Alibaba’s Quark Unit Launches AI Glasses Powered by Qianwen Model
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The Quark AI Glasses by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Quark unit on Thursday launched its first AI-powered smart glasses, marking its latest push into consumer AI hardware as competition in the generative-AI market intensifies
The Quark AI Glasses come in two series, S1 and G1, with six models in total. Powered by Qianwen, Alibaba’s large language model, the devices are available for purchase immediately on major Chinese e-commerce platforms including Tmall, JD.com, and Douyin.
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- Alibaba's Quark unit launched AI-powered smart glasses (S1 and G1 series), priced from 1,899 yuan and integrated with Alibaba’s ecosystem; available immediately on major Chinese e-commerce platforms.
- Quark's AI model Qianwen, recently rebranded from Tongyi, reportedly outperforms popular open-source models, with the Quark browser reaching over 70 million monthly users.
- Alibaba plans to invest over 380 billion yuan in cloud and AI infrastructure over three years, marking the largest AI investment by a Chinese private company.
AI generated, for reference only
Who’s Who
- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. launched its first AI-powered smart glasses, the Quark AI Glasses (S1 and G1 series), through its Quark unit. These glasses, powered by Alibaba's Qianwen large language model, integrate with Alibaba's ecosystem, including Alipay and Taobao. This move is part of the company's broader push into consumer AI hardware and follows a significant organizational overhaul focused on AI.
- Xiaomi Corp.
- Xiaomi Corp. is mentioned in the context of competing smart glasses. Their model is more expensive than Quark's G1 artificial intelligence (AI) glasses, specifically by 100 yuan.
- Alipay
- The new Quark AI Glasses from Alibaba integrate deeply with Alibaba's ecosystem, including Alipay. This shows that Alipay is part of Alibaba's services that the smart glasses are designed to work with, enhancing user experience through their various platforms.
- Amap (Gaode Map)
- Amap (Gaode Map) is integrated into Alibaba's Quark AI Glasses, allowing users to access its services through the smart glasses. This is part of a deeper integration with Alibaba's ecosystem for the new AI hardware.
- Taobao
- Taobao, a major Chinese e-commerce platform, is one of the retail outlets where Alibaba's new Quark AI Glasses are available for purchase. The glasses integrate deeply with Alibaba's ecosystem, including Taobao, indicating its role in facilitating the accessibility and functionality of these new consumer AI hardware products.
- Fliggy
- Fliggy is integrated into Alibaba's ecosystem, allowing for its use with the newly launched Quark AI Glasses. This integration highlights Alibaba's strategy to connect its diverse services within new AI hardware, positioning Fliggy as a component part of a broader, interconnected user experience.
- QQ Music
- QQ Music is one of the applications that Alibaba's Quark AI Glasses plan to integrate with, expanding beyond Alibaba's existing ecosystem. This integration will make QQ Music accessible through these new AI-powered smart glasses.
- NetEase Cloud Music
- NetEase Cloud Music is a Chinese music streaming service. Alibaba's Quark AI Glasses plan to expand their integration to include apps like NetEase Cloud Music, allowing users to access and control their music directly through the smart glasses.
- ByteDance Co. Ltd.
- ByteDance Co. Ltd. is mentioned as having the leading AI app, Doubao, with 172 million monthly active users in China as of September 2025. This places it significantly ahead of Alibaba's Qianwen, which ranked 10th with 3.06 million users.
- Tencent Holdings Ltd.
- Tencent Holdings Ltd. offers an AI app called Yuanbao, which had 32.9 million monthly active users in China as of September 2025. This places Yuanbao third in terms of user base among AI apps in China, behind ByteDance Co. Ltd.’s Doubao and DeepSeek.
- OpenAI
- The article mentions OpenAI exclusively in the context of its ChatGPT, which boasts over 800 million weekly active users globally. This comparison highlights the extensive reach and adoption of OpenAI's large language model relative to other AI apps.
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What Happened When
- Late 2024：
- Alibaba Group conducted an organizational overhaul, putting Quark and Qianwen LLM under a new 'AI 2C' division led by Wu.
- February 2025：
- Alibaba announced plans to invest more than 380 billion yuan over three years in cloud and AI infrastructure.
- September 2025：
- At the Apsara Conference, Wu emphasized large language models as the next generation of operating systems.
- As of September 2025：
- Qianwen had 3.06 million monthly active users in China; Doubao had 172 million users, DeepSeek 145 million, and Yuanbao 32.9 million.
- November 17, 2025：
- Alibaba rebranded the Tongyi app as Qianwen, positioning it as a personal AI assistant and lifestyle portal.
- November 17–24, 2025：
- Qianwen app surpassed 10 million downloads in its first week of public testing.
- November 27, 2025：
- Alibaba’s Quark unit launched its first AI-powered smart glasses, Quark AI Glasses (S1 and G1 series).
AI generated, for reference only
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