Technology and Science24 May, 20262 min read
Xreal Bets Project Aura Will Make Smart Glasses Commercially Viable at Google’s I/O
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Xreal partners with Google to push smart glasses to market. Industry plagued by failed attempts; partnership aims turning point for profitability.
Xreal’s Aura push
Xreal, Google’s smartglasses partner, says it has reached a turning point for the smart glasses industry and is betting its Project Aura will make the devices commercially viable. Chi Xu, founder and CEO of Xreal, told TechCrunch that “Everybody’s losing money,” while he promoted Xreal’s Project Aura at Google’s I/O conference in Mountain View.
TechCrunch describes Aura as wired smart glasses with OLED displays embedded in the frames and a puck-like mini-computer that powers the experience behind the glasses. Xreal says the plan is for the glasses to launch commercially later this year, while Xu also said “Next year is the year when we could actually break even.”
What Aura can do
In Xreal’s Project Aura pitch at Google I/O, the company says the glasses use OLED displays and connect via cable to a small dedicated computing unit to keep the glasses lightweight and compact. Zamin.uz says Aura users can use Google Maps in an immersive way, watch YouTube videos in VR format, and create holograms using hand-tracking technology.
TechCrunch adds that Aura includes an immersive Google Maps app, VR YouTube videos, and a “painting app” that lets users create holographic imagery via hand tracking. L’Éclaireur Fnac, covering CES 2026, also describes XREAL’s separate 1S gaming glasses as using two tiny 0.3-inch OLED screens and a 1200p resolution, with a field of view that increases to 52 degrees.
Pricing, availability, and competition
L’Éclaireur Fnac says XREAL announced the XREAL One redesign as the 1S at €499, while it also describes the XREAL Neo box as priced at €99 to power a Nintendo Switch 2 and convert its video signal. The same CES 2026 report says the glasses are expected on February 20 in France and notes that the 1S are compatible with computers or a Steam Deck but can be more capricious with Nintendo consoles, notably with the Switch 2 due to compatibility issues.
TechCrunch frames Xreal’s “turning-a-profit” effort around raising gross margin while lowering costs for marketing and sales, and it says the plan is for commercial launch later this year. In the broader market context, TechCrunch points to Meta’s 2023 partnership with Ray-Ban as one of the first lines to “managed to sell a lot of units,” even as Reality Labs still operates at a massive loss.