| Source | What it counts | Latest period in this guide |
|---|---|---|
| IDC | Display-less “audio glasses”, display glasses and headsets; share tables built from its wearables and AR/VR headset trackers together | Q2 2026 (published Sept 16, 2026) |
| Counterpoint | “AI glasses”: an AI-enabled processor plus at least two of speakers, microphones, cameras and AR displays; split into display-less and AR & AI glasses | H1 2026 (published Sept 21, 2026) |
| Omdia | “AI glasses”; the release does not restate the definition | 1H26 (published Sept 23, 2026) |
| EssilorLuxottica | Its own AI-glasses units sold, including Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta | Full year 2025 (published Feb 11, 2026) |
Start with the definition
Research firms do not measure the same market. IDC’s share tables combine its wearables and AR/VR headset trackers, and its Q2 2026 figures cover XR headsets as well as glasses. Counterpoint and Omdia both report “AI glasses”, but a device one firm counts may fall outside another firm’s definition.
Each figure below keeps its firm, period and publication date. Figures from different firms are never added, averaged or used to fill gaps in another firm’s series.
IDC: Q2 2026
IDC reported that global shipments of XR headsets and glasses rose 35.3% year over year in Q2 2026. Display-less audio glasses were 70.3% of those shipments, display glasses 14.3% and headsets 15.4%.
IDC put Meta’s share at 68.7% in Q2 2026, followed by RayNeo at 3.6%, Alibaba Group at 2.6% and XREAL at 2.5%; RayNeo and XREAL are not publicly listed. In June 2026, IDC reported Meta at 69.2% for Q1 2026 and display-less glasses up 167% year over year, to about 2.25 million units.
Reference: IDC: smart glasses market share, Q2 2026 (Sept 16, 2026).
Counterpoint: H1 2026
Counterpoint reported that global AI-glasses shipments grew 263% year over year in H1 2026, with display-less glasses at 96% of the total. Display-less shipments rose 258% year over year, and Meta accounted for 94% of display-less AI-glasses shipments.
Counterpoint’s AR & AI glasses segment, most of which uses waveguide lenses, grew 449% year over year from a small base.
Reference: Counterpoint Research: AI glasses shipments, H1 2026 (Sept 21, 2026).
Omdia: 1H26
Omdia reported 4.2 million AI-glasses shipments in 1H26, up 127% year over year. Meta shipped 3.4 million, an 81.3% share. Even Realities, which is not publicly listed, was second with 102,000 units, a 2.4% share.
Omdia attributed the growth to Meta’s continued momentum and a wave of new market entrants from China.
Reference: Omdia: AI glasses shipments, 1H26 (via Business Wire, Sept 23, 2026).
China and North America
Omdia said the US remains by far the largest AI-glasses market, while shipments in China rose 306% year over year in 1H26 as local vendors tried different display, camera and audio combinations.
Counterpoint said Chinese brands, including Rokid, Even Realities and Alibaba, lead its AR & AI glasses segment, and put China at 45% of that segment’s H1 2026 shipments and North America at about 41%. The two statements cover different segments and are not comparable.
Reference: Counterpoint Research: AI glasses shipments, H1 2026 (Sept 21, 2026).
Company-reported units
EssilorLuxottica reported that AI-glasses units sold, including Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta, were above 7 million in 2025. That is one company’s count of its own products, measured differently from a research firm’s shipment estimate, and it is not a market total.
Filings that report an XR or edge-AI segment usually mix glasses with other devices. Treat them as segment figures, not as glasses revenue.
Reference: EssilorLuxottica: full-year 2025 results (Feb 11, 2026).
Forecasts, attributed
In June 2026, IDC forecast about 13.6 million display-less glasses in 2026, rising to 27.3 million by 2030. In September 2026, it forecast total unit shipments across its XR headset and glasses market to grow 26.3% in 2026, 40.5% in 2027 and 26.4% in 2028.
Counterpoint expects strong growth to continue and names rising memory prices and privacy concerns about cameras as near-term headwinds. A forecast reflects one firm’s assumptions; compare it only with the same firm’s earlier forecasts.
Reference: IDC: smart glasses surge (June 15, 2026).
What the numbers do not tell you
Shipment counts and shares describe devices, not the companies inside them. They do not show which components a device uses, what each costs, or how much revenue any component maker earns. For those questions stock3d relies on teardowns, company disclosures and partner documents, each labeled with its basis.
When one device maker accounts for most units in every firm’s count, a design change in its next model can alter the component picture more than several smaller launches.
Change log
September 23, 2026: first version, using IDC (June 15 and September 16, 2026), Counterpoint (September 21, 2026), Omdia (September 23, 2026) and EssilorLuxottica (February 11, 2026). The guide is refreshed after each firm’s next release.