Ambani’s Jio set to take on Ray-Ban Meta with affordable …

JioFrames AI smart glasses are expected to hit the market in the next 2-3 months. Analysts expect Jio Platforms to price its smart glasses below ₹10,000, roughly a third of the starting price of the Gen 1 variant offered by market leader Ray-Ban Meta, which …

IPO-bound Jio Platforms is set to disrupt India’s eyewear market with the commercial launch of its smart glasses, enabling users to enjoy music, make calls, and capture photos—marking an aggressive foray into the country’s fastest-growing wearables segment. The telecom and digital arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is looking to replicate its mobile data tariff strategy in smart eyewear — betting on aggressive pricing and scale to bring artificial intelligence (AI)-powered glasses to a wider audience, analysts and industry executives in the know said.

JioFrames AI smart glasses, unveiled last year at RIL's annual general meeting, are expected to hit the market in the next 2-3 months, an industry executive said, adding that prices are likely to be significantly lower than the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses that are available in the market. Analysts expect Jio Platforms to price its smart glasses below ₹10,000, roughly a third of the starting price of the Gen 1 variant offered by market leader Ray-Ban Meta, which sells at around ₹30,000.

Smart glasses combine traditional eyewear with built-in speakers, microphones and AI features, allowing users to listen to music, take calls, capture photos and access digital assistance without pulling out a phone. The market for smart glasses has started heating up, with companies such as Lenskart and AI platform Sarvam also looking to launch these products. To be sure, Lenskart already has audio-only smart glass Phonic priced at about ₹5,000, and is gearing to launch B—its new smart glasses by March.

Similarly, at the recently concluded AI Summit in New Delhi, Sarvam showcased its Kaze smart glasses, which it expects to launch in May. India's smart eyewear market size reached $115.7 million in 2025, and is expected to swell to about $1.24 billion by 2034, at a compounded annual growth rate of 29.21%, according to market research firm IMARC Group. In December last year, Meta launched its Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) AI glasses in India at a starting price of ₹39,900, with improvements in video capture, battery life, Meta AI experience, and the device aesthetics.

Similarly, Jio is looking to launch two variants—audio-only and audio with camera including other features. The smart glass uses the company’s in-house Reality OS (operating system) and will support various Indian languages. “The company is currently in talks with various optical companies and chains to have a go-to market strategy and also improve the product,” the industry executive cited earlier said, requesting not to be identified.

As per International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates, smart glasses have now become the fastest-growing category in the wearables market in India. In 2025, the shipments of smart glasses to retail stores, and dealers grew 10 times from a year earlier to over 200,000 units in India. Market research firm Counterpoint Research also said that smart glasses are in the “hyper-growth” phase. Globally, the market grew 131% year-on-year (YoY) in 2025.

India is still in the early stages of growth, but shipments rose more than 11x in 2025 off a smaller base, which signals a market that's waking up fast, and the headroom from here is massive, the research firm said. “With the success of Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses and Lenskart’s audio-only smart glasses, the category is already witnessing healthy growth. We expect Jio to enter the market at an estimated price below ₹10,000, and the same could unlock exponential adoption, given the growing consumer interest in smart glasses,” said Vikas Sharma, senior analyst at IDC India.

He said that beyond aggressive pricing, distribution will be critical. “For a player like Jio, partnerships with optical chains and local retail outlets will be essential to address prescription requirements, fit and sizing—factors that can significantly influence market share,” Sharma added. Ambani said in August last year that Jio's initial public offering (IPO) could be launched in the first half of 2026.

Bloomberg reported in November, citing people familiar with the matter, that bankers were proposing a valuation of up to $170 billion for Jio Platforms. Analysts said consumers are liking the hands-free capture, translation, AI-led assistance, and these smart glasses would also be useful for India’s creators' economy for their livestreams and other engagements. “In India, the premium narrative is still set by global brands, but domestic entrants are starting to write the next act by pushing affordability, localisation, stronger retail and after-sales reach focusing on local use cases…We expect 2026 is likely to be the year when we will see these glasses gaining mind share from end-consumer perspective,” said Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint India.

According to Pathak, demand is strongest where users experience everyday value – through hands-free capture, always-on audio, and AI-powered assistance that integrates seamlessly into daily routines. “This is where JioFrames could be catalytic. Operator-style pricing, smart bundling, and India-first utility like local languages could pull smart glasses out of the early adopter phase, and into the mainstream,” he said.

Last week, RIL along with Jio unveiled a $110 billion ( ₹10 trillion) investment over the next seven years to build India’s sovereign AI backbone. “India cannot afford to rent intelligence. Therefore, we will reduce the cost of intelligence as dramatically as we did the cost of data,” RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani said in his address at the India AI summit in the national capital last week. He added that an edge-compute layer, deeply integrated with Jio’s network, will make intelligence responsive, low-latency and affordable—close to where Indians live, learn and work.

Summary

This report covers the latest developments in artificial intelligence. The information presented highlights key changes and updates that are relevant to those following this topic.

---