Look Out, Meta Ray-bans! These Ai Glasses Just Raised Over $1m In Pre-orders In 3 Days

Rokid executive Liang Guan wearing Rokid Glasses.

Liang Guan/Rokid (via LinkedIn)

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Rokid Glasses are a competitor to Meta Ray-Bans but connection respective much precocious features.
• The institution launched a pre-order trading run via Kickstarted and raised complete $1 cardinal successful pre-orders successful nan first 3 days.
• The AI glasses are apt to entreaty to tech early adopters who worth features complete aggregate style selections.

The celebrated Meta Ray-Bans smart glasses are astir to get a batch much competition, including from large tech companies for illustration Samsung and Google. However, Rokid Glasses are shaping up to beryllium 1 of nan up-and-coming products to watch successful this space. On August 26, Rokid launched a Kickstarter campaign to effort to nail down $20,000 successful pre-orders for its smart glasses by October 10. Less than 72 hours later, Rokid Glasses had already cleared complete $1 cardinal successful pre-orders.

I'm not judge anyone successful nan tech manufacture is each that surprised. 

The Rokid Glasses harvester nan 3 champion features of Meta Ray-Bans -- convenient photography, receptor buds-like audio, and a quick-access AI adjunct -- pinch a head-up show for illustration nan ones you'll find successful AR glasses specified arsenic nan Even Realities G1 and Brilliant Labs Halo. 

Rokid Glasses heads-up display.

Rokid

Beyond conscionable nan heads-up display, nan Rokid Glasses besides connection respective different upgrades complete nan Meta Ray-Bans:

• Support for 89 languages (compared to 4)
• Shoot photos successful horizontal aliases vertical mode (rather than conscionable vertical)
• 210 mAh artillery (compared to 154 mAh)
• Native ChatGPT support (compared to nan Meta's Llama AI model)
• Audio Memo for notes and reminders (no balanced feature)
• Magnetized pop-in lenses (compared to accepted lenses)

With each of that tech inside, nan Rokid Glasses measurement 49g -- nan aforesaid arsenic Meta Ray-Bans -- and person a very akin beingness footprint to nan flagship Wayfarer style of Meta Ray-Bans successful black.

Also: 5 Meta Ray-Ban upgrades I want to spot connected September 17

The Rokid Glasses will unit for $599, compared to $299 to $379 for Meta Ray-Bans, $299 for Brilliant Labs Halo, $599 for Even Realities G1, and $399-$499 for nan much caller Meta Oakley smart glasses. But for nan Kickstarter, Rokid is offering nan first 2,000 backers a 20% discount astatine $479. Rokid says it will vessel nan last merchandise successful November 2025. 

To beryllium clear, this is much of a pre-order trading run than a Kickstarter campaign. Rokid is simply a Chinese institution pinch a beingness successful Silicon Valley and has been building smart speakers and smart glasses since 2014. More recently, nan institution has been focused connected much bulky and full-featured AR glasses specified arsenic nan Rokid Max 2 and partnering pinch complete 200 museums successful China to merge immersive integer content.  The institution has been giving demos of nan Rokid Glasses since CES successful January 2025, wherever ZDNET first tried them. 

ZDNET said pinch Liang Guan, Rokid's US General Manager based successful Redwood City, California and Irene Long, Head of Global Operations based astatine nan company's office successful Hangzhou, China. Guan said that globally nan institution has already received orders for complete 300,000 units of nan Rokid Glasses. Since nan US Kickstarter run only has astir 1,900 orders arsenic of September 1, nan immense mostly of nan pre-orders are apt from partners and retailers.

Guan mentioned that location are different versions of nan merchandise for different markets, and that includes immoderate different features arsenic well. For example, nan type for nan Chinese marketplace will see a wireless costs characteristic while nan type for nan US and world markets will see turn-by-turn navigation. Rokid expects some features to beryllium very celebrated successful their respective markets. Most of nan different features are nan aforesaid aliases akin crossed markets.

Rokid Glasses navigation successful heads up display.

Rokid

Long said, "At CES successful January, our glasses were much for illustration a prototype, and now they're ready. And truthful wide accumulation originates successful October." 

Meta has said it will unveil its adjacent smart glasses products astatine its Meta Connect arena astatine its Silicon Valley office connected September 17. The institution is expected to motorboat its "Hypernova" glasses that will reportedly see a mini colour surface successful 1 eye, a neural wristband to alteration manus gestures, and will costs $800. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Meta is preparing to waste 150,000 - 200,000 units of these Hypernova glasses complete nan adjacent 2 years. 

Also: Report: Samsung's tri-fold phone, XR headset, and AI smart glasses to beryllium revealed connected Sep 29

However, Meta is besides reportedly going to motorboat a successor to its audio-only Meta Ray-Ban glasses astatine Meta Connect pinch a number of upgrades -- apt to lucifer aliases transcend nan capabilities of nan Meta Oakley smart glasses released successful summertime 2025. The 3.o type of Meta Ray-Bans are expected to unit betwixt $300-$500. 

So nan Rokid Glasses would beryllium correct successful betwixt nan 2 Meta products -- much tin than nan audio-only glasses but not rather arsenic precocious arsenic Hypernova. They besides won't person nan marque powerfulness of Ray-Bans, nan wide unit distribution successful nan US, aliases connection nan assortment of different styles that nan Meta Ray-Bans do. Nevertheless, among tech early adopters who want nan astir precocious features, Rokid Glasses are apt to beryllium very competitive.