NIQ and GfK China: Consumers Want AI Devices to Be Useful, Trusted and Efficient

NIQ and GfK China have published a consumer research report arguing that AI hardware will need to deliver clear everyday benefits—not simply carry an AI label—to sustain demand in China.

Awareness is high, but adoption remains selective

The report, Core Terminal Ecosystem Positioning and User Demand Insights in the AI Era, was released on May 27, 2026. NIQ and GfK said it draws on consumer tracking and an April survey of 3,841 respondents covering consumer electronics, audio wearables and household appliances.

More than 90% of respondents said they were aware of AI products, while 62% said they had used either an AI product or a device with AI functions. NIQ and GfK said the comparable usage figure was 39% in 2024, indicating a substantial increase in reported exposure to AI features.

Smartphones were the category in which AI functions mattered most to buying decisions: 37% of respondents said they considered such functions when purchasing a phone. Earphones followed at 30%, while AR, VR and AI glasses were cited by 25%.

Interest was lower for other categories. TVs and robot vacuums each reached 18%, smartwatches and tablets each reached 16%, and computers and air conditioners each registered 11%. Refrigerators were lowest among the listed categories, at 9%.

Practical value is the main test

The research suggests that consumer awareness does not translate into automatic willingness to buy. Practicality was respondents’ leading concern, cited by 34%, followed by privacy and security at 29% and battery life at 13%.

NIQ and GfK reported that 57% of respondents believed AI functions that met their expectations would materially affect a purchase decision. Fourteen percent called such features decisive, while 44% described them as a significant advantage.

The report also found that more than 60% of respondents would be willing to pay a premium for AI functions. However, its findings indicate that this willingness depends on whether a feature solves a recognisable problem in daily use and does not compromise privacy, battery life or product usability.

Phones, PCs and glasses as a connected system

NIQ and GfK frame the next phase of AI hardware as a coordinated ecosystem across several device types. In the model described in the report, smart glasses handle hands-free sensing and lightweight interaction; smartphones act as a hub for personal information and decisions; and AI PCs provide more persistent local computing for demanding workloads.

The researchers describe this as a loop of perception, memory, decision and action. They suggest AI PCs could combine local processing and privacy controls with cloud-based reasoning for tasks such as assisted programming, private-data retrieval and multimodal content creation.

The report forecasts that future smartphones may support on-device models with 20 billion to 25 billion parameters after new Arm architectures reach devices in 2027 and 2028. NIQ and GfK present that projection as a future scenario rather than a current smartphone capability.

Smart glasses still need to look like glasses

For smart glasses, the study distinguishes between screenless audio-and-camera products and display-equipped AR glasses. In NIQ and GfK's analysis, screenless products account for 64% of the category, compared with 36% for display-equipped models.

The firms estimate domestic smart-glasses sales could reach 473,000 units by the end of 2026. They also emphasize a design principle of putting conventional eyewear qualities first and smart functions second.

That distinction matters when comparing market forecasts. Studies that count AR and extended-reality headsets alongside AI glasses can produce much larger totals than research focused on camera-and-audio glasses. Coverage from IT产业网 and 36Kr similarly describes NIQ GfK’s emphasis on a multi-device ecosystem spanning glasses, phones, PCs and cloud services.

For manufacturers, the report’s conclusion is restrained: AI can influence upgrade decisions, but durable demand will depend on useful functions, user trust, battery performance and product design.