IDC says display-less smart glasses grew 167% year on year in Q1 2026, while display eyewear grew 86%. The numbers show why XR companies are moving faster around glasses: cheaper AI eyewear can scale on volume, while display glasses need clearer workplace use cases to justify higher prices.
Display-less smart glasses reached about 2.25 million units in Q1 2026. The whole category shipped 2.7 million units across all of 2024, so the first three months of 2026 almost matched the previous full year.
Display eyewear also grew 86% year on year in Q1.
XR hardware is now splitting into better-defined lanes: screenless AI glasses, camera and audio glasses, display glasses and mixed reality headsets. Buyers and vendors need to judge each one by price, workflow fit, and critically, whether the device solves a job people will repeat.
Despite A Growing List of Challengers, Meta Still Dominates
Meta took 69.2% of the Q1 2026 smart glasses market, helped by Ray-Ban and its EssilorLuxottica partnership. RayNeo followed at 3.4%, Xiaomi at 3.1%, Viture at 2.5% and XREAL at 2%. IDC puts the remaining 19.8% into a long tail of other brands.
Ray-Ban Meta shows how much frame familiarity and distribution count. The product benefits from a known eyewear brand, retail channels, camera and audio use cases, heavy consumer marketing and enough social comfort for people to wear the device in public.
There’s a lesson here for vendors trying to sell smart glasses into the enterprise. Adoption starts with a device people will actually put – and keep – on their face.
Google and Snap Raise the Platform Pressure
Meta has the early shipment lead, but Google and Snap are pushing different versions of glasses-based computing.
Google’s Android XR work gives device makers a route into a wider software ecosystem, with Samsung, XREAL and other partners building around the platform. Snap is still chasing AR glasses through Specs, developer tools and camera-first experiences.
For business buyers, the specific platform backing changes the risk calculation. Hardware alone is a weak reason to start a pilot; devices need apps, developer support, update paths, management tools, privacy controls and enough vendor commitment to survive beyond a launch cycle.
Glasses should be easier to buy when companies can see which use cases are mature, and how the device fits into existing phones, apps, identity systems and work platforms.
Buyers Need to Split the Glasses Market
IDC forecasts display-less smart glasses shipments of 13.6 million units in 2026, rising to 27.3 million by 2030. The average selling price is expected to fall from about $376 to about $229 over the same period.
Cheaper hardware should make trials easier, but buyers still need answers on data capture, privacy, device administration, app access, comfort, battery life and support. The XR Beat’s smart glasses pilot guide covers those checks in more detail.
Display glasses sit in a different buying lane. IDC forecasts optical see-through display glasses rising from 3 million units in 2026 to 12.2 million by 2030, with average selling prices expected to stay between $516 and $547.
Higher prices mean display glasses need clearly defined enterprise roles, such as remote assistance, field guidance, inspection, training support, warehouse workflows or data visualisation. A screenless AI glasses pilot for documentation is a very different purchase from a display-glasses pilot for workflow prompts or spatial screens.
Don’t Forget About Mixed Reality
IDC also forecasts mixed reality shipments rising from 3.2 million units in 2026 to 10.4 million by 2030, with revenue reaching $7.1 billion by 2030.
Headsets still have an important role in training and high-value immersive workflows. Smart glasses growth won’t remove those use cases, but it should force vendors and buyers to be clearer about which device fits which task.
VR and mixed reality can still handle immersive training and simulation. Display glasses are better suited to lightweight visual guidance, portable screens and field use. Screenless AI glasses fit voice, camera, documentation and hands-free assistant use cases.
AWE will bring plenty of new hardware, platform demos and smart glasses promises this week. IDC’s data gives buyers a better way to judge those announcements.
Smart glasses growth is now visible in shipment data. Business adoption will depend on whether vendors can connect device type to workflow fit, software value, privacy controls and support that companies can buy without taking a punt on hardware hype.
