Let’s be honest: when I first heard that XREAL—the company formerly known as Mad Gaze, the outfit that’s been pushing premium AR headsets like the Air 2 and Air 2 Pro for north of $500—was launching a budget pair of glasses for $300, I rolled my eyes. Hard. Because we’ve seen this movie before. Some big-name AR player announces a “consumer-friendly” price point, and what arrives is a pair of plastic frames with a blurry display, a terrible field of view, and a battery life measured in minutes. But then I actually looked at the specs. And I started to wonder: maybe, just maybe, XREAL has cracked the code for making AR accessible without making it crap.
The glasses in question are the X by Xreal sub-brand’s first international release: the xbx a01+. Yes, that name is a mouthful. No, I don’t know why they didn’t just call it the Xreal Lite or Xreal One. But branding aside, the xbx a01+ is hitting shelves in the US right now—available at Amazon, Best Buy, B&H, Micro Center, and direct from Xreal’s website. At $300, it’s positioned squarely as a gateway drug for AR-curious consumers who aren’t ready to drop a grand on a pair of Meta’s Quest Pro or Apple’s Vision Pro (which, let’s face it, is more of a luxury statement than a practical tool for most of us).
So what do you actually get for $300? According to XREAL’s press materials—and I’ve had my hands on a review unit for about a week now—the xbx a01+ is a slim, lightweight pair of glasses that connect via USB-C to your smartphone, laptop, or tablet. There’s no onboard battery, no standalone processor, no spatial mapping cameras. This is, at its core, a wearable display that projects a 1080p image into your field of view. Think of it as a private cinema screen that you can take anywhere, not a full-fledged AR headset with hand tracking and digital object occlusion.
And you know what? That’s actually refreshing. Because for the past three years, every AR company has been trying to sell us on the idea of a futuristic all-in-one device that replaces your phone, your laptop, and your social life. But the reality is that the technology isn’t there yet. The Vision Pro is a beautiful, heavy, expensive brick. The Quest Pro is a niche tool for 3D artists and enterprise VR enthusiasts. Meanwhile, most people just want something that lets them watch Netflix on a big screen while lying in bed, or mirror their laptop display for productivity without hunching over a 13-inch screen.
That’s exactly the use case XREAL is targeting. The xbx a01+ offers a 45-degree field of view, which is modest but workable for media consumption. The resolution is 1920×1080 per eye, which is sharp enough for text readability. Brightness is decent—around 400 nits, which means it’s usable indoors but will struggle in direct sunlight. And the design is genuinely sleek: the glasses look like a slightly chunky pair of Wayfarers, not like something out of a sci-fi B-movie. You could wear these to a coffee shop without drawing stares.
But here’s where I need to pump the brakes on the hype. The xbx a01+ is not an AR headset in the way most people think of AR. There’s no passthrough camera, no ability to overlay virtual objects onto the real world in real time. What you get is a mirrored display that appears to float in front of your eyes. You can adjust the brightness and volume, but that’s about it for controls. The experience is entirely dependent on the device you plug it into. If your phone supports DisplayPort over USB-C, great. If not, you’ll need an adapter. And even then, compatibility can be spotty—I tested it with an iPhone 15 Pro (which uses USB-C) and it worked fine, but older Android phones may need a firmware update.
The comfort factor is a mixed bag. The glasses weigh about 85 grams, which is lighter than many sunglasses. But the temple arms are a bit thick, and after about an hour of use, I started to feel pressure behind my ears. The nose pads are adjustable, but not everyone will find a perfect fit. And if you wear prescription glasses, you’re out of luck—there’s no built-in diopter adjustment. You’ll need to buy custom prescription lenses from XREAL, which adds another $50 to $100 to the total cost. Suddenly that $300 price tag starts to creep up.
Still, for $300, the xbx a01+ is arguably the best value in wearable displays right now. Competitors like the Viture One and the Rokid Air cost more—around $400 to $500—and offer similar specs. XREAL has undercut them by a significant margin, and they’ve managed to do it without feeling cheap. The build quality is solid: the frame is made of a matte-finish plastic that doesn’t creak or flex, the hinges feel sturdy, and the cables are reinforced. It’s clear that XREAL has been iterating on this design for years, and it shows.
But let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the software. Or rather, the lack thereof. XREAL’s Nebula app, which is supposed to enable spatial computing features like floating windows and gesture control, is still in beta and only works with a handful of Samsung and OnePlus phones. On other devices, the glasses act as a simple external monitor. That’s fine for watching video, but if you were hoping for a glimpse of the AR future, you’ll be disappointed. The xbx a01+ is a display, not a platform. And that’s a deliberate choice. XREAL is betting that most consumers don’t care about spatial computing yet—they just want a bigger screen.
I think they might be right. In fact, I’d argue that the entire AR industry has been overpromising and underdelivering for years. Meta’s Quest Pro was supposed to be the bridge between VR and AR, but it sold poorly because it was expensive and confusing. Apple’s Vision Pro is a technical marvel, but it’s also a $3,500 paperweight for most people. Meanwhile, XREAL has quietly sold over 100,000 units of its Air series since 2022, mostly to developers and early adopters. The xbx a01+ is their attempt to reach the mainstream. And at $300, it’s a compelling proposition.
But there are trade-offs. The lack of a built-in battery means you’re tethered to your phone, which drains your phone’s battery faster. The 45-degree FOV is immersive for video but not for productivity—you can’t see multiple windows at once. The display is fixed in the center of your vision, so you can’t look around a virtual environment. And the glasses don’t come with a carrying case, which feels like a cheap move at this price point. You’ll need to buy one separately for $20.
Still, I can’t help but feel that XREAL has done something smart here. They’ve stripped away all the fluff—the hand tracking, the spatial mapping, the AI assistants—and focused on what works: a clear, bright display that fits in a pair of glasses. It’s not the future of AR. It’s the present of portable entertainment. And for $300, that might be enough to convince a lot of people that AR is worth a try.
If you’re a tech enthusiast who already owns a compatible phone, the xbx a01+ is a no-brainer. If you’re a casual user who just wants to watch movies on a bigger screen, it’s a solid investment. But if you’re expecting a full AR experience—something that will let you place digital objects in your living room or interact with holograms—you’ll want to wait another year or two. The xbx a01+ is a budget AR glasses product that does exactly what it promises: no more, no less. And in a market full of overhyped vaporware, that’s actually refreshing.
So, should you buy them? If you have $300 burning a hole in your pocket and you’re curious about wearable displays, go for it. Just don’t expect a revolution. Expect a very good pair of smart glasses that happen to project a screen in front of your eyes. And for now, that might be exactly what we need.
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