Even Realities has already hit a $1 billion valuation, but the more interesting part is where its smart glasses are finding traction.

The Shenzhen-based company is backed largely by Chinese-origin investors, yet more than half of its users are in the United States, and around 80% of its developer community is also based there.

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That makes Even Realities a very different kind of Meta rival. It is not selling heavily in China yet, even though it manufactures there. Its main markets are the U.S., Japan, South Korea, the Middle East and Europe, which means the company is using Chinese capital and manufacturing to compete in markets where Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses already have a large head start.

Meta currently dominates smart glasses. IDC estimates that Meta held nearly 70% of the global smart glasses market in the first quarter of 2026, helped by its Ray-Ban partnership and display-less AI glasses. Global smart glasses shipments reached 2.25 million units during the quarter, up 167% year over year.

Even Realities is taking the opposite product route. Its G2 glasses skip the camera and focus on a heads-up display for notifications, navigation, translation and AI-powered prompts. We already covered the company’s camera-free smart glasses strategy, but we now have more details

Even is trying to build a developer and user base in Meta’s strongest consumer market before the category fully matures. That is risky, but it also gives the company a clearer shot at becoming more than another China-only hardware startup.

Even Realities is not the only Chinese player in the space. Alibaba has already shown Quark AI glasses, Rokid is valued at about $2.58 billion, and RayNeo, incubated by TCL Electronics, is also competing in AR eyewear.

The category is moving quickly because smart glasses are becoming one of the most believable AI hardware forms. Phones still dominate daily computing, but glasses can show information without asking users to pull out a screen.

Even’s challenge is scale. The G2 starts at $599 before tax, and prescription lenses or the R1 ring can push the real price closer to $1,000. Meta has the brand, distribution and Ray-Ban partnership. Even has a privacy-first product, strong Chinese backing and surprising early traction in the U.S.

The next test is whether that U.S. user base keeps growing while Meta, Samsung, Google, Snap and China’s own AR startups all move into the same market.

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