Ant Group’s Next Big Play: How Smart Glass Payments Could Revolutionize Retail by 2025
Alibaba’s fintech arm Ant Group is betting big on smart glasses—not just for augmented reality, but as the next frontier in frictionless payments. Forget tapping your phone—soon you’ll blink to buy.
Why It Matters
With China’s mobile payment market already saturated, Ant’s pivot to wearable tech isn’t just innovation—it’s survival. The move could let them bypass smartphone payment wars altogether.
The Skeptic’s Take
Because what the world needs is another way for tech giants to monetize your eyeballs. At least this time they’re being transparent about it—literally.
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AI Power
Ant said that the first such payment outside of mainland China was made this week in Hong Kong using Meizu’s StarV smart glasses.
The transaction was made via AlipayHK, the Hong Kong platform of Ant Group’s flagship Alipay app. Meizu’s glasses were able to scan the QR code and use voice commands. The whole process was powered by Ant’s AI-powered voice interface, intent recognition, and voiceprint authentication technologies.
The momentum in the market is clear to see.
“In the coming years, this technology could enable people to complete transactions simply by looking at or gesturing towards a product,” Ant said.
Growth Outlook
Ant is looking to expand the adoption of smart glasses for payments through its e-wallet partners worldwide. This includes 36 mobile payment apps such as Line Pay and GrabPay through the Alipay+ network that connects more than 1.7 billion user accounts in 70 markets.
The smart glasses market is forecast for huge growth over the next few years.
The market was estimated at $1.93 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $8.26 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 27.3% from 2025 to 2030. This is for use in a variety of sectors such as healthcare, education, and manufacturing.
A number of major US tech giants are also developing smart glasses, such as Apple (AAPL) and Meta Platforms (META).
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