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XREAL Aura Puts Android XR in 95-Gram See-Through Glasses by Wiring Them to a 265-Gram Pocket Puck, From $1,099
XREAL launched Aura, wired see-through glasses running Android XR from a Snapdragon Reality Elite puck, on sale in the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea at launch prices of $1,099 and $1,299 through December, shipping mid-November.
XREAL calls it “the world’s first wired XR glasses powered by Android XR.” The company announced it on stage at Google’s Android Developer Summit on October 28, after Google and XREAL teased it at I/O earlier in the year, TechCrunch reports.
The design splits the computer off the face. The glasses carry Sony micro-OLED panels at 1920 × 1200 per eye, up to 120Hz and 1,050 nits, a 70-degree field of view, two tracking cameras, a camera with a privacy LED, Bose-tuned speakers and five levels of electrochromic dimming. XREAL’s own X1S coprocessor in the frame handles tracking at “Motion-to-photon Latency: 3 ms.” The puck holds a Snapdragon Reality Elite chip, 12GB or 16GB of memory, a 4,455mAh battery rated at 34.84Wh, Wi-Fi 6E and an “Active fan cooling system.”
Because the puck runs Android XR, the glasses run phone and tablet apps from Google Play on day one, plus what the release calls “over 150 made-for-XR experiences.” A second USB-C port takes DisplayPort in, so a laptop or handheld game console can plug in and appear as a window beside Android apps. The release calls that Wired Mirroring.
Pricing comes in two layers. The release offers “a surprise limited time offer, making the 12GB + 256GB configuration $1,099; and the 16GB + 512GB configuration $1,299.” TechCrunch reports the list prices behind them: “$1,279 with a limited launch price of $1,099 through December,” and “$1,499 with a launch price of $1,299 through December.”
| XREAL Aura | Samsung Galaxy XR | Apple Vision Pro (M5) | Meta Ray-Ban Display | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form | See-through glasses, wired puck | Enclosed headset | Enclosed headset | Glasses, display in one lens |
| Weight on the head | 95g (puck 265g) | 545g | 750–800g (battery 353g) | 69g (TechCrunch) |
| Battery life | Not stated | Up to 2 hours general use | Up to 2.5 hours general use | Up to 6 hours mixed use |
| Runs | Android XR, Google Play | Android XR, Google Play | visionOS | Meta AI, notifications |
| US price | $1,279 list, $1,099 through December | From $1,799.99 | From $3,699 | From $799 with Neural Band |
Figures: Samsung, Apple’s specs and Apple Store, Meta’s launch post, and TechCrunch, which notes Aura is “heavier at 95 grams compared to Meta’s 69 grams, and you have to carry the puck.”
What XREAL didn’t say: how many hours the puck’s 34.84Wh battery lasts, and how long the glasses get Android XR updates. TechCrunch also lists a “95-degree field of view,” while XREAL’s own spec page says 70 degrees.
XREAL built its business on glasses that act as a screen for something else, a phone, a laptop, a game handheld. Aura still does that through its DisplayPort input, but now it has a computer of its own. That changes who has to think about it: a monitor needs no password policy, and an Android device with a camera does.
The launch price is also timed. The $180 and $200 discounts run through December, which carries the offer through holiday shopping. Buyers who wait for battery-life reviews will likely be weighing them against the list price.