One company has sold 3.5 million AI devices in 2025.

Everyone else either died, got acquired, or is dying.

Ray-Ban Meta glasses captured 66% of the smart glasses market.

Humane AI Pin raised $240 million, launched to devastating reviews in 2024, and shut down completely by February 2025.

Rabbit R1 sold 130,000 units but stopped paying employees.

Friend pendant spent $1.8 million on a domain name and sold 5,000 devices.

The verdict: Devices that complement smartphones thrive. Replacements die.

Meta, Amazon, and Nvidia spent the year acquiring the wreckage.

Here's what won, what died, and what that means for 2026.

We put together an AI Survival Hackbook for 2026: a practical guide on how AI changed work between 2019–2025, what will matter next year, and how professionals are quietly using AI for leverage (not hype).

It includes:

It’s free for the next two weeks.

3.5 million units sold.
73% market share.

This wasn't even close.

Ray-Ban Meta tripled sales in the first half of 2025 compared to the previous year.

With time it’s only gotten better.

With September 2025 Gen 2 update, it now has 8 hours battery life (double the original), 3K video at 60fps and live translation in six languages.

Reviewers gave consistent 4-4.5 star ratings.

Long-term users reported sustained daily use for photos, podcasts, hands-free calls, quick AI queries.

They look like normal Ray-Bans and weigh only 48 grams.

The Ray-Ban Display glasses launched September 30, 2025 at $799. First mass-market glasses with integrated heads-up display.

Sold out in 48 hours.

In 2026 they plan to produce over 10 million glasses annually.

Why it won: Complements your phone instead of replacing it.

And it solves specific problems (hands-free photos, quick AI queries) without demanding you change your entire behavior.

$699 device and $24/month mandatory subscription. Promised to replace smartphones.

MKBHD called it "the worst product I've ever reviewed."

The technical failures were comprehensive:

Between May and August 2024, more AI Pins were returned than purchased.

Ultimately sold around 10,000 units against a 100,000 target.

So in February 2025: HP acquired Humane's assets for $116 million.

Less than half what they raised.

Shortly after, All AI Pins stopped functioning

Humane advised customers to recycle devices as e-waste. Only purchasers within 90 days got refunds.

Early adopters got nothing.

Runner-up: Apple Vision Pro (370,000-500,000 units vs 700,000-800,000 target, $3,499 proved too expensive)

Every standalone AI gadget in 2025 marketed itself as a smartphone alternative is dead, or will soon be.

Users discovered they still needed their smartphones for everything.

MKBHD articulated the industry's epitaph: "Never buy a product based on the future promise of updates."

This thesis is dead.

Smartphones need to be augmented, not replaced.

In December, Meta bought the AI meeting transcription pendant company.

And immediately discontinued the product.

Limitless had sold 20,000+ units at $99-$199. Reviewers praised 100-hour battery life and professional utility for journalists, consultants, healthcare workers.

The product worked. Meta killed it anyway.

This pattern repeated across 2025:

Why? Simple answer: Talent, and patents.

Big tech isn’t acquiring these startups has more to do with absorbing the talent than killing the competition.

Right now only Rabbit R1 and Friend.com remain independent among major 2025-era AI gadgets.

And both are under pressure.

So they’ll likely get acquired at some point, or they die.

Launched at CES 2024 to enormous hype. 130,000 units sold at $199.

Engadget called it "a $199 AI toy that fails at almost everything."

The promised Large Action Model barely functioned.

I really like the design (by Teenage Engineering) and it looked cool.

But the product didn't work.

To Rabbit's credit: They’ve been consistently shipping updates.

30+ software updates throughout 2024-2025.

By late 2025, reviewers acknowledged meaningful improvement.

But improvement doesn't pay bills.

In October 2025, reports emerged that employees hadn't been paid since July.

The lesson: Even 130,000 sales and continuous improvement may not be enough when your fundamental value proposition remains unproven.

Technically alive but financially dead. That's a zombie.

Runner-up: Friend pendant (5,000 units sold, $10M raised, unclear path to profitability)

$149-$169 AI voice recorders. 500,000+ users globally.

Won by avoiding the "replace your phone" trap entirely.

Focused exclusively on transcription.

Launched NotePin at CES 2025 with 40-hour battery, Gemini integration and 90+ language support.

The product does one thing well i.e, record conversations and transcribe them accurately. Users pay for it.

Runner up: Omi (formerly Based Hardware) followed a similar path.

$69-$89 open-source pendant. Raised $2 million from Tim Draper in January 2025. Developer-focused, privacy-first approach found traction among technical users.

The pattern: Solving specific problems beats solving everything.

In November 2025, first prototypes were completed for a screenless, pocket-sized AI device.

Sam Altman called the work "jaw-droppingly good."

And is expected "in less than two years."

If anyone can crack the standalone AI device problem, it's this team.

But also consider:

The market is heading toward AI-augmented versions of everything we already wear: glasses, watches, earbuds, rings.

2025 solved one question definitively: You can't replace the smartphone.

2026 will be about smart glasses.

Meta, Apple, Google, Samsung all launching or scaling.

The AI wearables market hit $32-40 billion in 2025.

It is projected to reach $120-368 billion by 2033-2035 depending on which research firm you believe.

But that growth will likely concentrate in familiar form factors i.e, in glasses, rings, watches or earbuds.

2025 taught us that lesson at the cost of hundreds of millions in venture capital and thousands of bricked devices sitting in drawers.

The smartphone isn't going anywhere. Instead, it's getting new friends.

Until next time,
Vaibhav 🤝🏻

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