A Hidden Champion's 5-Year Marathon: Why They Suddenly Won Gold Today?

Friends, today the Detective wants to share a somewhat counterintuitive story with you.

Do you know who the sales champion is in the AI glasses arena?

Not Ray-Ban, not Rokid, not those names you often see in tech media.

But a "hidden champion" you've probably never heard of, yet has been quietly working for 5 years.

A Somewhat Surprising Data Point

A few days ago, Frost & Sullivan released the "China AI+AR Smart Glasses Market Research White Paper."

The data is quite interesting: from 2021 to 2025, all-in-one AI+AR smart glasses grew approximately 290-fold over four years.

And what surprised the Detective most was this number: INMO leads China's all-channel cumulative sales market with a 37.8% share.

In other words, for every 10 all-in-one AI+AR smart glasses sold, nearly 4 are INMO's.

Even more crucially, this May, Frost & Sullivan also certified INMO as the global sales leader in AI+AR smart glasses.

This is a quite rare achievement in a market still in its early stages with many players and an uncertain landscape.

Why INMO?

Friends, let me share some background on this story.

In 2022, when the Detective first experienced consumer-grade AR smart glasses, generative AI large models had not yet become industry consensus, and modular XR form factors were still market mainstream.

That glasses model was called INMO AIR1.

What impressed me most wasn't a particular spec, but its attempt to fit display, computing, camera, and voice interaction into a wireless all-in-one glasses form.

Of course, it wasn't perfect. Early AR glasses had obvious limitations in display, wearing comfort, interaction, and ecosystem.

But in that era when AI glasses hadn't yet become a trend and there were no successful "reference" products, INMO was already crossing the river by feeling the stones.

This is the value of being one of the earliest domestic industry pioneers: not just entering early or persisting long, but more like a spirit of pursuing dreams.

Continuously investing in product iteration when user demand wasn't fully educated and technical routes were still uncertain, finding balance between display, interaction, lightweight design, battery life, and real-world scenarios.

From Product Exploration to Market Validation

This Frost & Sullivan data is actually a phased report card.

Over the past few years, smart glasses haven't lacked imagination. From AR spatial computing to all-day AI assistants, industry narratives have constantly changed.

But what ultimately determines whether a new category can establish itself is whether products get purchased and used by users, and form continuous sales in channels.

From this perspective, INMO's 37.8% cumulative sales share ranking first in China's AI+AR smart glasses market, plus global sales leadership certification, means more than just "taking first."

It shows that in this still-early market, INMO has率先 completed the leap from product exploration to market validation.

This change has been particularly evident in the past six months. Beyond continued growth in traditional e-commerce channels like JD and Tmall, INMO has also seen stronger exposure and conversion in content e-commerce channels like Douyin, with overseas markets making breakthroughs too—expected this year's first-half sales data will exceed all of 2025.

AI Changes Everything

Friends, let me share an observation.

Four years ago, AR glasses were more like "tech demos"—proving we could achieve display, interaction, and computing in glasses form.

But today's AI glasses are becoming true "productivity tools"—generative AI gives glasses a "brain" that can understand your intent, answer your questions, and help you process information.

This transformation from "demo" to "tool" is reshaping the entire track.

And INMO's long-term persistence through this transition has made it one of the biggest beneficiaries.

When industry trends arrive, players who提前布局 and持续投入 often获得超额回报.

The Victory of Long-Termism

INMO's market data is a microcosm of China's AI+AR glasses' high-speed growth.

According to the Frost & Sullivan white paper, all-in-one AI+AR smart glasses grew 290-fold over four years—this growth rate is extremely rare in consumer electronics.

More crucially, this growth isn't driven by marketing hype, but by accumulation of product strength, channel power, and user reputation.

From traditional e-commerce to content e-commerce, from domestic to overseas markets, INMO is building a comprehensive sales network.

And the starting point for all this was a seemingly "ill-timed" decision five years ago: to start making all-in-one AR glasses when others were still watching from the sidelines.

Friends, let me leave you with a thought question:

When AI technology makes glasses truly "wearable smartphones," how will the current market landscape change?

Will early entrants maintain their lead, or be overtaken by latecomers?

This question is worth our continued observation in the coming years.