Xreal

China-based Xreal (formerly known as Nreal) manufactures consumer-focused augmented reality wearables. Its glasses are meant to serve as an external monitor, and can be connected to phones, computers, and gaming consoles to project images displayed on them. Further, the glasses do not contain batteries, making them lightweight.

Its latest product announcement is the XREAL Air 2 Ultra (priced at USD 699), announced in January 2024. The Air 2 Ultra glasses, described as a “spatial computing” device, offer six degrees of freedom (6DOF) tracking, dual 3D cameras, a 52-degree field of view, 500 nits of brightness, a 1080 p screen for each eye, and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz.

This follows the company’s launch of the Air 2 and Air 2 Pro in October 2023, which retailed at USD 399 and 449 respectively. The Air 2 and Air 2 Pro glasses feature MicroOLED displays, offering a 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution, 3DOF tracking, 500 nits of brightness. The Air 2 Pro additionally offers electrochromatic tinting for adjustable light control.

Older AR glasses manufactured include the XREAL Air (launched in 2022) and XREAL Light (launched in 2020). The glasses are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 and need to be connected via a USB-C cable to a compatible Android 5G device that contains a Snapdragon 855 system-on-a-chip. It also offers a 52-degree field of view and comes bundled with a VR cover that blocks the outside view for a total immersive experience.

Xreal’s glasses are operated through their app (Nebula) with the smartphone acting as a remote control. The main use case for the device is as a virtual screen, where the users can generate multiple AR screens and project 3D images into real space. The smartphone’s screen can be mirrored to stream media, play games, or browse apps including Chrome, Facebook, and Instagram. Xreal’s Air AR viewers gained Windows compatibility in March 2023. Previously, they were only able to pair with a smartphone or Mac. Xreal’s glasses are sold in China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Spain, the US, and the UK.

Key customers and partnerships

In January 2024, the company disclosed that it had sold 350,000 display glasses to date.

In January 2023, Graffity, a developer of AR games, partnered with the company to launch Groove Wave, available on the XREAL Light. Moreover, Xreal contributed to the development of electric vehicle maker Nio’s AR glasses (NIO Air AR Glasses, launched in September 2022) which can be used with in-car audio systems.

The company also had numerous partnerships with telecom companies to launch their glasses globally (10 carriers to retain in six countries as of July 2022).

Fundings and financials

In its latest funding round (January 2024), the company raised USD 40 million in funding, allowing it to reach unicorn status. Investor participation from the round remained undisclosed. Funds were earmarked for research and development and a potential expansion of Xreal's manufacturing facilities. The funding will allow scaling up its AR glass production to two million units by next year, compared to its current 500,000 to one million units a year.