INMO
| INMO | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Industry | Augmented Reality |
| Founded | 2020 |
| Founder | Yang Longsheng |
| Headquarters | Shenzhen, China |
| Products | AR smart glasses, AI translation glasses |
| Website | https://www.inmoxr.com |
INMO (legal entity Shenzhen Yingmu Technology Co., Ltd., with its English presence sometimes given as Shadow Eye Technology) is a Chinese company that designs consumer Augmented Reality and AI Smart glasses. It was founded in 2020 by Yang Longsheng, a former general manager of the wearable division of the phone maker Coolpad Group, and is based in Shenzhen.[1][2] The company is best known for the INMO Air, which it describes as one of the earliest mass-produced wireless all-in-one consumer AR glasses, a product category in which the lightweight glasses run their own software and handle computing on board rather than relying on a tethered phone or PC.[3][4]
INMO's catalog is organized around three families: the AIR series for light productivity and audiovisual use, the GO series focused on real-time translation, and the X series aimed at photography.[5] Its glasses run a custom Android-based operating system that the company calls IMOS, and later models add AI assistants.[6][7]
History
INMO was established in 2020, with its legal entity registered as Shenzhen Yingmu Technology in early 2021. Founder Yang Longsheng had previously run Coolpad's wearable products business, and the early team of more than 50 people drew engineers from phone makers including Huawei and Xiaomi, with research and development staff making up about 70 percent of the company.[1] The company took angel funding in February 2021 from backers including Yilai Investment and 37 Interactive Entertainment.[1]
The first product, the INMO Air, was unveiled at a launch event on July 26, 2021 and put up for sale on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, priced at 469 US dollars.[3] In November 2021 INMO closed a pre-Series A round worth tens of millions of yuan, led by Matrix Partners China with participation from Unity Ventures and Junsan Capital.[1] The Air went on to a broader release, reported by the company at 2,999 yuan in China with more than 10,000 pre-orders.[1]
INMO followed with the binocular INMO Air2 in late 2022, which it began taking orders for after an October unveiling, and which it paired with a metaverse application called INMOVERSE.[4] The company then expanded into translation hardware with the INMO GO line, launched in September 2023, and into newer standalone glasses with the AIR3, positioning itself among the Chinese startups racing to build everyday AR and AI eyewear.[5][7] By 2025 INMO had raised a Series B2 round of about 150 million yuan, jointly invested by Puhua Capital, Liangxi Industrial Development Group, and Shenqi Capital, in a market increasingly contested by larger players such as Xiaomi.[2]
Technology
INMO's early glasses used a vertical array optical waveguide to project a see-through image in front of the wearer, a design the company highlighted as letting the AIR keep an everyday appearance while weighing under 80 grams.[3][1] The hardware runs IMOS, a customized variant of Android developed in-house, which has progressed across product generations to support multiple virtual screens and spatial interaction.[6][7]
Later models moved to a Micro-OLED display feeding the optics, raising image quality over the low-resolution panels of the first generation.[6][7] The AIR3, for example, is built on a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR processor with 8 GB of memory and 128 GB of storage, runs Android 14, and projects a large virtual screen using a Sony micro-OLED panel rated at 600 nits, while also integrating an AI assistant.[7] Reviews of INMO's glasses have consistently praised their light weight and media playback but flagged short battery life and limited outdoor visibility as recurring weaknesses.[6][7]
Products
INMO's lineup is split into the AIR series (display and light productivity), the GO series (translation), and the X series (photography). Selected models with verified details are listed below.
| Product | Year | Series | Notable specs and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| INMO Air | 2021 | AIR | First product; wireless all-in-one AR glasses under 80 g; vertical array waveguide; 2 GHz processor; about 4 hours of use; sold on Indiegogo for 469 US dollars (2,999 yuan in China)[3][1] |
| INMO Air2 | 2022 | AIR | Binocular AR glasses; micro-OLED with vertical array waveguide; quad-core 1.8 GHz chip, 2 GB RAM, 32 GB storage; runs IMOS 2.0; under 100 g; paired with the INMOVERSE app; crowdfunded from 599 US dollars[4][6] |
| INMO GO | 2023 | GO | Translation-focused AR glasses with real-time translation and an AI assistant; launched September 2023[5] |
| INMO AIR3 | 2024 | AIR | Standalone AR glasses on a Snapdragon XR processor; 8 GB RAM, 128 GB storage; Android 14; Sony micro-OLED, 600 nits, large virtual screen; built-in AI assistant; battery rated around 1.5 to 2 hours[7] |
Market position
INMO competes in China's crowded consumer AR and AI glasses market, where it has emphasized standalone, phone-free designs and translation as differentiators.[1][4] Its founder has framed the 2025 entry of large consumer brands such as Xiaomi into AI glasses as helpful to smaller specialists like INMO, saying the added attention to the category lifted demand; he reported that INMO's own sales rose by about 1.5 times after Xiaomi's launch, against an industry-wide lift he estimated at two to three times.[2] The company has continued to raise outside capital across multiple rounds, reaching a Series B2 of about 150 million yuan by 2025.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "AR smart glasses brand INMO completes the pre-A round of financing worth tens of millions of yuan, led by Matrix Partners". 2021-11-23. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ar-smart-glasses-brand-inmo-completes-the-pre-a-round-of-financing-worth-tens-of-millions-of-yuan-led-by-matrix-partners-301431422.html.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Yang Longsheng, CEO of Yingmu: Xiaomi's Entry into AI Glasses Market a Boon as Sales Triple or Quadruple". https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3373278892988419.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "INMO Debuts its New Generation Consumer-grade AR Smart Glasses". 2021-07-29. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/inmo-debuts-its-new-generation-consumer-grade-ar-smart-glasses-301344257.html.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Chinese startup debuts wireless AR glasses". https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/36Kr-KrASIA/Chinese-startup-debuts-wireless-AR-glasses.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "About INMO". https://www.inmoxr.com/pages/about-us.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Inmo Air2 Review: Affordable AR Glasses With A Few Key Flaws". 2023-06-27. https://www.slashgear.com/1323632/inmo-air2-review-affordable-ar-glasses/.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 "INMO Air 3 Smart AR Glasses Review: Specs, Battery & Display Limits". 2026-02-19. https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/inmo-air-3-smart-glasses-review/.