Qianwen AI Glasses Launch N1 and N1 Pro; Pro Model Adds Real-Time Health Monitoring

On October 14, Alibaba Group's Qianwen business unit unveiled the N1 and N1 Pro, the upgraded generation of its Qianwen AI glasses line a year after the original release. The new models focus on imaging, proactive assistance and health monitoring.

The N1 supports 4K Ultra HD video recording, multi-axis stabilization, smart composition and live photos, along with all-day environmental awareness. With the relevant feature enabled, the glasses can proactively remind wearers of details such as boarding gates and departure times at train stations.

The N1 Pro measures heart rate, blood oxygen and skin temperature, making it the industry's first AI glasses with real-time vital signs monitoring. It also supports eye-tracking interaction and iris-based authentication. When a user looks at an object and asks "What is this?", the glasses can lock onto the target and provide an answer, removing the earlier need to verbally describe it.

According to IDC, shipments of display-free AI glasses reached 2.25 million units in the first quarter of 2026, nearly matching the full-year 2024 volume. However, some industry practitioners say the long-term actual usage rate of AI glasses remains below 6%. A Counterpoint report published in September 2026 said the next growth wave is expected to be driven by agentic AI glasses.

To address power and computing trade-offs, the Qianwen hardware team built a separate low-power vision sensing chain using a dedicated low-power vision chip that operates at as low as 5mW. A tiered wake-up mechanism activates high-performance computing only when key cues are detected.