Xreal revealed their new Air 2 Ultra augmented reality glasses at today’s CES 2024 trade conference in Las Vegas. The glasses are designed for both developers and consumers. By providing developers and users with an advanced, yet inexpensive, solution, Xreal (formerly Nreal) hopes to reimagine spatial computing and usher in an era of boundless mixed reality experiences.
Developers can now pre-order the Xreal Air 2 Ultra for $700, and they can expect to start receiving their orders in March. Chi Xu, CEO of Xreal, is looking forward to launching the developer version globally. Xu stated, “Xreal Air 2 Ultra is designed to catapult developers into the immersive world of spatial computing, packed with advanced technology, style, and comfort.
We believe in making wearable 6DoF (six degrees of freedom) glasses accessible to all players in the XR development ecosystem.” By combining style with practicality, the Xreal Air 2 Ultra stands out from other augmented reality glasses with its titanium ring frame.
It boasts two 3D environment sensors with computer vision capabilities, allowing for precise location tracking in a 3D space, and it offers an immersive spatial computing experience. With the help of these sensors, developers have a blank slate to experiment with new forms of spatial computing, such as hand tracking, 3D mesh building, semantic scene analysis, and potential AI capabilities.
Curiously, Xreal is causing quite a stir at CES 2024, right before Apple unveils its Apple Vision Pro AR/VR headset. This launch is expected to heat up rivalry in the AR sector. Meta also debuted their third mixed reality headset, the Meta Quest 3.
However, Xreal is primarily concerned with augmented reality (AR), not virtual reality (VR), and its selling point is providing entertainment on a digital screen the size of 120 inches. The specs of the glasses are superior to Apple Vision Pro, according to Xreal, with high-definition vision (full HD on both sides), a 52° field of view (FOV), and 42 pixels per degree (PPD).
Virtual 2D screen casting makes it seem like you’re 13 feet away from a 154-inch screen, and the display’s peak brightness is 500 nits, and the refresh rate can reach 120 Hz. Additionally, the device has directional sound technology and cinema-grade audio to provide privacy and little interruption.
Thanks to their TÜV Rheinland certification for color accuracy, eye comfort, minimal blue light, and flicker-free usage—which goes above and above ISO criteria for image quality and viewing comfort—Xreal Air 2 Ultra glasses are designed to make lengthy periods of use more bearable for users.
Exhibiting an intuitive method of interacting with digital material, Xreal will promote “The Spatial Life” experience at CES 2024 (Central Hall #15060). This demo brings well-known 2D apps into a completely immersive 3D world, providing an endless surface for multitasking augmented overlays that can be managed with the user’s gaze, hand movements, or voice commands.
The Mirage Shard Tracking Kit, also introduced by Xreal, lets users interact with virtual interfaces using physical buttons, which encourages developers to be creative. The most recent NRSDK 2.2, developed on Unity and included with pre-orders of Xreal Air 2 Ultra, revolutionizes augmented reality by enabling better hand tracking, hand motion detection, and depth mesh with semantic labeling.
When developers pre-order XREAL Air 2 Ultra, they can save $100 compared to those who bought Nreal Light glasses earlier. Xreal captured 51% of the worldwide augmented reality market in Q3 2023, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). At the end of the day, this achievement solidifies Xreal’s position as the top industry revenue and shipment leader.
Although it is still a small market, it is expanding rapidly. According to IDC’s projections for the consumer AR market in 2023, Xreal was responsible for 58% of the growth in shipments from the previous year. To far, XREAL’s Air series AR glasses have shipped more than 350,000 units, making them the best-selling smart glasses on Amazon.
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