Chinese AR glasses maker XREAL has opened pre-orders for its flagship Aura glasses — for now, only to customers who placed a reservation deposit before October 7. The base model starts at $1,279, the top configuration at $1,499, with first deliveries in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea in mid-November.
The base model ships with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage at $1,279; stepping up to 16GB and 512GB raises the price to $1,499, per 9to5Google. Frames come in medium and large sizes at no price difference.
XREAL had floated an "under $1,500" ceiling ahead of launch, so the company landed inside its own promise rather than stretching it. Prices shift noticeably outside the US: Canada pays $1,829 or $2,149, Japan ¥229,800 or ¥269,800, and South Korea ₩1,990,000 or ₩2,290,000, all confirmed in XREAL's official release.
The pricing looks aggressive against the field. WIRED reports Snap's rival Specs cost $2,195, while Meta's VR glasses sit roughly $20 apart from Aura — the closest price matchup the XR category has produced so far.
Aura uses optical see-through displays: the lenses stay transparent, so the surroundings remain visible, with electrochromic dimming to reduce distractions. The glasses themselves weigh under 95 grams — achieved by housing the mainboard and a 34.8Wh battery in a separate wired compute puck.
Notebookcheck reports Sony Micro-OLED panels at 1,920×1,200 per eye, 120Hz refresh, 1,050 nits brightness, and a 70-degree field of view, with up to five virtual monitors that can be positioned freely in a room. The puck carries Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite chip and runs full Android XR with Google Play and Gemini.
Control runs through voice and hand tracking — two cameras built into the frames — while the puck doubles as a trackpad. Bluetooth keyboards and controllers also pair, alongside Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, a fingerprint sensor, GPS, four microphones, and Bose-tuned speakers.
Aura was developed jointly by XREAL, Google, and Qualcomm Technologies: Google supplies Android XR and Gemini, Qualcomm the silicon, and XREAL the lightweight optics. GamesBeat's hands-on found the puck workable as a navigation trackpad with a pocket clip or lanyard for carrying.
XREAL says millions of Google Play apps will run on day one, plus more than 150 apps built specifically for XR.
Pre-orders are tiered: only customers who reserved with a deposit before October 7 can complete purchases starting today, with XREAL emailing instructions. New customers can still place a priority deposit at xreal.com/aura to secure a spot in line; general availability opens in the coming weeks.
The first wave covers the US, Canada, Japan, and Korea, with units in hands mid-November. Additional markets follow in 2027.
With Android XR hardware from the Google camp now taking orders, the three-way contest among Meta, Snap, and XREAL is officially a price war. For consumers, AR glasses have finally crossed from demo concept to something you can buy — though at $1,279, the first buyers will still be the early adopters.