it is low pass By Junko RoettgersA newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of technology and entertainment, syndicated exclusively for The Verge Customers once a week.
The Meta is about to get some new competition in the AR-powered smart glasses space: A little-known company called Wonderful Inc. is preparing to launch its first pair of AI glasses around CES, according to a staging website published ahead of schedule and in a recent FCC filing.
Operating under the Wonder brand, the company promises to create “the most advanced smart glasses ever” by combining augmented reality and “real-time information and assistance powered by advanced artificial intelligence.”
A tall order, especially considering that Meta recently launched its $799 Ray-Ban Display Glasses, the industry’s most consumer-ready AI glasses with an integrated display to date. But Wonderful isn’t starting from scratch: Wonderful appears to be a secret project from Witcher, an AR startup that has been making glasses since 2021.
The connection was revealed in Wondershare’s FCC filing, submitted by a Witcher employee who is being identified as a “project manager” for Wondershare. Additionally, a landing page for The Witcher with a countdown timer suggesting a launch in early 2026 is being hosted on The Witcher’s servers. And a trademark for Witcher was filed by Eden Future HK Ltd., which has been identified in Chinese media as the owner of Witcher.
Vischer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Witcher is one of the few Chinese-origin companies that makes visor-style glasses that plug into your phone or computer for power and calculations, and then essentially mirror those displays with an AR overlay. These types of devices typically have what are known as “birdbath” optics, which involve a set of mirrors to layer images over your view of the real world — a bulky approach that can’t really compete with the more advanced waveguide displays used by devices like Meta’s Ray-Ban Display Glasses.
Basically, these glasses can be a good solution if you want a secondary display for your phone, laptop or mobile game console, but you won’t want to walk on the street with them, unless you like always having a cable hanging next to you connecting your phone and your glasses. And without onboard computation, their AI functionality is also limited to what your phone can provide.
Witcher released the first such visor device in 2022 and doubled the product line with several new models this summer. In addition to the glasses, Witcher is also selling a neckband that packs the compute needed to run the glasses without plugging them into a phone, while also offering some gesture controls via integrated cameras.
I wasn’t able to learn the exact features of Witcher’s upcoming Wonder glasses — the FCC filing was heavily redacted — but a source with some insight into the company’s plans tells me the device may ditch the birdbath optics for more advanced display technology.
The filing shows that the device is using Bluetooth, which suggests a standalone device that doesn’t plug into your phone. The absence of Wi-Fi also suggests that the glasses may not have a camera, as Bluetooth alone typically isn’t fast enough for real-time video streaming or downloading large amounts of photos. However, my source suggested that a camera-equipped version could also be in the cards at some point.
Witcher isn’t the only AR startup looking to expand from visor-style glasses with birdbath optics to a more complete all-in-one device. Witcher’s competitor Rokid recently completed a Kickstarter campaign for its own smart glasses, with both lenses featuring monochrome displays. The company also unveiled a set of glasses without a display that more closely mimic the Meta’s popular Ray-Ban smart glasses. And TCL offshoot Reno to launch its first pair of standalone AR glasses in 2024. That device is currently sold out, suggesting that the launch of an updated version may be imminent.
It may seem difficult for any of these companies to compete with a giant like Meta, which has spent billions of dollars on AR and VR so far. However, it is still early for this product category, and there may be partnership opportunities for some hardware manufacturers in the future. Case in point: Xreal, another Witcher competitor, has teamed up with Google to create the first set of glasses powered by Android XR.
Witcher has a few things going for it that could potentially help get its new Wonder brand off the ground: The company already has a retail partnership with Best Buy, with its glasses available in 200 stores. Witcher recently raised $100 million in funding with the express goal of retail expansion and “advancing both the hardware and software ecosystem with next-generation innovation, AI-powered XR.”