The Dark Horse of the AI Glasses Industry in 2025: Halliday

When it comes to AI glasses, the first thing that comes to most people's minds is undoubtedly the second-generation Meta AI glasses, launched in collaboration with Ray-Ban.

This pair of glasses exceeded 1 million units shipped in the first half of 2024, quickly becoming a blockbuster in smart hardware, sparking a global wave of competition among manufacturers. This also led to the appearance of dozens of different brands of AI glasses at this year's CES.

However, the brand that truly stood out at CES this time is called Halliday. As of yesterday, Halliday's AI glasses raised over $1.37 million in just 72 hours（$2.06 million has been raised?now）?on the world’s largest crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter, surpassing its funding goal by an astounding 6861%, setting a new record for the?largest AR/AI glasses crowdfunding project in history.

The reason Halliday AI glasses garnered so much attention from tech media at CES is mainly because the other products on display were simply minor upgrades to the Ray-Ban Meta design, either by improving certain specs or reducing the price to attract users, but they didn't fundamentally enhance the user experience.

For example, Ray-Ban Meta focuses on the camera function, which, despite being somewhat useful, has only 4 hours of battery?life and cannot support all-day use. Moreover, while its charging case is inspired by AirPods' design, it is relatively bulky and inconvenient to carry. Users who need prescription lenses also have to prepare two pairs of glasses and a charging case to ensure a full day of use.

Additionally, the camera functionality is also limited by battery life, initially allowing only one minute of recording, and after an upgrade, it supports just three minutes of recording.

Similar Ray-Ban Meta products face the same issues. Many manufacturers have tried using lower-power camera solutions or external battery packs to extend battery life, but none have fundamentally improved the comfort or weight of the glasses. In fact, one OEM even released a 200-gram?AI glasses prototype, but due to discomfort, it eventually abandoned several technical features.

After experiencing Halliday, many people remarked that the glasses are comfortable to wear, can accommodate corrective lenses, have a stylish design, and are already great as regular eyewear. With the added innovative AI features, users are eager to upgrade to them as their daily glasses.

Halliday’s emergence has introduced new possibilities to the market.

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What Should AI Glasses Have?

In a 16-minute video, Halliday's CEO, Ci Ran, shared his team’s thoughts and proposed a core idea: A good pair of AI glasses must first and foremost be a good pair of glasses. Therefore, during the development of Halliday’s product, the team set three key red lines:

1. The weight should not exceed 35 grams to ensure comfort for everyday wear.

2. The design should be fashionable and ergonomic, ensuring users are willing to wear them.

3. Battery life must support an entire day of use, avoiding the inconvenience of frequent charging.

Halliday’s AI glasses have successfully met all of these criteria. The total weight of the glasses is?only 35 grams, making them one-third to half lighter than other similar AI glasses, and they feel almost like regular glasses, providing great comfort.

Moreover, the glasses have abandoned traditional light-guide display technology and instead use a mini-display module to project information directly into the user’s line of sight. This allows the wearer to privately use the AI functions, while others almost cannot notice them.

In terms of battery life, Halliday’s standard model lasts 12 hours, enough to meet the needs of an entire day of use, without the need for frequent recharging.

The biggest highlight of Halliday AI glasses is that their AI functions become more advanced the longer the user wears them. After wearing them for over 12 hours, the AI assistant becomes more intelligent, gradually taking on a role similar to the "Jarvis" character in movies, granting the wearer superpowers.

Experience testers have generally expressed that Halliday is lightweight, suitable for daily wear, has long battery life, and has a stylish design. It not only breaks away from the traditional smart glasses form factor of Ray-Ban Meta but also focuses on user experience to create a pair of glasses that are both suitable for daily wear and equipped with AI functions.

Halliday’s success is also attributed to its founding team’s deep insights into the consumer market. Ci Ran previously founded the largest colored contact lens brand in Asia, Moody, and within?just two years surpassed the four major international giants to become the market leader in China’s cosmetic lens market.?Drawing from this experience, the Halliday team places great emphasis on understanding user needs and incorporating global-leading technological innovations into product design.

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AI Glasses: What Are Their Core Functions?

So, what are the core functions of AI glasses? Some argue that the camera should be the most important feature, with the glasses providing a camera experience comparable to smartphones. Others believe that sound is key, emphasizing features like music listening, phone calls, and voice queries. However, Halliday’s answer is: display.

Ci Ran stated that they only develop features that are meaningful for smart glasses. They don’t just replicate smartphone features; rather, they enhance them to help users interact with applications more efficiently. Moreover, all functions should work independently of a smartphone—if users still need to take out their phones, then the glasses lose their purpose.

Users who have experienced Halliday shared that displaying information via text is far more efficient than voice. For example, one user used Halliday’s real-time translation feature to help two people communicate in Chinese and English, with the subtitles lagging by only about half a second.

Halliday also features a core function—proactive AI. When talking to someone, the glasses automatically capture key information and provide real-time displays or corrections. As the AI capabilities continue to improve, this function will gradually replace the need for manual searches. AI glasses will become an invisible superbrain, offering powerful support to the wearer without them even noticing.

Additionally, like the common features of smartwatches, such as message notifications and health monitoring, Halliday’s AI glasses will become even more convenient for notifications, with users no longer needing to raise their hands to check. Health monitoring features will also be implemented through a supporting ring, further enhancing the user experience.