Xreal Cuts Aura's Launch Price to $1,099 as the First Android XR Glasses Go on Sale

Orders opened Wednesday at Google's Android Dev Summit, $180 below the price Xreal set three weeks ago. The glasses ship in mid-November, with a $99 game controller and a $79 keyboard alongside.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Xreal opened orders for its Aura glasses to everyone on Wednesday and cut the price before the first pair shipped. The base model, with 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage, now costs $1,099, down from the $1,279 the company announced on Oct. 7, and the 16GB and 512GB model drops from $1,499 to $1,299. Xreal calls it a limited-time launch offer that runs through December. The company announced the launch on stage at Google’s Android Dev Summit, according to its release. Shipping is expected to begin in mid-November.

The Aura glasses and the tethered compute puck that holds the chip and battery. Image: Xreal

Aura is the first pair of wired glasses to run Android XR, Google’s operating system for headsets and glasses, and Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Reality Elite platform debuts in it. Orders are open in the United States, Canada and South Korea through Xreal’s website, and in the United States through Best Buy as well. Japan follows on Nov. 2, Shahram Izadi, Google’s vice president and general manager for XR, wrote on Google’s blog. Buyers must be 18 or older.

The cut also reaches people who ordered early. Xreal’s store says customers who paid the full original price before Oct. 28 will be refunded the difference, and that it expects to start all of those refunds within 30 days. When Techtember reported the original pricing on Oct. 7, only buyers who had already paid a reservation deposit could complete an order.

With Wired Mirroring, a laptop’s screen becomes one window among several Android XR apps. Image: Google

The design is unchanged. The glasses weigh under 95 grams because the processor and battery sit in a compact puck on a cable, which also works as a trackpad. The lenses are transparent, so the wearer sees the room directly rather than through cameras, and they can dim to block out the surroundings for a film. Google says the field of view is 70 degrees. Notebookcheck reported Sony micro-OLED displays at 1,920 by 1,200 pixels per eye with refresh rates up to 120Hz, and a 265-gram puck with a 4,455mAh battery and a cooling fan.

Screenshot: @XREAL_Global on X

“XREAL AURA is officially here,” the company wrote on X shortly after the announcement. Chi Xu, Xreal’s co-founder and chief executive, called the launch “a defining moment for XR” in the company’s release. “With transparent lenses, a category-leading lightweight design, Gemini by your side, and access to the Android ecosystem from day-one, the promise of XR is more approachable than ever,” he said.

Google’s pitch is mostly about work. A feature called Wired Mirroring lets a laptop plug into Aura over a USB-C cable that carries video, and its screen appears as a window that can be resized and placed anywhere, with no software to install. Because only the wearer sees the display, Google suggests it suits confidential documents in public places. A Bluetooth keyboard and mouse turn the setup into a portable desk on a plane tray table.

Gemini answers questions about what is in view, here a city scene in Google Maps. Image: Google

Gemini runs across all of it. Google says the assistant can see the apps in view, including a mirrored laptop, and can tidy windows or answer questions about the room. Starting Wednesday, it can also highlight what to focus on, on screen or in the space around the wearer.

The Xreal Game Controller, made with GameSir, and the Xreal Keyboard. Image: Xreal

Xreal added two accessories for launch. A game controller made with GameSir has a dedicated Gemini key for asking for help mid-game, and a folding wireless keyboard is meant for multi-window work. Xreal’s U.S. store lists the controller at $99 and the keyboard at $79, or $1,277 for a bundle with the base glasses at the launch price. The company says more than 150 apps built for XR are available on day one, alongside phone and tablet apps from Google Play. They include the NBA and NASCAR apps, the tabletop game Fallout: Factions and “Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars,” a mixed-reality adventure based on Andy Weir’s novel.

Games play on a large virtual screen, with Gemini on hand for tips. Image: Google

Video: XREAL / YouTube

Aura reaches buyers months ahead of its most direct rival. Meta’s VR Glasses, another corded design with a compute puck, are not due until spring 2027, The Verge has reported, and they show the room through cameras rather than clear lenses. Xreal plans to sell Aura through other retailers and select Google Store locations in the United States and Japan in 2027, Android Central reported. For now, the open question is supply: Xreal has said orders will ship in batches, with Founder’s Edition buyers first in line.