Track Hyper | Thunderbird launches V3 AI glasses: reconstructing DOCTOR's valuation

Author: Zhou Yuan / Wall Street News

The Thunderbird V3 AI glasses were officially launched on the first day of CES 2025 (January 7).

These AI glasses are not AR glasses, but rather camera glasses, previously appearing at the signing event on January 2 where Alibaba and Thunderbird Innovation signed an exclusive strategic cooperation agreement.

The strategic cooperation between Thunderbird Innovation and Alibaba focuses on Alibaba's exclusive customization of the Tongyi Qianwen large model.

This model was pioneered by Meta. The VR headset devices "Quest" series 2 and 3 launched by Meta are equipped with their self-developed large model LLaMA3, with sales exceeding one million units for both.

On October 10, 2024, ByteDance launched the AI personal assistant headphones Ola Friend in China, also implementing Meta's model: integrating a large model into the GenAI terminal.

Of course, this model has already been realized in core terminals such as AI PCs (including laptops) and GenAI smartphones.

When Thunderbird Innovation launched this product at CES 2025, the confirmed theme was called "Meta Beyond," clearly targeting Meta's intentions.

Let’s briefly discuss the product details of the Thunderbird V3 AI glasses.

The SoC chip of these AI glasses is provided by Qualcomm, model Snapdragon AR1 chip (launched in 2023, using TSMC's 4nm process technology). The glasses weigh only 39 grams, setting a record for the lightest in the same category, with a battery life of up to 7 hours.

The AI performance is reflected in a response speed as fast as 1.3 seconds (the industry mainstream speed is 4-6 seconds), fast enough to be almost imperceptible.

In addition to "borrowing" from Meta in the business model of GenAI technology, the price is also nearly 1,000 yuan lower than Meta's collaboration with Ray-Ban on the million-selling Ray-Ban Meta Gen AI glasses.

Li Hongwei, founder and CEO of Thunderbird Innovation, stated at the launch event, "For us, the goal is very clear: to make V3 comprehensively surpass Meta in the experience of headphones, cameras, AI, and glasses, truly standing on Meta's shoulders to design a product that exceeds Meta."

The potential of AI glasses goes beyond vision; it also challenges traditional audio experiences. The advantages of GenAI glasses lie in their less likely to be lost, more comfortable non-in-ear design, and the naturalness and appropriateness they exhibit in interpersonal communication.

As a pair of camera glasses, the challenge lies in how GenAI glasses can take high-quality still (photographic) photos and dynamic (video) recordings with a camera sensor that is only about 25% the size of a smartphone camera.

To address this issue, Thunderbird Innovation and TCL jointly built a complete laboratory to customize and optimize over 20 shooting scenarios for the glasses; at the same time, this laboratory conducted over 200 optical performance tests on the V3, ultimately developing the "Falcon Imaging" system The Thunderbird V3 is equipped with a Sony IMX681 back-illuminated small sensor, with a resolution of 12 million pixels; it uses "Horizon Soft Algorithm" (Horizon Technology).

Through deep tuning of the performance of these hardware and software, the imaging capability of the Thunderbird V3, according to Li Hongwei's evaluation, "the V3 achieves image quality performance comparable to smartphones in the 3000 yuan price range."

Customization is everywhere in the Thunderbird V3, in addition to Alibaba customizing the Tongyi Qianwen large model for it, customizing 9*20mm large diaphragm speakers for the headphones, collaborating with TCL to customize the imaging system, and jointly tuning the Snapdragon AR1 chip with Qualcomm for half a year (semi-customized?).

This pair of glasses also features light-speed snapshot and long-duration recording functions: the light-speed snapshot can be completed in just 0.8 seconds; long-duration recording can last up to 9 minutes, three times that of Meta.

As mentioned earlier, the characteristics of the V3 AI shooting glasses launched by Thunderbird Innovation are not the main focus of this article.

Wall Street News notes that currently, the Thunderbird V3 is available for hands-on experience in over 100 DOCTOR stores nationwide.

This seemingly inconspicuous statement is the main topic of today's discussion. DOCTOR is a publicly listed company on the A-share market. Whenever the market rises with the "AI glasses" theme, DOCTOR can ride the wave, and its stock price can soar accordingly.

What is the relationship between DOCTOR and the AI glasses industry? How deeply is it involved in the AI glasses industry? At which stage is it positioned within the AI glasses industry? What are the value points?

According to DOCTOR's 2023 annual report and 2024 semi-annual report, DOCTOR has established partnerships with Thunderbird Innovation, ROKID, and Meizu, providing comprehensive vision correction solutions for the smart glasses consumer group through customized services and online-offline interactive after-sales services.

It is clear that DOCTOR is positioned in the downstream channel segment of the AI glasses industry chain; at the same time, it is highly likely to launch vision correction lenses to eliminate barriers to the application needs of AI glasses for the large population of myopic individuals.

The V3 AI glasses launched by Thunderbird Innovation will obviously utilize DOCTOR's offline sales network channels, which is currently the most practically valuable industrial significance for DOCTOR.

In its 2023 performance report, DOCTOR stated that the company has signed a "Cooperation Framework Agreement between DOCTOR and Thunderbird Innovation," and both parties agreed to jointly invest in the establishment of a joint venture company. The registered capital of the joint venture company is 15 million yuan, of which the company plans to invest 3 million yuan, holding 20% of the joint venture's equity; Thunderbird Innovation plans to invest 12 million yuan, holding 80% of the joint venture's equity.

This joint venture company plans to develop the first generation of shooting glasses and audio + AI glasses products and will generate income through licensing fees. In this cooperative project, DOCTOR will be responsible for offline channel sales and promotion, participate in product research and design, and have joint decision-making rights on key strategies such as products, channels, and marketing Currently, the V3 AI shooting glasses launched by Thunderbird Innovation, is it a product planned by the joint venture company? If so, then the AI attributes of DOCTOR glasses will have substantial progress.

According to DOCTOR's 2024 semi-annual report, "As of the end of the reporting period, the joint venture company has not yet been established, and neither party has contributed capital; relevant information will ultimately be subject to the approval and registration by the industrial and commercial administration department. Currently, the research and design work has not yet started."

After reviewing the materials, Wall Street News learned that the company jointly established by Thunderbird Innovation and DOCTOR glasses—Thunderbird DOCTOR Smart Glasses (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.—has completed registration, with a founding date of September 3, 2024, and the legal representative Li Hongwei is likely the founder and CEO of Thunderbird Innovation.

Therefore, it is very likely that DOCTOR glasses did indeed participate in the research and design work of the Thunderbird V3 AI shooting glasses. In this case, the "A" content of DOCTOR glasses, which was originally only as a downstream distributor of GenAI glasses, will be significantly enhanced, and its valuation will inevitably be restructured.

However, in the current situation, apart from channel value, DOCTOR glasses still have relatively shallow industrial depth.

As DOCTOR glasses stated in their 2024 semi-annual report, "The operating revenue scale and proportion of the company's smart glasses lens fitting service are extremely small, and will not have a significant impact on the company's operating activities in the short term."

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