A computer desktop showing a work-related project is displayed on a giant virtual screen right before my eyes. But as I turned to the left, my gaze switched to a music player showing the most recent song, while to my right was YouTube. All of these virtual screens stayed anchored in place as I looked around the room.
I was trying out the Xreal Air 2 Ultra at CES 2024, the newest pair of smart glasses from China-based tech startup Xreal. The company is no stranger to the world of smart glasses; it already sells augmented reality glasses that place a giant virtual screen in front of your eyes, as well as wearable display glasses that work with handheld game consoles, phones and computers. And back when it was called Nreal, the company released a similar pair of lightweight AR glasses called the Nreal Light.
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But the XReal Air 2 Ultra, which costs $699 and launches in March, arrives as mixed reality is having a moment. Apple just announced availability for the Vision Pro, a $3,500 headset it announced last June. Samsung, Google and Qualcomm are also partnering on a mixed reality project, although they haven’t disclosed many details beyond the chipset. The Air 2 Ultra is a pair of glasses that Xreal hopes will rival Apple’s Vision Pro, but its success will depend on the types of apps developers create. That’s likely why the company is positioning the glasses as a developer model. Xreal is one of several companies, including TCL and Lenovo, working to make AR glasses work better with phones and other devices. Qualcomm has been a driving force for glasses like these, but Google has still been quiet on expanding AR glasses support for Android phones (although Samsung and Google’s headset could be the start of something).
“Applications [would] need to go from 2D to 3D; we need to go from this rectangle to everywhere,” Chi Xu, CEO and founder of Xreal, said while gesturing towards…
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