XREAL's a01 smart glasses struggle to justify themselves as a movie screen

XREAL’s a01, released in May, is a relatively simple smart glasses model compared to more software-heavy AR devices like Meta Orion or Snap’s Specs — it functions essentially as an external monitor. It has no battery or internal power source; a USB-C cable plugs it into a phone, laptop or handheld device, which becomes its power source. Priced around $300, the a01 is optimized for gaming, working with devices like the Steam Deck, though XREAL also markets it for watching movies and TV.

In TechCrunch’s testing, the dual mini-OLED panels — offering 1080p resolution and up to 1,600 nits of brightness — produced vibrant, good-looking images, with XREAL claiming the projection is equivalent to viewing content on a 147-inch screen. But the review found the core use case redundant: watching a laptop screen through glasses positioned inches from a person’s face, while the same content plays on the device just over a foot away, raised questions about what the glasses actually add. XREAL has also positioned the a01 as a “second monitor” or “wearable display,” though the review found that function limited, since the glasses largely block the view of anything other than what they’re projecting.

The glasses can connect to phones as well, though older iPhone models require an adapter for the cable to fit. A separate accessory, the Beam Pro — a mini-tablet that can act as a standalone streaming hub for downloaded content — costs an additional $200. The review also noted the a01 heats up during use, producing a warming sensation near the nose and eyes, which it described as a common issue across XR glasses generally, though it found the device otherwise lightweight and more comfortable than Snap’s Specs.

XREAL’s upcoming device, Project Aura, previewed at Google I/O this year, is built on Android XR — an operating system developed by Google and Samsung — and adds native hand tracking, Google Play Store access, and a pocketable puck that handles charging and compute, unlike the a01’s requirement to stay tethered to another device.

Why it matters

The a01’s redundancy problem illustrates a broader challenge for screen-mirroring smart glasses: until battery, compute and display technology advance enough to make the headset genuinely independent, the “device next to your face” competes directly with the device it’s plugged into.