Xreal One Pro: The Future of Smart Glasses Unveiled at WWDC

I Tried the Future of Smart Glasses at WWDC. They Weren't Made by Apple

Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps On a bright sunny day in Cupertino, California, I crammed into my seat, unlocked my laptop, connected to Wi-Fi and checked in on Slack. Apple's WWDC keynote was about to begin. This time, however, I added a new step to my live event coverage routine. I plugged the Xreal One Pro glasses into my MacBook and activated the dimmer. They became my smart display-enabled sunglasses. For the next 2 hours, I covered Apple's announcements wearing Xreal's display glasses, and they worked better than I expected. The One Pros projected my laptop monitor clearly, removed glare that would have overwhelmed my laptop screen and allowed me to watch the stage presentation at the same time. And it got better: By activating Xreal's auto transparency mode, the glasses dimmed the world when I looked at my virtual screen, then became transparent again when I looked at the stage to follow the action. The future of truly useful everyday AR glasses isn't here yet, but wow, with things like the Xreal One Pro, it's getting close. Xreal's glasses, like all glasses in this product category, use a USB-C cable to tether into whatever you're plugging into. Essentially, they're a tiny wearable monitor with speakers in glasses form. Whatever device supports USB-C video out will work with these glasses, either to mirror your screen or act as a second monitor. While I've used Xreal's glasses to watch movies on planes (really fun and portable) and do work on my laptop and iPad (helpful on planes too, since space can be cramped, and my laptop lid doesn't always open fully in economy), the idea of covering a whole live event where I needed to be fast, effective, multitasking and not screw up was a whole different story. I'm happy to say the experiment worked, largely because of the auto transparency mode I never realized existed before -- thank you, Norm Chan of Tested, who told me about it as we sat down at the keynote. Xreal's glasses have three dimmable lens settings that turn the outer glass either transparent semi-dark or close to opaque. It makes them instant sunglasses and also helps the display show up better in bright sunlight. However, these glasses won't block outside light completely -- light bleeds a bit through the dimmed lenses unless you're sitting in a completely dark place -- but the image is still extremely viewable, and looks good. The transparency mode really made looking at the stage and my own laptop keyboard (and my phone) easier. Xreal's glasses aren't like normal glasses: They have layers of lenses, including the prescription inserts I stacked on top. But they can be used to look around, check messages, even (as I did) shoot some on-the-fly social videos and share them with CNET's social team. Beyond transparency mode, other adjustments include screen size, projection distance, location of the screen and whether it's anchored or floating in my field of view. I reviewed the non-Pro Xreal Ones earlier this year. Compared with previous Xreal display glasses, they have better built-in audio, and the ability to pin the really sharp 1080p microOLED display in space to anchor it, making them work a lot better as plug-in monitors for tablets, phones or laptops (or handheld game systems like Steam Deck). Xreal's Pro version of the One glasses cost $100 more ($599, going up to $649 after June 30) but have a few advantages. The microOLED projection system still projects down from the top of the glasses into thick angled lenses (called birdbath displays), but the One Pro's lenses are flatter, smaller, and reflect less light from my surroundings. The display area's a bit wider -- 57 degrees field of view, versus 50 for the Ones -- but that really just makes the 1080p display feel a bit bigger, and more clearly visible at the edges of the large virtual screen. Prescription lens inserts like I use rest flat against the lenses: it's chunky but better than before. I don't think you need the Pros, but their slightly better performance could be worth the difference to avoid fatigue. I tried a tiny plug-in camera, too, called the Eye (sold separately for $99), that slots into the bridge of the One series glasses. They're designed for future use with AI apps, potentially, but right now they can capture photos and video clips on the glasses' small 2GB of storage. Images can be offloaded on the iPhone by going to a "transfer" mode in the glasses settings that turns the glasses into a USB camera, and the Photos app was able to just find the glasses and import the images. It's clunky, but it works, although you need to tether the glasses via USB-C like you do in regular display mode. These Xreal glasses don't work wirelessly on their own. The camera takes passable photos and videos, but not as good as Meta Ray-Bans. I think the camera's here to flex another feature: a full six degrees of freedom mode that can pin a display in space and then be there as you walk around the room. It's not necessary for most things I do, but it shows how these glasses could, in future versions, evolve into something more like 3D augmented reality. Xreal's work with Spacetop, a software suite that can float arrays of apps from laptops, shows where things could go. Xreal's future Android XR developer hardware, called Project Aura, may take things further next year. I'd skip the camera for now and just get the glasses, but I'm really curious where Xreal flexes these functions next. Like I said in my Xreal One review, these glasses and their microOLED displays are excellent for movie watching. They're surprisingly effective for doing work, too, since they can pin a display (or a semi-curved wide-angle monitor, thanks to an included setting) in place. I do notice the 1080p resolution limit a bit more now that these glasses can give an even larger display size, and it's something I expect future glasses to address in the next year or two with higher-resolution microOLED chips. At a show where Apple announced new Vision Pro software updates but no word on any glasses of its own, I couldn't help but think about the Xreals on my face. The future is arriving in bits and pieces, but lots of smart glasses are already here and changing fast. And, yes, they're actually useful. The year 2026 may be massive for new smart glasses and AR, and my WWDC 2025 experience with Xreal One Pros proves that the evolution is well underway. Now it's your turn, Apple.

Xreal One expands AR glasses features with modular camera | review

Xreal, a leader in consumer augmented reality (AR) glasses, will start selling its Xreal One Pro, the company's most advanced AR glasses yet, beginning July 1. Xreal is finishing deliveries for its more than 10,000 pre-orders of Xreal One Pro, and is offering special pre-order pricing through the end of June. I've tried it out and have had some novel experiences using it. Built for power users, creators, and productivity seekers, Xreal One Pro features the industry's largest field of view (FOV) in consumer AR at 57 degrees, ultra-thin lenses, and a re-engineered optical system that dramatically reduces overall size and ambient light interference. Compared to Xreal One, the One Pro model delivers a brighter, sharper, and more immersive viewing experience, all while maintaining a sleeker form factor and the plug-and-play convenience that made the One Series a category standout. Xreal One Pro features new flat prism lenses that are 44% thinner than previous triangular birdbath lenses and produce a nearly 15% larger FOV. "Xreal leads the market in XR display glasses, and the new One Pro takes everything the company has learned and puts a huge widescreen private display into a lightweight, highly portable package," said Avi Greengart, president of research and advisory firm Techsponential, in a statement. "The custom X1 silicon allows the One Pro's virtual display to stay anchored in space -- or it can smoothly follow you -- and the wider field of view means that you can see a full widescreen presentation without the extreme edges of the frame disappearing every time you move your head a bit. This is great for productivity, but for entertainment it's magical -- the technology disappears, and you are immersed in your favorite movie or TV." Xreal is delivering its final rounds of One Pro pre-orders to customers throughout June before beginning general availability sales starting on July 1. General availability pricing for One Pro is $649, €689 (euros), £579 GBP from Xreal.com, Amazon and BestBuy.com (with Amazon and BestBuy.com availability beginning later in July). Xreal is extending a limited-time offer of pre-order pricing only from Xreal.com of $599 USD, €649 Euro, £549 GBP through the end of June. To elevate the AR experience even further, Xreal has unveiled a new modular camera sensor called Xreal Eye, which brings native six degrees of freedom (6DoF) anchor capabilities to both the One and One Pro, along with taking first-person point-of-view photos and videos. "With Xreal Eye, the One Series moves beyond head-tracked 3DoF to deliver a true-to-life 6DoF anchor experience," said Ralph Jodice, general manager of North America at Xreal, in a statement. "You can now anchor a virtual screen anywhere in your environment and move around it just like a physical screen, walk past it, view it from behind, or get closer to expand the size. It's not just immersive - it's spatially real." With a simple USB-C connection, you can view videos and games in an HD, 1080p virtual screen available anytime you are. Hands-on with the device It was pretty painless to plug the Xreal One Pro into my laptop and do the firmware update for the glasses. It was over pretty quickly. Then I took a photo of the QR code and moved into the tutorial, which was also pretty quick. Xreal says your phone, PC, or handheld gaming console thinks it's connected to an external monitor when you connect it to Xreal glasses. This means your glasses are not processing and storing, sending or receiving your private content. Your content and information stays private, Xreal said. I found the notion of anchoring a virtual screen anywhere to be pretty interesting in practice. I used the USB-C cord to connect the glasses to my laptop, and I was able to see the screen of my laptop instantly through the glasses. The screen could move as I turned my head from side to side. But I could also lock it so it stayed in place as I moved my head. I found this a pretty good way to watch shows like the Thunderbirds on Netflix. I happened to be on a plane, and I was able to watch Netflix on my laptop via the glasses. And the acrobatics of the Air Force jets looked pretty amazing on the glasses. I also pulled the cord out and plugged it into my iPhone. It started working immediately, even without an application running on the iPhone. My iPhone wasn't connected to the plane's Wi-Fi, but I was able to watch the shows I had downloaded onto my iPhone ahead of time, including Turning Point: The Vietnam War, an excellent documentary on Netflix. The Bose sound was pretty immersive. I passed it around to family members on the plane. One felt like they didn't want to watch a video that way because it would cause dizziness. Xreal said it reduces motion sickness with a self-developed stabilization algorithm keeping your screen super smooth and super stable. It's good for travelling and commuting by plane, train and car. I passed it to another. One tried it out and handed it back. Then I gave it to another family member, who plugged it into an iPhone and got a movie going. I never got it back. You can get a wide variety of content onto the device via your smartphone, your laptop or a device dubbed the Beam, which can both charge your device and play back your content as well. The good thing is that I could stay connected with the real world and know when the flight attendants were coming by with beverages. There's some other applications like using the 120Hz glasses to play games, but I haven't tried that yet. Xreal Eye modular camera The Xreal Eye modular camera is a 12MP camera for Xreal One and Xreal One Pro. It captures true first person POV photos and videos. It plugs into your glasses when you want it, and is easily removed when you don't. To capture photos and videos, attach the Xreal Eye by removing the rectangular cap resting at the bridge of the nose of the glasses, then press the small button on the top of the right temple to capture photos. Long hold the button to start recording video. Press it again to stop recording. The screen adjusts to your movement Xreal Eye's 6DoF anchor functionality dramatically enhances everyday use. Whether pacing during calls, walking on a treadmill, or shifting positions while watching a movie, the screen naturally adjusts to your movement, just like in the physical world. The experience is more dynamic, responsive, and intuitive than ever before. Xreal Eye will allow Xreal to expand the One Series experience by unlocking gesture control, live streaming via XREAL Beam Pro, and adding multimodal AI and mixed-reality view stitching in the future. XREAL Eye pre-orders begin on Xreal.com today for $99, with shipping expected to begin in July. Since its debut, the Xreal One Series has seen good demand, with multiple sellouts and a record-setting wave of pre-orders for the One Pro, Xreal said. In addition to customer enthusiasm, the One Series and its custom X1 spatial processing chip have earned critical acclaim -- winning dozens of industry and editorial awards for innovation, display quality, comfort, and design. Media outlets and tech authorities have consistently ranked the One Series among the best AR devices available. The One Pro will only raise the industry's bar higher. This momentum isn't just hype. In the IDC Worldwide quarterly AR/VR Tracker report in Q4 2024, IDC said that Xreal held the No. 1 global market share for the AR and optical see-through industry throughout 2024. IDC also said Xreal was the only augmented reality company to rank in the global top five by market share across the larger AR/VR industry throughout 2024. And IDC said Xreal has remained in the top five AR/VR companies by shipments for eight consecutive quarters and is the only non-VR company to consistently reach that level. I'm thinking that the Xreal experience, which I have tracked over years, is starting to get fairly credible. Formerly known as Nreal, Xreal was founded in 2017 and has since expanded with offices in China, Japan, South Korea with it's U.S. headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. These AR glasses are equipped with the company's self-developed X1 chip, which enables a new array of experiences for users, of which you will have the chance to explore yourself. And they include new flat prism optics that enable the largest field of view for any AR device on the market. Now we have to see what it can do with AI in upcoming models.