Alibaba’s Qwen AI Glasses N1 and N1 Pro go on SALE in China on Tuesday, October 13, THREE weeks after pre-orders opened. On the eve of launch, Alibaba still has NOT published an official price for either model. Buyers who reserved a pair are COMMITTING to a product whose biggest SELLING point, IRIS-verified payment, has so far been shown mainly in DEMOS.
What Is Confirmed
- Launch: Alibaba unveiled the N1, the N1 Pro and a pair of Qwen AI ear-clip earbuds at its Cloud Summit on September 22. Pre-orders opened that day, with sales set for OCTOBER 13 (Gate News).
- Channels: RESERVATIONS are open in the official Qwen flagship stores on Taobao and JD.com. Alibaba showed the glasses again at an NBA China game, according to a Sina Weibo post dated October 12.
- N1: A camera-equipped AI glasses model with NO display. Chinese reports describe 4K RECORDING and SWAPPABLE temple batteries that can be changed without powering down (SMZDM).
- N1 Pro: ADDS EYE TRACKING, iris-based identity verification for PAYMENT, and HEALTH monitoring that includes heart rate and blood OXYGEN.
- Price: NOT announced. SMZDM’s October 8 buyer guide says the official price tag is STILL under wraps, and So Basically reported the same on October 11.
Eye Tracking Is the Real Upgrade
For glasses WITHOUT a screen, the HARD problem is not image quality. It is REFERENCE. When a wearer asks “what is this?”, the assistant has to GUESS what “this” means. On the N1 Pro, Alibaba says the AI uses GAZE to work out which object the wearer is looking at. Early hands-on posts cited by SMZDM say the answers MATCHED the objects being viewed. That is a CONCRETE gain over the camera-only Qwen G1, which sells from 1,997 yuan, and it puts a feature usually found on high-end VR headsets into EVERYDAY frames.
What the early reports do NOT cover is just as IMPORTANT: how the eye tracking holds up in BRIGHT sunlight, with PRESCRIPTION lenses, or after sweat and fogging, and how often it needs RECALIBRATION.
Iris Payment Is Still a Showroom Feature
We first covered the N1 when it appeared under concealment at Shanghai’s Bund Summit in September. There, Alibaba claimed a false-acceptance rate BELOW one in a million for iris matching. That remains a VENDOR figure, not an INDEPENDENT result. SMZDM’s guide argues the feature should NOT drive a purchase. QR-code payment is already FAST in China, and early users report that the glasses remove a spoken “confirm payment” step but NOT the step of starting the payment. Iris templates also CANNOT be reset if they leak, and Alibaba has NOT published whether gaze and iris data are processed on the device or in the CLOUD.
Why the Timing Matters
October 13 is also the U.S. ship date for Meta’s camera-free Ray-Ban Meta Audio. The two companies are moving in OPPOSITE directions on the SAME day. Meta REMOVED the camera to ease PRIVACY concerns, while Alibaba is adding eye tracking and BIOMETRIC payment on top of one. For the N1 line, THREE disclosures will matter MOST this week: the final PRICE and deposit terms, INDEPENDENT tests of eye tracking with prescription lenses in bright light, and a CLEAR statement on where iris and gaze data are STORED.