Xreal's Aura Smartglasses Target Profitability After Years of Losses

Xreal’s new Aura smartglasses, tethered to a pocket‑sized puck, could finally make wearable computing profitable.

Hardware that finally feels right

Aura is a wired pair of glasses with OLED displays embedded in the lenses, a first for the market. The device relies on a phone‑shaped mini‑computer – the "puck" – that users can slip into a pocket. The puck supplies power, processing, and connectivity, trading off true wireless freedom for a broader feature set.

Software ecosystem that matters

The glasses ship with an immersive Google Maps app that overlays directions onto the real world, a VR YouTube player that turns the lenses into a 4K cinema, and a hand‑tracking painting app that lets users create holographic art visible only to themselves. Games, basic web surfing, and a “painting” mode that renders 3‑D imagery are also available. Xu says the experience is seamless whether you’re cooking, working in a coffee shop, or watching a movie on a virtual big screen.

Financial outlook and next steps

Chi Xu, Xreal’s founder and CEO, says the company has been raising its gross margin while trimming marketing and sales spend. "Next year is the year when we could actually break even," he told TechCrunch. The firm is still in a developer‑only phase but plans a commercial launch later this year. Xreal is also preparing an IPO expected before the end of 2026, a move that could provide the capital needed to scale.

Meta’s 2023 partnership with Ray‑Ban, which sold a line of glasses that actually moved the needle, gave the industry a glimmer of hope. Reality Labs, Meta’s glasses division, remains a massive loss‑maker, underscoring the difficulty of turning a profit. Xreal’s strategy is to combine a comfortable form factor, a robust software stack, and a lean cost structure to finally master the smart‑glasses market.

The next few months will test whether a wired, puck‑powered design can win mainstream users and whether the company’s financial trajectory can sustain a public listing. If Aura delivers on its promise, Xreal could become the first smart‑glasses company to break even and set a new benchmark for the industry.

Source: Xreal, Google's smartglasses partner, thinks it has finally mastered this notoriously tricky industry
Domain: techcrunch.com