Are the Rokid Glasses 2 worth buying? Start with the price: black from 3,699 yuan, tortoiseshell from 3,849 yuan, and from 3,199 yuan with the national subsidy, on sale in China since November 11, 2026. The verdict is straightforward: if you are happy to wear them every time you go out, to shoot first-person video or take meeting notes, the money is well spent; if it is just novelty and you would only wear them occasionally, wait.
A Day Wearing Them: Display, Camera and Battery
Unlike Google's smart glasses, the Rokid Glasses 2 have a display: a single-green Micro-LED waveguide with peak brightness of 1,500 nits, lens reflectivity down 70% from the previous generation, so from the front they look close to ordinary glasses. Google's pair has no screen and needs a Samsung phone to run Gemini; Rokid instead runs a small language model on-device on the Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1+ Gen 1 chip. The camera is the other selling point: a 12-megapixel CMOS sensor with HDR and RAW 14, so backlit photos keep faces bright and detail in the sky, and video goes up to 2.5K. Battery life is also a real step up: a 263mAh battery, 25% more than the previous generation, with a charging capsule good for six top-ups, and in media testing 20 minutes of navigation and 30 minutes each of music and shooting still left more than half the charge, enough for a day of moderate use. An iFanr editor who tried them for a week found herself reaching for them on the way out, though wearing them a full afternoon left visible marks from the nose pads.
Before You Buy: Barriers, Costs and Who They Suit
First, the barriers. They are sold only in China; overseas buyers must wait for CES in January 2027, and no overseas price or date has been announced. The 89-language call translation and all-day recall shown at the launch event are not in the first release and need a later OTA update, so do not buy on the assumption they already work. Video has its trade-offs too: top-quality 4K is limited to 9:16 vertical at 30 frames per second, the open speakers can be heard within five metres at full volume, and green subtitles get harder to read in strong backlight. Privacy deserves a thought as well: the previous generation was caught up in a secret-filming controversy, which pushed forward China's first voluntary privacy standard for AI glasses — think about where you will be filming before you buy. They suit people who wear glasses out every day, need meeting notes, or regularly shoot first-person footage; occasional wearers, anyone waiting for the full-colour version, and buyers outside China should hold off — the full-colour Rokid Color starts at 4,999 yuan and ships from April 2027. If you are unsure, wait until the translation features arrive and the colour version goes on sale, then decide.
