The Xreal Air 2 Ultra looks interesting, but it probably won't topple the Quest 3 or Vision Pro

You’ve probably heard of Xreal before, but just in case you need a refresher: this is a US-based company that makes smart glasses. But unlike the Meta x RayBan colab, Xreal makes glasses with displays that can take what you see on your tiny phone screen and make it big.

From there, your imagination is the limit… Is what I would’ve said if the products offered more productivity-oriented features, better passthrough, any sort of overlay MR features or at least a better companion app to work with.

Don’t get me wrong: if you're in the right crowd, you can fall in love with these things. But if you have higher expectations due to hearing the word “AR”, then maybe the Xreal Air 2 Ultra is the product that can set the record straight for you (and me).

So, why may that be? Well, the Air 2 Ultra differ from their predecessor in a few key ways:

• Support 6DoF tracking, meaning you can move around while wearing them
• Room mapping, meaning that some spatial processing will be present
• Hand tracking, which is absolutely required now that the Vision Pro is about to lead a revolution that frees VR headsets from the need for controller-based input
• And semantic scene understanding, which is a fancy way of saying that these specs will be able to understand what objects there are in your environment to some degree

Which is a significant step up in the right direction, if you ask me. Why don’t I sound hyper-hyped then? Well, because — as previously established — I’ve not been all too impressed with Xreal’s Nebula app and its capabilities, nor the on-board software of previous models.

And speaking of not being impressed, I hoped that the Ultra may feature some sort of screen upgrade, but it will use the same Full HD capabilities, as seen on the Air 2 Pro. But hey: at least the glasses will still support a wide range of devices. Neat.

So, TL;DR: if Xreal manages to pull this off in the right way, the Xreal Air 2 Ultra may be one of my favorite pieces of tech from 2024. If not, well… Nothing changes, really. And I choose to be hopeful, because there’s a ton of cool things that tech like this could help us achieve. Think of some sort of mix between Iron Man and James Bond, but a tad more grounded. 

But in order for that to happen, manufacturers need to focus on delivering well-rounded products that make sense to consumers via well designed software, reliant on the right hardware combination. Will that be the case here? I’ll let you know as soon as we find out.

And by the way

If you want to support Xreal and pre-order the Air 2 Ultra, you can do so right here.