Alibaba’s New AI Glasses Promise All-Day Wear — Just Swap the Batteries

The Verge, CNBC, Reuters, and CBS News contributed to this report.

Alibaba is jumping into the smart glasses race — and it’s bringing removable batteries to the fight.

The Chinese tech giant officially launched its Quark AI Glasses in China on Thursday, its first consumer smart specs powered by its in-house AI model, Qwen. There are two versions: the S1, starting at 3,799 yuan (about $537), and the more “lifestyle” G1, from 1,899 yuan (about $268).

The big flex? A swappable dual-battery system that Alibaba says can keep the glasses running for up to 24 hours. Instead of nervously watching your battery bar nosedive, you just pop in a fresh module and keep going.

On the outside, Quark looks more like regular eyewear than a bulky headset — black plastic frames, built-in camera, and lenses that double as screens (the S1 uses clear micro-OLED displays; the G1 is more basic). Both models come with bone-conduction microphones, so you can hear audio without plugging your ears, and can be controlled with voice or touch via the Qwen app.

The glasses are tightly wired into Alibaba’s ecosystem. Out of the box, they’re designed to work with Taobao, Alipay, and Chinese music platforms like QQ Music and NetEase Cloud Music. Alibaba is pitching them as a kind of AI life assistant: think

• on-the-go translation,
• AI-generated meeting notes,
• navigation,
• product look-up with instant price recognition on Taobao,
• plus media control and schedule help.

For now, Quark is China-only, sold on platforms like Tmall, JD.com, and Douyin. International versions are planned for next year, but Alibaba hasn’t said where they’ll land first.

The company is late to the smart glasses party but clearly wants in. Meta’s Ray-Ban and Oakley AI glasses dominate the space right now, while Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Baidu and others are all pushing their own takes on AI wearables. Analysts expect shipments of AI glasses to double between 2025 and 2026, crossing the 10 million mark — still niche, but growing fast.

Alibaba is betting that its strengths in shopping, payments, and everyday services — plus that all-day battery trick — can help Quark stand out in a crowded, experimental market where everyone’s still trying to figure out what the “iPhone moment” of smart glasses will look like.