The smart glasses industry has long been a tortured dream for Silicon Valley. The premise is quite appealing: What if, to enjoy the benefits of mobile computing, people didn’t have to look at their phones all day and could instead simply wear a lightweight computing device on their face? Sci-fi fans (a demographic that is strong in the tech industry) can see this vision perfectly.
However, for much of the last decade, the industry has seemed like a financial black hole in which gigantic investments They have been sunk and from which no profit has ever been made.
“Everyone is losing money,” said Chi Xu, founder and CEO of smart glasses company Xreal, which is a longtime Google partner. I met Xu at Google’s I/O conference in Mountain View last week, where he was promoting Xreal’s Project Aura. That’s their latest effort to create a set of functional XR glasses that people will actually want to wear.
“That’s because what we’re doing is very difficult,” he said.
For much of the industry’s existence, the problems with smart glasses have seemed somewhat obvious: bulky, cumbersome and socially awkward form factor, combined with negligibly beneficial software. Now, however, industry insiders, including Xu, feel that his business has turned a corner and may be reaching an inflection point.
That supposed turning point has something to do with Meta, whose 2023 partnership with Ray-Ban launched one of the first model lines which in fact has managed to sell many units. (It is worth noting, however, that the division responsible for the glasses, Reality Labs, still trading at a massive loss.)
Now, as form factors shrink and software improves, Xu feels Xreal may finally become a leader in the space. “You need all the key pieces to be ready: you need the hardware to be ready, the operating system needs to be ready, and then you need a great user interface,” Xu said.
Xreal’s newest model, Aura, are wired smart glasses that have built-in OLED displays, meaning you can watch high-resolution videos within the frames themselves. Somewhat awkwardly, Aura comes strapped to a “puck,” essentially a phone-shaped minicomputer that powers the experience behind the glasses. When using it, you can apparently just put it in your pocket.
But in exchange for the discomfort of the disc, the user gets a wider variety of fun experiences with the glasses, including an immersive experience Google Maps applicationYouTube virtual reality videos and a “painting app” that allows you, through the powers of hand tracking, to create holographic images that only you can see. There are also reportedly games, playable (again) via hand tracking and basic web browsing functionality.
“Whether you’re following a floating recipe while cooking, setting up a private workspace at a coffee shop or on a flight, or watching a movie on a virtual big screen at home, the experience is seamless,” he said. company promises.
Xu also says he envisions the device being used not only by the casual consumer but also by professionals. “It’s not just about watching the NBA game in a hologram-type format, you can also go to a coffee shop and get some work done,” he said.
The glasses are currently only available to developers, but the plan is to launch them commercially later this year. Xreal is also working on an IPO that is expected to take place before the end of 2026, although Xu declined to say much about it.
Meanwhile, the company is working on that whole profit-making thing. Xu notes that his company has been increasing its gross margin while reducing its marketing and sales costs. “Next year is the year we can really break even,” he says.
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