XREAL Aura: price, release date, specs and everything else we know

XREAL Aura is a pair of see-through glasses that runs Android XR, Google's operating system for headsets and glasses, with the computer in a puck that clips to your pocket. Orders opened on Oct. 28 in the US, Canada and South Korea and open in Japan on Nov. 2, with launch pricing starting at $1,099 through the end of the year and shipments beginning in mid-November. XREAL had set a $1,279 price on Oct. 7, which outlets now report as the regular price. It is the first device of its kind on Google's platform, built by XREAL with Google and Qualcomm.

This guide is based on XREAL's and Google's announcements, XREAL's product pages and published specifications, with regular prices from 9to5Google and TechCrunch. We haven't used Aura.

XREAL Aura price and release date

Aura comes in two configurations, and the price depends only on the memory and storage in the puck. Both use the same glasses, in two sizes for different distances between the eyes: M for 60 to 66 mm and L for 66 to 72 mm.

Google's Oct. 28 post says launch pricing starts at $1,099 through the end of the year. It doesn't give the regular price. According to 9to5Google, the 12GB model is $1,279 regularly with a limited-time price of $1,099 through December 2026. According to TechCrunch, the 16GB model is $1,499 with a launch price of $1,299 through December. XREAL hasn't said what happens to the price after the launch window.

On Oct. 7, XREAL also listed ¥229,800 and ¥269,800 in Japan and ₩1,990,000 and ₩2,290,000 in South Korea for the two models. Google gives the launch price only in US dollars, so it isn't clear whether the discount applies there. No confirmed Canadian price has been published: XREAL's Canadian shop lists both variants but says price and final specifications are still to be confirmed, and we don't know if Canadian buyers get the launch discount.

Before it set the price, XREAL's site promised that the base model would not cost more than $1,500, and the price landed well under that ceiling.

You can order Aura now if you're 18 or older and have a compatible account. Google says orders are open in the US, Canada and South Korea, and in Japan from Nov. 2. Order at xreal.com/aura, or at BestBuy.com in the US. Shipments begin in mid-November, and XREAL's Canadian shop says orders ship on a rolling basis. If you paid the original price in full before Oct. 28, XREAL's store promises to refund the difference, according to Mixed (read our story).

The countries have changed since the summer: in June, XREAL targeted a first wave in the US, the UK, Japan, Canada and South Korea, with European countries to follow soon after. The first orders now cover the US, Canada, South Korea and Japan, and the UK isn't among them. XREAL's Oct. 7 announcement mentioned "more markets coming in 2027."

What XREAL Aura is: glasses plus a compute puck

Aura splits the hardware in two, which XREAL calls a split-compute design. The glasses handle what you see and what the device senses. The puck does the computing.

The glasses weigh less than 95 grams and show a 70-degree field of view through optical see-through lenses, so you look at the real world directly instead of through cameras. XREAL's specifications list Sony micro-OLED displays with 1920 x 1200 pixels per eye, up to 120Hz, a peak brightness of 1,050 nits and 32 pixels per degree, with a motion-to-photon latency of 3 milliseconds. Electrochromic dimming has five levels, set automatically or by hand, and blocks up to 99.9% of outside light when you want a darker, more immersive picture. Inside the frame, XREAL's own X1S chip handles the display and sensors. Two world-facing tracking cameras support hand tracking and six-degrees-of-freedom tracking, a separate high-resolution camera has a privacy LED, and there are four microphones and speakers tuned under the Sound by Bose label.

The puck runs Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite platform and Android XR, and it holds the battery, rated at 4,455mAh. It doubles as a trackpad, has a fingerprint button to power on and unlock it, and clips to a belt or pocket or hangs from a lanyard (the lanyard comes only with the 16GB model). It also has GPS, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. One USB-C port connects the glasses, and the second charges the puck at up to 57 watts and accepts a DisplayPort video signal, so you can plug in a laptop. Bluetooth keyboards, mice and game controllers work too. An optical insert frame for prescription lenses comes in the box.

Android XR, Gemini and apps on Aura

Because Aura runs Android XR, it gets Google Play from day one. XREAL says that means millions of Android phone and tablet apps, including Google Maps, YouTube, Chrome and Google Photos, plus more than 150 apps built for XR. Gemini is the built-in assistant: you can talk to it about what you're seeing or doing, ask it to open apps and get help inside whatever app you're using.

At Google I/O in May, XREAL demonstrated immersive Google Maps, 180- and 360-degree YouTube videos, a WebXR painting app built with Gemini and a laptop connected over DisplayPort, with its screen pulled into the space around the wearer and Gemini available on top.

The launch lineup has filled out over the past few months. Google's Owlchemy Labs is bringing Hyper Visor, a $1.99 arcade game, along with Job Simulator and three of its other games (read our story). XREAL's June announcement listed Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars, a game made with Amazon MGM Studios that includes a new chapter written with Andy Weir; Fallout: Factions, a tabletop strategy game from Mirrorscape; and Asteroid, an interactive film from director Doug Liman that will be free for Aura owners. Resolution Games' Demeo will support cross-play with other headsets, and Cubism, Oh My Galaxy! and Chess Club are coming too. For watching, there's a Fox Sports XR app, a spatial version of San Francisco Ballet's The Nutcracker and Naver's CHZZK streaming service. Work and learning apps include ShapesXR for design, Frontline.io for technicians, apoQlar's medical imaging viewer and Simply Piano XR.

How XREAL Aura got here

Most XREAL glasses are display glasses that plug into a phone or laptop, such as the One Pro. Aura is its first device that is a computer in its own right. It was first shown in May 2025 and got its price in October 2026.

• May 20, 2025: XREAL unveiled Project Aura at Google I/O as the second official Android XR device and the first with optical see-through lenses.
• Dec. 8, 2025: At The Android Show, Google gave a first look at Project Aura, with its 70-degree field of view, and called it the first Android XR device in a new category of wired XR glasses.
• Jan. 6, 2026: Google and XREAL extended their partnership for several years, with XREAL as a lead hardware partner for Android XR.
• May 2026: At Google I/O, the companies gave public demos and opened the Android XR Developer Catalyst Program, which sends Aura developer kits to selected developers.
• June 16, 2026: XREAL renamed the device XREAL Aura, opened reservations and showed it at the Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, California.
• Oct. 7, 2026: XREAL announced the $1,279 and $1,499 prices and opened pre-orders for reservation holders.
• Oct. 28, 2026: Google and XREAL opened orders in the US, Canada and South Korea, with launch pricing from $1,099 and shipments starting in mid-November.

XREAL Aura vs Snap Specs, Meta VR Glasses and Galaxy XR

Aura sits between glasses and headsets, and its rivals take different routes. This comparison uses each company's published prices and specifications.

Snap Specs put the computer and battery in the frame, so there's no cable, but they cost $1,096 more than Aura's launch price and have a narrower view. Meta VR Glasses use the same kind of tethered puck, also powered by Snapdragon Reality Elite, but show the world through cameras and won't go on sale until next spring. Samsung's Galaxy XR, the only Android XR device shipping today, is a full headset that launched at $1,799.99 in October 2025 (read our explainer).

The other comparison is with XREAL's own display glasses. The One Pro was $539 on XREAL's US store on Oct. 29, 2026. It acts as a big screen for whatever you plug it into, without an operating system, apps or Gemini of its own. If that's all you need, our XREAL lineup guide explains the options.

Should you buy XREAL Aura?

Going by the specifications, Aura makes the most sense if you want Android apps, Gemini and AR experiences in a pair of glasses, and you're comfortable with a cable to a pocket puck. XREAL lists the puck's battery capacity but hasn't said how many hours it lasts, and retail units only start shipping in mid-November. Launch pricing runs through the end of the year, so you can wait for the first reviews if those details matter to you. For a large private screen for movies, games or a laptop, display glasses such as the One Pro already do that job for $560 less than Aura's launch price. For more on the platform and the other devices coming to it, see our guide to every Android XR device announced so far.

Correction, Oct. 29, 2026: An earlier version of this guide listed Canadian prices of C$1,829 and C$2,149. No confirmed Canadian price has been published, so we removed them.