February 27, 2026 – Recently, 360 founder Zhou Hongyi publicly addressed inquiries regarding whether the company would venture into the AI glasses market. He openly acknowledged the substantial difficulties in this field, stating, “After taking a closer look, it’s really tough to make this thing work.”
Zhou pointed out two major hurdles. Firstly, in terms of market competition, numerous tech giants have already entered this arena. The profit margins from the hardware itself are rather slim, while the costs associated with developing and operating the supporting software services remain extremely high.
Secondly, there’s the issue of scene substitution. At present, no indispensable and irreplaceable use – case scenarios have been identified. Existing devices like earphones, microphones, voice recorders, and smartphones can already meet most of the functional requirements.
Zhou emphasized that hardware is essentially just a shell and a carrier. Ultimately, it all comes down to the core of intelligent agents. Therefore, the company will continue to focus on intelligent agents.
An amusing incident occurred during the interview. Zhou, who is usually known for wearing his signature red shirt, not only didn’t wear it this time but also took off his glasses. His frequent blinking and hand – raising movements resembled those of a humanoid robot, leading the media to joke that he was “becoming more and more like AI.”
In response to this, Zhou made a humorous remark, saying that he took off his glasses to “save energy for his brain.”
