Xreal Aura launches wired Android XR glasses for $1,099

By Rebecca Stone

Xreal’s new Aura smart glasses are available to order at a limited launch price of $1,099 through December for the 12GB/256GB model, while the 16GB/512GB version carries a $1,299 launch price.

Orders opened Wednesday in the United States, Canada, Japan and South Korea. Xreal said it would start shipping by mid-November; the regular prices are $1,279 and $1,499, respectively, and the discounted prices run through December.

At Wednesday’s Android Developer Summit, Xreal, Google’s smart-glasses partner, introduced Aura as a wired headset built around Android XR and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Reality Elite platform. Google and Xreal had teased the glasses earlier in the year at Google’s I/O developer conference.

What hardware does Aura put in front of the wearer?

Xreal describes Aura as tethered to a smartphone-like processing device, or “puck,” rather than handling all computing itself. The puck supplies the processing power, while the glasses display content in the wearer’s field of view.

The display comes from Sony. Aura’s Micro-OLED panel resolves at 1,200p, runs at 120Hz and spans a 95-degree field of view; on paper, those screen specifications place it above the Ray-Ban Meta Display.

The weight trade-off is clear. Aura weighs 95 grams, compared with 69 grams for Meta’s glasses, and users must carry the puck as well. Its design sits closer to Meta’s eyewear than to Apple’s Vision Pro, which is a larger headset.

Which apps and connections work at launch?

Xreal says Aura supports many popular Google Play apps and games at launch, along with a set of specific XR experiences:

• NBA App for Android XR
• Nevatars
• Fallout: Factions
• Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars
• NASCAR XR App
• San Francisco Ballet Company’s The Nutcracker

Users can plug a computer or handheld gaming console directly into Aura’s USB-C port, turning the glasses into an augmented display. The same connection can support entertainment and productivity through a multi-monitor setup or one large virtual screen.

Xreal says Bose technology handles the audio for video and music. Android XR also puts Gemini in the glasses as a Q&A assistant that can help users understand on-screen context.

How does Android XR change Xreal’s route to consumers?

TechCrunch reported that the launch lands in a widening contest: Meta is expanding its push into smart glasses, while Apple and Google are keen to release devices of their own. Google is following its smartphone playbook by assembling partners, including Samsung and Xreal, to put Android XR hardware in consumers’ hands.

In May, Xreal CEO Chi Xu told TechCrunch, “building a smart glass business is hard and everyone is losing money.” He also said Aura would cover a wide range of use cases and argued that smart glasses had reached an inflection point, with the necessary hardware, software and design finally in place to reach scale.

“You need all the key pieces ready — you need the hardware ready, the operating system needs to be ready, and then you need a great user interface,” Xu said at that time.

What will determine Aura’s first sales quarter?

Aura is built around the three pieces Xu named: headset hardware, an operating system and a user interface. The immediate commercial test is whether Xreal can turn Wednesday’s orders into the mid-November shipments it has promised at the $1,099 and $1,299 launch tiers, before those discounts end in December, while its tethered design competes with Meta’s lighter glasses and Apple’s and Google’s own hardware ambitions.