As of the end of November 2024, the Doubao APP has exceeded 160 million downloads, with nearly 60 million monthly active users and nearly 6 million daily active users. However, the user scale of Toutiao has basically stabilized, and Douyin is facing slow user growth. For Doubao caught in the middle, AI hardware is undoubtedly a new traffic entrance. Doubao has not yet opened C-end charging. Because once charged, users may be lost. Consumers may not pay a subscription fee for Doubao. But if it is to buy an AI toy that can be placed at home and chat with AI, perhaps they can come up with a budget of nearly 1,000 yuan. Chen Lin, an AI toy manufacturer, said that if elderly care and children’s companion learning scenarios are superimposed, the learning machine with a market price of nearly 10,000 yuan may not be the ceiling of AI hardware imagination. QuestMobile’s “Insight into the Intelligent Development of Hardware Terminals in 2024” mentioned that the soaring cost of generative AI inference end has promoted the continuous growth of pan-intelligent hardware end. Mobile phones, computers, and cars are all connected to large models. “Wearable devices” represented by “glasses” and “headphones” have become the “best carrier” of AI in the eyes of many manufacturers. For giants that started from super apps, becoming the next Apple or Google and turning into super platforms may be the reason why ByteDance’s pursuit of hardware never dies. Google has restarted its AR glasses business and entered the AI glasses field. In the era of large models, Zhang Yiming seems to have ushered in an opportunity. For Toutiao and Douyin with slow user growth, new terminal hardware will also create new growth scenarios for ByteDance’s original APP matrix.
In Huaqiangbei, a pair of ordinary sunglasses can be sold for as low as dozens of yuan. But if sunglasses are equipped with built-in Bluetooth for playing music, they can be sold for hundreds of yuan. If sunglasses can be awakened by voice to activate an AI APP and have synchronous translation, the shipping price will increase by 30 – 50 yuan. The 1:1 replica of Huawei’s AI glasses in Huaqiangbei can be obtained for only 149 yuan, while the official website price of Huawei’s AI glasses is 1299 yuan. Chen Lin has received many orders from overseas merchants and is replicating Meta’s AI glasses. The finished product is expected to be launched in March next year. Meta’s official website sells glasses for 299 US dollars, while Huaqiangbei can achieve a shipping price of 300 yuan. Wang Sheng, a partner of Inno Angel Fund, said, “The sales volume of Meta AI glasses has exceeded 3 million units this year. If it sells well before Christmas at the end of the year, it is likely to sell 4 million units.” However, compared to the VR era when the cumulative shipments of the Quest series reached 17.7 million units, AI glasses seem far from reaching the threshold of a blockbuster product. Moreover, for consumers, AI glasses are closer to a certain fashion item rather than AI smart glasses. Chang Min was attracted by Meta AI glasses recommended by fashion bloggers on Instagram. But after purchasing them, the most commonly used functions are still taking photos and shooting videos, or matching street photography. It is more convenient to wake up ChatGPT directly with a mobile phone. The photo function also has problems such as fast power consumption and insufficient clarity.
