Alibaba released Qwen smart glasses, starting at 2999 yuan

On Tuesday, Alibaba Group launched the Qwen Glasses N1 series smart glasses at an event in Hangzhou, extending its artificial intelligence strategy into consumer electronics. The company claims to be a full-stack artificial intelligence provider in China, covering everything from data centers and software to end products. The series starts at a pre-discount price of 2999 yuan (approximately 450 USD). Bloomberg reported that this price is not lower than that of industry leader Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, with Alibaba aiming to compete on quality and functionality, not just price.

Wu Jianjun, General Manager of Qwen AI Hardware Products, stated that the new glasses are equipped with an improved 50-megapixel camera and sensors. The Pro version is priced at 3499 yuan and features eye-tracking capabilities, with a standby time of 25 hours or 9 hours of music playback on a single charge. The new model is about a year after the first version released last November, integrating the Qwen AI assistant more closely and expanding its functionalities. Following Meta's example, Alibaba is trying to make smart glasses an entry point for its artificial intelligence tools and agents. Last month, Meta launched a simplified version of smart glasses without a camera, priced at 349 USD, primarily for interaction with the Muse AI assistant.