Smart eyewear keeps outgrowing the wider XR hardware market. IDC pegs second-quarter 2026 global shipments at 3.547 million units, 35.3% more than a year earlier.

Frames without displays did the heavy lifting. Audio-only glasses held 70.3% of the global market, and audio and camera models together made up 2.494 million units. A wave of lightweight AI glasses pushed AR and ER shipments to 505,000 units. The headset side shrank instead, with VR and MR sliding 23.3% to 548,000 units.

China delivered the surprise. Its shipments slipped 8% to 611,000 units, the first fall the research firm has recorded there. Audio and camera frames took the damage, down 35.4% to 332,000 units, while the country’s combined AR and VR segment expanded 85.8% to 279,000 and AR/ER glasses more than doubled.

IDC reads the numbers as demand tilting toward lighter hardware, more AI features and practical daily use. The pattern suggests buyers are consolidating around frames people will actually wear, even as Chinese shoppers trade audio-first glasses for display and AR devices.

Source: TechNode