Leading smart glasses company XREAL files for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Source: Beijing Business Today

The smart glasses industry has experienced a “promising growth” year. According to IDC reports, global shipments of smart glasses are expected to reach 14.77M units in 2025, a year-over-year increase of 44.2%. The industry is entering a volume expansion phase, gradually shifting from hardware deployment to scene and value validation; in the Chinese market, shipments are projected at 2.46 million units, an 87.1% increase year-over-year. Chinese manufacturers hold an 87.4% share of shipments in the AR/ER segment, maintaining a dominant position in the industry.

Against the backdrop of high growth, industry leader XREAL recently submitted its IPO prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming to become the “First Stock of Smart Glasses.” China International Capital Corporation and Citigroup are serving as joint sponsors for this IPO.

The prospectus cites data from iResearch Consulting, showing that based on sales revenue, XREAL has ranked first in the global AR glasses market for four consecutive years from 2022 to 2025; by 2025, it is expected to be second in the global smart glasses market (including AR glasses and non-display glasses), and first in the Chinese market. By the end of 2025, its sales network will cover 40 countries and regions worldwide.

Financial data shows that from 2023 to 2025, XREAL’s operating revenues are projected at 390 million yuan, 394 million yuan, and 516 million yuan respectively, with a 30.8% year-over-year increase in 2025; during the same period, annual losses are 882 million yuan, 709 million yuan, and 456 million yuan, totaling over 2 billion yuan in losses over three years, though the scale of losses is narrowing each year. The company’s gross profit margin increased from 18.8% in 2023 to 35.2% in 2025, with overseas revenue accounting for 71% in 2025.

Currently, the smart glasses industry is still in the development and exploration stage, with continuous iteration in product forms, technological routes, and application scenarios. Market patterns under different statistical standards and segmented tracks also vary. Unlike IDC’s overall smart glasses market statistics, the latest AI glasses segment data from Omdia shows that by 2025, global shipments of AI glasses will reach 8.7 million units, a significant increase of 322% year-over-year, making it one of the fastest-growing sub-segments in the smart glasses field.

In the global market, Meta holds an absolute dominant share of 85.2%, with popular AI glasses series like Ray-Ban driving a 281.3% year-over-year increase in shipments; meanwhile, in the domestic market where Meta has not directly entered, the AI glasses track has experienced explosive growth, with annual shipments reaching 950k units, a 3545% surge year-over-year, accounting for 10.9% of the global AI glasses market, making China the second-largest AI glasses market after the United States.

In terms of market share distribution, domestic AI glasses are led by local manufacturers, with Xiaomi, Rokid, and Alibaba ranking the top three, holding shares of 31.9%, 28.5%, and 15.9%, respectively. Additionally, AI glasses with display functions increased their share from 3.3% in 2024 to 8.4% in 2025, with Chinese manufacturers dominating this segment, accounting for 71% of related product global shipments.

Faced with the explosive growth of the smart glasses track and the industry’s diverse exploration directions, XREAL CMO Yang Shiqi previously told Beijing Business Today that the company is not overly chasing cutting-edge concepts at this stage. Instead, it focuses on its core AR glasses track, concentrating resources on optimizing optical technology, strengthening spatial computing capabilities, and building platform ecosystems. By refining user experience, the company aims to solidify its AR moat and steadily advance technology and product iterations according to its own business rhythm.

As a leading company that has maintained the top position in the global AR glasses track for four consecutive years, XREAL’s listing will serve as the first industry indicator under the high-growth trend of smart glasses—providing a benchmark for similar manufacturers and offering an intuitive reference for external observers to assess the commercialization progress of the smart glasses sector.

Beijing Business Today Reporter: Tao Feng, Wang Tianyi

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Editor: Gao Jia