valuation and profitability are necessary to support more R&D investment, creating a positive cycle that benefits the entire industry.

Closed-loop industry in the Greater Bay Area

From retail stores in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay to R&D headquarters in Nanshan, Shenzhen, and a self-built factory in Huangpu, Guangzhou, Even Realities has established a complete commercial loop in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The Guangzhou factory is the most critical production hub within this loop.

This is Even Realities’ first self-owned factory, responsible for assembling optical components and glasses. All G2 smart glasses and R1 smart rings are processed and assembled here. Ji Mian News learned from industry insiders that the Guangzhou factory is currently ramping up production, reaching several hundred units daily, with capacity expected to continue increasing.

The factory is fully operational, with 100% of products shipped from there. The decision to locate the manufacturing base here was driven by two main considerations: first, each iteration of smart glasses involves core optical technology, and having an in-house factory helps turn these into long-term competitive advantages; second, Huangpu District’s supportive policies and facilities have enabled this startup to quickly build a high-end optical production line.

Behind Even Realities’ establishment is Guangzhou’s strategic effort to seize the smart glasses opportunity.

During the era of mobile phones, Guangzhou lagged behind, but in the new AI glasses sector, it is almost a blank slate. A government insider told Ji Mian News that since 2025, the city has increased its focus on the smart glasses industry—aiming to catch up after falling behind in consumer electronics like smartphones.

However, Guangzhou faces shortages of complete devices and industry clustering. Before Even Realities, there were few mass-producible C-end smart glasses companies. Few OEMs like Gu Dong Technology faced technical disputes, and sources say that Visionox’s subsidiary, Shixiang Technology, only did small-scale OEM work. The upstream and downstream industries had yet to form a significant cluster.

“To fill this gap, Guangzhou is actively attracting companies from outside to settle here,” the insider said. Even Realities arrived in Guangzhou amid this city’s industrial planning.

In addition to top-level planning, Guangzhou’s upstream supply chain is also a key factor. Local companies like Guangna Sihui (optical waveguide chips), Zeiss Optical (corrective lenses), Lijing Innovation (camera modules), and Ankai Microelectronics (image signal processing chips) have already supplied core optical and structural components.

“Many local Guangzhou companies are now providing core optical and structural parts, and handling assembly. We have reached agreements with Huangpu District government to expand our local supplier network and channels,” Wang Xiaoyi said.

Ji Mian News learned that Guangna Sihui, a core supplier of diffraction optical waveguide chips, is expanding its production in three phases, aiming for full capacity by 2030 with an annual output of 2 million sets.

Founded in 2021 and incubated by the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area National Nano Technology Innovation Institute, Guangna Sihui is a high-tech enterprise. An industry insider told Ji Mian News that it initially planned to supply optical waveguide chips to Even Realities in September last year, but faced capacity and funding issues. The company’s expansion was supported by joint financing from state-owned and private capital, solving its funding bottleneck.

As Guangzhou’s factory ramps up, Even Realities has clearer expansion plans for 2026. Wang Xiaoyi revealed two main directions: first, diversify sales channels—initially focusing on high-end eyewear stores and brand websites, then gradually expanding to high-end supermarkets, department stores, and retail outlets; second, further expand global markets, especially emerging regions like Dubai, which they recently surveyed.