Xreal's One Pro are a stopgap ahead of true AR smart glasses

Xreal Inc's new One Pro augmented reality glasses are a taste of the future, giving a preview of what devices from Meta Platforms Inc, Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google may feel like.
The impressive new glasses resemble normal spectacles from a distance. They're discreet and comfortable to wear. But they're not an example of true, standalone AR glasses that blend digital content with the real world while also supplanting a phone.
Instead, they excel at one important feature: plugging into smartphones, computers, gaming devices and other equipment and turning into a virtual, high-definition external display.
Because they use augmented reality, you can see your PC's screen, a video on your iPhone, or a Steam Deck game surrounded by real-world views through clear lenses. Unlike Apple's Vision Pro and Meta Quest – mixed-reality devices – the Xreal product isn't using pass-through cameras; you're actually seeing what's in front of you like real glasses.
The One Pro glasses are an impressive example of how rapidly wearable AR gadgets have progressed in recent years. And the floating picture you see when peering through the lenses is bright, colorful and crisp enough to give the illusion that you're watching videos (or playing games) on an enormous projection screen. The glasses, which cost about the price of a mid-tier smartphone, connect to devices over an included USB-C cable.
Within the increasingly crowded glasses space, Xreal's profile is rising as the market leader. Next year, it'll team up with Google to release true AR glasses that don't require a phone or PC. Instead, they'll hook up to a puck and function similarly to Meta's planned AR glasses for 2027. Even more competition is emerging, though, with Meta announcing new smart glasses with Oakley on Friday and the company planning its first glasses with a display this fall.
Apple, for its part, is planning non-AR smart glasses for next year and is working on a lighter and cheaper mixed-reality headset. The next-generation Xreal glasses aren't expected to go on sale until 2026. For now, then, the One Pro glasses serve as a stopgap, with technical compromises that reflect the category's current limitations.
The hardware
The most fundamental of those shortcomings is the most obvious one: That the glasses must physically be tethered to a source device – your smartphone, a laptop or a gaming handheld like the Steam Deck. Essentially, they function as a head-worn external display for the gadgets you already own. The positive is that there's no battery to worry about charging; the One Pro is powered by whatever they're plugged into. But if the cord accidentally gets pulled, they'll immediately shut off.
There are other trade-offs that come with this design. For instance, the glasses offer capable dimming technology that reduces distractions when looking straight on, but your periphery never fully vanishes, and this can lessen the private theatre sensation you'd get from a fully enclosed mixed-reality or virtual reality device. Samsung Electronics Co's upcoming mixed-reality headset, for instance, will offer both fully enclosed and open modes dependent on the content being viewed.
Xreal has also bumped the price of the One Pro since it was first announced in January; it was originally supposed to cost US$599 (RM2,550), but that will increase to US$649 (RM2,763) at the end of June. The company squarely attributes this increase to tariffs.
Wearing the One Pro is surprisingly comfortable – even for two or three hours at a time – and several different nose piece sizes are included to help the glasses stay put on your face. (Prescription lens inserts are also available for those who need them.) The weight distribution is balanced enough to avoid pressure points.
Xreal lets wearers choose between several different viewing modes when using the glasses.
The company's custom X1 chip does a commendable job synchronising all of this in a way that prevents motion sickness, but if you're susceptible to that sort of ailment, the anchored option is a much better choice.
Even at the higher price, the Xreal glasses cost a fraction of Apple's US$3,499 (RM 14,900) Vision Pro, but then again, the hardware is nowhere near as advanced. Each of the One Pro's two displays has 1080p resolution, far below the sharpness of Apple's category-leading panels. That makes these glasses better suited for entertainment and gaming as opposed to extended reading or web browsing.
Still, when watching movies, TV and YouTube videos, I felt satisfied with the glasses, and their peak brightness is impressive. Gaming is just as enjoyable as movies. When plugged into one of Lenovo Group Ltd's handheld gaming consoles, the device's short three-millisecond response time resulted in no perceptible delay between button presses and corresponding movements in games.
Compared with Xreal's previous glasses, these have a broader 57˚ field of view, which makes it easier to get lost in whatever content is in front of you. The less expensive Xreal One glasses top out at 50˚. That difference might seem small, but the difference is very noticeable up close. A 57˚ FOV is nowhere near as wide as what you'd get on industry-leading mixed-reality headsets, but it's about as good as it gets with augmented reality-only devices.
In practice, the device's field of view provides a comfortable level of immersion, but it can still feel like there's a window between your eyes and the big digital screen – and the picture can sometimes get blurry at the edges. If you're not a fan of tilting your head to see everything, you can shrink the size of the image in settings so that everything fits within your vision.
Like other smart glasses, the temples of the One Pro feature built-in speakers, and their Bose-tuned audio sounds fine for casual viewing at home. (You can pair wireless earbuds or headphones to your source device for richer, fully private sound; the loudspeakers on the glasses are audible to others nearby at louder volumes.)
The takeaway
Xreal's One Pro glasses aren't trying to be a next-generation computing device. Their displays aren't intricate enough for productivity work. But the relatively normal design goes a long way in making these appealing in those moments when someone else is using the TV – or when your laptop proves underwhelming for watching movies on a plane.
As an entertainment gadget, the One Pro doesn't need to offer a glimpse of the future; they're fun enough to use in the here and now. But it's that lack of a futuristic operating system, the persistent technical constraints, and sacrificing untethered freedom that still makes these AR glasses, like others before them, a nice-to-have gadget instead of an essential wearable. – Bloomberg

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