Xreal Aura Wired Smart Glasses Launch with Android XR and Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite

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Xreal Aura smart glasses, featuring Sony Micro-OLED displays and powered by Android XR, launch starting at $1,279, offering a range of XR apps and tethered connectivity for enhanced AR experiences.

At the Android Dev Summit, Xreal unveiled its new Xreal Aura wired smart glasses, developed in partnership with Google and powered by Google's Android XR platform alongside Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite chipset. Earlier teased at Google’s I/O conference, these glasses mark a significant step for the company as it seeks to compete in the growing smart glasses market alongside Meta and Apple.

Unlike fully standalone headsets, the Xreal Aura glasses are tethered to an external device, similar to a smartphone, which supplies the processing power. The glasses themselves display augmented reality content directly within the wearer’s field of vision. This design approach aligns with the focus on lightweight, consumer-friendly wearables.

The hardware includes Sony’s Micro-OLED display technology, showcasing 1200p resolution at a 120Hz refresh rate with a 95-degree field of view—specifications that surpass those of Meta’s Ray-Ban Meta Display on paper. Despite the advanced screen technology, the Aura glasses weigh 95 grams, heavier than Meta’s 69 grams. Users must also carry an additional processing unit, often known as the 'puck.'

At launch, Xreal Aura supports an array of popular Google Play applications and games, tailored for XR environments. Highlighted experiences include the NBA App for Android XR, Nevatars, Fallout: Factions, Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars, the NASCAR XR App, and an immersive rendition of the San Francisco Ballet Company’s "The Nutcracker." Users can also connect the Aura directly to computers or handheld gaming consoles via USB-C, enabling an augmented display for work or gaming with multi-monitor setups or large virtual screens.

Audio is powered by Bose technology, providing enhanced sound quality for music and video playback.

An integrated AI assistant, Gemini, leverages the Android XR environment to provide contextual Q&A support, aiding users in navigating on-screen content.

The glasses are available for order in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Pricing starts at $1,279 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage model, with a limited launch discount reducing the cost to $1,099 until December. A higher-spec version with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage is priced at $1,499, discounted to $1,299 during the same period. Shipments are expected to begin by mid-November.

Xreal’s CEO Chi Xu previously acknowledged the challenges of building a sustainable smart glasses business, noting industry losses but expressing optimism about reaching a key inflection point where hardware, software, and design converge to enable mass adoption. The Xreal Aura aims to embody this convergence by combining advanced display tech, robust software, and usability in a consumer-ready form for diverse applications ranging from entertainment to productivity.