en.Wedoany.com Reported - The head of the Consumer Promotion Department of China's Ministry of Commerce introduced the operating situation of China's consumer market in the first quarter of 2026 on April 23. According to Ministry of Commerce business big data monitoring, sales of smart glasses on key platforms in the first quarter increased by 460% year-on-year, ranking first in growth rate among smart, green, and healthy consumer goods categories. During the same period, sales of first-tier energy-efficiency washing machines increased by 21.5%, smart blood glucose monitors by 20.5%, and outdoor sports equipment by 10.7%.
The explosive growth in smart glasses sales is directly related to policy support in 2026. Early in 2026, smart glasses were included in the national-level consumer goods trade-in subsidy program for the first time, becoming another smart terminal category eligible for state subsidies following mobile phones and tablets. Ministry of Commerce data shows that sales from the consumer goods trade-in program exceeded 430 billion yuan in the first quarter, benefiting over 60 million people, with smart glasses as a newly added subsidy category seeing significant benefits. In March, the domestic retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China reached 51.5%. Growing demand for smart cockpits and in-vehicle AI interaction has also positively spilled over into product awareness and consumption of smart glasses. In the first quarter, China's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 12.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.4%, with the growth rate accelerating by 0.7 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year. Final consumption expenditure contributed 2.4 percentage points to GDP growth.
Product iteration and ecosystem development by terminal manufacturers have provided supply-side support for the surge in consumption. In the first quarter of 2026, brands such as Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, and TCL Thunderbird Bird launched new-generation smart glasses products intensively. Product forms cover three categories: AI audio glasses, AI camera glasses, and AR glasses with augmented reality display functionality. E-commerce platform data for the same period shows that transaction volume for smart glasses in the first quarter increased by more than 220% year-on-year. In the international market, EssilorLuxottica's first-quarter revenue increased by 10.8% year-on-year. The company confirmed that sales of its Ray-Ban Meta series smart glasses continue to surge, allowing it to achieve its original annual production capacity target of 10 million units, set for the end of 2026, ahead of schedule. Android XR smart glasses, jointly developed by Samsung Electronics and Google, also officially entered the market in March, driving a further increase in global smart glasses shipments.
In a previously released forecast, market research firm IDC pointed out that the global smart glasses market will reach a milestone in scale growth in 2026, with global shipments expected to exceed 22.67 million units, of which Chinese market shipments are projected to exceed 4.91 million units. Data from another research firm, Sigmaintell, shows that global AI glasses shipments are expected to reach 16.1 million units in 2026, a year-on-year increase of approximately 72%. IDC also estimates that Chinese manufacturers will account for 45% of global smart glass market shipments in 2026. Driven by consumer-side stimulation from the national subsidy policy, intensive new product launches from terminal manufacturers, and the accelerated expansion of supply chain production capacity, China's smart glasses market is undergoing a critical transition from early adoption to large-scale popularization.
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