HTC believes your next smartglass shouldn’t force you into a single AI assistant. With its newly launched VIVE Eagle glasses, the Taiwanese technology company is promoting an open AI strategy. As Reuters reports, it allows carriers to choose from multiple generative AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, rather than locking them into an ecosystem. This is a significantly different pitch than what most competitors are currently offering.
To bring you up to speed, the VIVE Eagle recently went on sale in Hong Kong for around HK$3,988 (approximately $512), and HTC is planning a gradual global rollout. Japan and Southeast Asia will follow in early 2026, followed by Europe and the United States later in the year. The Asia-first focus reflects HTC’s efforts to adapt design and fit to regional preferences, something many rivals reportedly overlook.
The move comes as smart glasses are evolving from a niche tech curiosity to a category with real growth potential. Shipments have risen sharply over the past year, and while the meta ecosystem still accounts for a dominant share of units shipped, alternatives are emerging that seek to differentiate themselves through experience and flexibility.
A different piece in a crowded room
In the past, most smartglass manufacturers have tightly coupled their devices with a single AI service. Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses, for example, rely on Meta AI to handle voice prompts, translations, contextual information and other tasks. Charles Huang, CEO of global sales at HTC, says that given the rapid development of various AI models, it makes no sense to promote just a single assistant. By supporting across multiple platforms, his company hopes owners benefit from whoever drives innovation the fastest. Data protection is another aspect that HTC emphasizes. The company says it does not use personal data to train these models, setting it apart from competitors whose data policies have been more stringent.
While rivals may build powerful user profiles to customize services, HTC’s approach relies on anonymized requests and local processing for basic tasks, which could appeal to privacy-conscious users wary of sharing their data with big tech companies. In fact, this emphasis on choice and privacy comes as the smart glasses category grapples with fundamental questions about practical utility. Even though shipping numbers are increasing, there is still debate about what everyday problems these devices actually solve compared to a smartphone or smartwatch.
What’s interesting to you as a potential buyer or observer is how this reflects broader AI trends. Instead of a winner-take-all assistant, we now see hardware that supports a range of models, recognizing that the AI landscape is fluid. What this means in practice is that the glasses you wear in 2026 may work differently than the ones you buy next year, and you have more influence over which AI powers that experience. Whether this open strategy pays off for HTC depends on whether users prefer flexibility over a tightly integrated system. But it’s an important sign of how companies are adapting to both consumer preferences and the increasingly competitive AI ecosystem.
