HTC bets its open AI strategy to drive smartglasses sales

By Wen-Yee Lee

TAIPEI, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Taiwan’s HTC is betting its open platform strategy will allow it to build market share in the fast-growing smartglasses industry, as its newly launched AI-powered eyewear lets wearers choose which AI model they want to use, its executive said.

"AI is advancing very fast, and large language model developers are engaged in an arms race that requires massive resources,” Charles Huang, senior vice president of global sales and marketing at HTC, told Reuters in an interview.

"We want to leverage the strengths of different platforms instead of building a closed ecosystem."

Its VIVE Eagle smartglasses support multiple AI platforms including Google's Gemini and OpenAI, allowing users to benefit from improvements across various models, Huang said.

By contrast, Meta’s smartglasses are supported by Meta AI, while Chinese smartglasses from brands such as Xiaomi and Alibaba are built around domestically developed AI models.

HTC launched the VIVE model, priced at HK$3,988 ($512), earlier this month in Hong Kong. It plans to expand sales to Japan and Southeast Asia in the first quarter of next year and to Europe and the United States later in 2026.

Huang said the Asia-first strategy reflects regional design considerations, noting that many smartglasses on the market were built around a “Western fit” that might not suit Asian wearers.

Asked whether the Hong Kong launch was a step towards entering China, Huang said China's market was more complex, as foreign AI services were restricted and local data regulations required standalone servers within the country.

“With all these requirements in place, we need to be cautious and it will take some time to prepare,” he said.

Global shipments of smartglasses soared 110% in the first half of this year, with Meta taking 73% of the market, according to research firm Counterpoint.

Meta and partner EssilorLuxottica's "smart" Ray-Bans and Oakleys, which first launched in 2023, have captured the tech world's attention by answering calls, taking pictures and playing music.

Analysts, however, have warned that privacy could become a growing concern. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is leveraging user data to power AI tools, a move that has drawn scrutiny over data practices.

Huang added that user data was not used to train HTC's AI models, and that it considered privacy and data security key differentiators from its rivals.

The launch of the VIVE AI smartglasses marks a renewed push by HTC into consumer-facing hardware, after it sold part of its extended reality headset and glasses unit to Google for $250 million earlier this year.    

($1 = 7.7806 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Kate Mayberry)