Xreal announced the release of the Xreal One series of AR smart glasses, which are designed to deliver cinematic spatial displays in light, comfortable, wearable glasses. Central to the new product is the X1 chip, a custom spatial computing processor the company has been working on for three years. This new chip enables the glasses to handle essential processing independently, obliterating latency as an issue, which is a really big deal.
The primary use case for the Xreal One is productivity, entertainment, and gaming. I’ve only been using the new One Series for a few days, but so far it’s exceeded my expectations, and I never say that. The first thing I noticed is how light they are. You can adjust the wings, but I didn’t need to. For the first time, I felt like AR display glasses were sitting on my face right. Plug it into any C connection and they light up. Worked with my iPhone 15, Macbook Pro, and old Android phone.
The Xreal One Series includes two models: the Xreal One and the Xreal One Pro, priced at $499 and $599 respectively. Both models support three degrees of freedom (3DoF) spatial displays and are compatible with a wide range of devices, including smartphones, laptops, and gaming systems, via USB-C. The Xreal One Series is available for pre-order globally, with the Xreal One shipping in mid-December and the One Pro expected to follow in early 2025.
The bump to a 50-degree field of view helps sell the illusion that you’re looking at a 140” high-definition monitor from five feet away. The clarity of text is at a point where people finally can use these as a monitor for mobile productivity. Spatial screen anchoring shouldn’t sound like a breakthrough, but it is, and it works great. When you turn your head, the screen stays where you anchored it, just like the physical world. It feels right. Without their new X1 chip, this wouldn’t be possible, Xreal Founder and CEO Chi Xu told me in an interview Monday.
The X1 chip marks a significant change for Xreal’s hardware, reducing motion-to-photon latency to just 3 milliseconds. This improvement allows for smoother visual performance and a more stable spatial display. According Chi Xu, the chip represents a shift in the company’s product approach. “The X1 allows us to handle critical computational tasks directly on the glasses, which addresses latency challenges and simplifies the user experience,” said Chi.
The Xreal One has a 50-degree field of view, while the Xreal One Pro expands this to 57 degrees. The Pro model uses a flat-prism lens design, which reduces weight and thickness while enhancing the display area. Both models maintain 1080p resolution per eye and a 120Hz refresh rate. The dimming function and a mask allow for indoor and outdoor use. Audio capabilities are enhanced through a partnership with Bose, integrating optimized sound for the glasses.
Xreal has also introduced the optional Xreal Eye camera, a modular accessory that supports photo and video capture. While initially limited to capturing high-definition footage, future updates are expected to integrate AI capabilities, such as image recognition and voice-activated commands.
Xreal is positioning the One Series as a product for both productivity and entertainment. CEO Chi Xu emphasized the company’s vision of transitioning AR from a niche category to a mainstream tool, suggesting that the glasses could eventually replace traditional monitors and become a central device for digital interaction.
While the Xreal One Series introduces several advancements, including the X1 chip and improved field of view and design, the company acknowledges that AR adoption remains a gradual process. The company’s manufacturing facilities have the capacity to produce 100,000 units per month, allowing Xreal to scale production as demand grows.
Charlie Fink is the author of the AR-enabled books “Metaverse,” (2017) and “Convergence” (2019). In the early 90s, Fink was EVP & COO of VR pioneer Virtual World Entertainment. He teaches at Chapman University in Orange, CA. Follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn, and check out his website or other work.
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