Qwen launches N1 Pro AI glasses and AI earbuds to support Personal Agent

The N1 Pro weighs 44 grams and carries an always-on visual perception system built around a dedicated low-power chip. It uses three chips: a Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 for image processing and complex computing, a Hengxuan chip for routine tasks and a Qijing chip for low-power visual understanding. Qwen says the arrangement is meant to keep the glasses sensing the environment without sacrificing battery life.

Inside the frame near the nose pads, the glasses have an eye-tracking module measuring 1.7 millimeters on each side. According to the report, it can track gaze from 0 to 100,000 lux and keep center-area accuracy within 1 degree, enough for a user to look at a menu item and ask “how much is this” without specifying which dish.

Qwen describes the N1 Pro as the industry’s first AI glasses with real-time vital-sign monitoring, according to Leiphone. The glasses measure heart rate, blood oxygen and skin temperature, and turn the readings into status prompts. While cycling, they can remind a user to adjust breathing based on heart rate; during daily wear, they log eye use and prompt breaks. When stress indicators are high, an AI therapy function generates custom meditation audio and evaluates relaxation effects, closing a loop of monitoring, warning and intervention.

Song Gang, vice president of Alibaba Group’s Qwen business unit, said AI wearables are Qwen’s extension into the physical world and an important part of its Personal Agent. According to the report, he said that no matter where a request starts, the same Qwen behind it understands the same person and continues the same goal. The hardware strategy follows that logic: the glasses and earbuds gather context, while Qwen’s app and Alibaba’s services handle tasks.

Leiphone reported that Qwen combines custom models with more than a decade of real-world data from Alibaba’s ecosystem. Lai Jianhua, a training head for Qwen’s South China unit, gave the example of asking AI for a five-day, 3,000-yuan trip to Guangzhou: Qwen can produce a local detail such as a 50-yuan metro pass valid for 72 hours, while general models tend to stop at “visit Canton Tower and drink morning tea.” The report said data from Amap, Taobao, Fliggy and Alipay gives Qwen dimensions and frequency that pure model makers cannot easily match.

The AI clip-on earbuds, jointly launched with Bose, support real-time translation in 89 languages, AI transcription and voice task execution, according to the report. Their differentiator is access to services such as paying phone bills and parking fees. The earbuds support simultaneous interpretation, face-to-face translation, call translation and media translation; in face-to-face mode, one earbud can be handed to the other speaker and each person speaks their own language without taking turns pressing a button.

Leiphone cited market figures showing global AI glasses shipments reached 8.7 million units in 2025, nearly 25 times higher over three years, and are expected to exceed 10 million in 2026. China’s smart glasses shipments are forecast at 4.51 million units in 2026, up 78% year on year. AI glasses were also included in China’s national subsidy program for the first time in 2026, alongside phones, tablets and smartwatches.

The report also noted that earlier AI glasses struggled to retain users. Li Hongwei, CEO of RayNeo, said publicly that more than 200 new functions were launched across AI glasses in 2025, but long-term use was below 6%, according to Leiphone. Qwen’s answer is to tie the glasses to everyday tasks such as meetings, navigation, translation and payments. In meetings, the glasses support Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean interpretation and can identify industry terms; outputs include interview summaries, key insights, quotes, to-do items, mind maps and chapter overviews.