Xreal Aura Costs $1,279, Due to Ship Before the Holidays

Xreal Aura costs $1,279 on Xreal’s US store with 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage, or $1,499 with 16GB and 512GB, and Xreal expects it to begin shipping before the holidays in the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea. It is a pair of see-through Android XR glasses wired to a pocket compute puck, built with Google and Qualcomm, that puts Google Play apps, Gemini and up to five virtual screens into a 70° view.

“Before the holidays” is an expectation, not a date. Xreal’s store adds that shipping is subject to “production schedules, quality inspections, and logistics conditions”, and its release of 7 October says only that the launch is “just weeks away”. Every figure below is from Xreal’s and Google’s own pages, read on 9 October 2026. We have not worn Aura.

Who can buy one now

Not everyone yet. Xreal’s release says only people who reserved Aura before 7 October can pre-order it now, and that orders open to the general public “in the coming weeks”. New customers can pay a $199 Priority Deposit in the meantime.

The store ranks shipping in groups: Founder Priority Pass holders first, then Launch Credit and Priority Deposit holders, provided they pay the balance by 31 October. Xreal is explicit that this sets dispatch order and “does not guarantee delivery by a specific date”. Both prices showed as regular prices, not sales, with a 30-day return window and a one-year warranty.

Aura, in Xreal’s figures

	Xreal Aura
Price	$1,279 (12GB, 256GB); $1,499 (16GB, 512GB)
Shipping	Expected before the holidays: US, Canada, Japan, South Korea; more markets in 2027
Glasses weight	95g
Display	Sony micro-OLED, 1920 × 1200 per eye, up to 120Hz, 1,050 nits peak
Field of view	70°, optical see-through
Dimming	Electrochromic, 5 levels, blocks up to 99.9% of outside light
Glasses chip	Xreal X1S, 3ms motion-to-photon latency
Puck chip	Snapdragon Reality Elite, 48 TOPS of AI processing
Puck battery	4,455mAh, 34.84Wh; no hours given
Cameras	Two tracking cameras, hand tracking, a high-resolution camera with a privacy LED
Audio	Sound by Bose tuning, four microphones
Wireless	Wi-Fi 6/6E, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS
Sizes	M (IPD 60–66mm), L (IPD 66–72mm); prescription inserts

The puck does the computing

Xreal calls the design split compute. The puck runs Android XR on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Reality Elite and holds the battery, memory, storage and a touchpad; the glasses carry Xreal’s X1S chip for the display and sensors, which Xreal says keeps them light. The puck clips to a pocket or a lanyard and connects by USB-C cable.

You control it with your hands, your voice or the puck’s touchpad, and Bluetooth keyboards, mice and game controllers pair to it. A fingerprint button powers it on, unlocks it and approves payments in supported apps. Xreal lists Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS, and no cellular connection.

What runs on it

Xreal says “millions” of Google Play apps work on day one, including YouTube, Google Maps, Chrome and Google Photos, plus more than 150 apps made for XR. Up to five virtual screens can be placed around you, and Gemini can answer questions about what you are looking at. Xreal’s fine print adds that “some features require setup or subscription” without naming which.

The puck’s second USB-C port takes a DisplayPort signal, and Xreal names a PC, laptop or handheld console as sources, so Aura can act as a large private monitor for a computer or a gaming handheld as well as running apps itself. Xreal’s Wired Mirroring feature is described for a PC.

What Xreal has not said

• Battery life in hours. The spec list gives the puck’s capacity, 34.84Wh, and a 57W charging input, but no runtime. For something sold for films and work sessions, that is a large gap.
• A ship date. Only “before the holidays” on the store and “just weeks away” in the release.
• Phones. No Xreal page we read mentions phones, as a companion or as a display source. The puck does not appear to need one, but whether a phone can feed it video is not stated.
• What the privacy LED shows. Xreal lists “a high-resolution camera with privacy LED indicator” and does not say whether it lights when Gemini uses the camera. Meta, by contrast, says its capture light stays dark for AI requests on most of its glasses.
• The puck’s weight. The glasses are 95g; the puck has no figure.

Xreal’s own pages also disagree. Its product page FAQ still says Aura is “expected to launch in Fall 2026”, that the base price “will not exceed US$1,500”, and lists the UK and 23 EU countries among launch regions. The store and the 7 October release say the first four markets are the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea, with more in 2027. We follow the store and the release.

Against other glasses we have covered

The Verge framed Aura on 7 October as a rival to Meta’s VR Glasses, and on price they are close. On paper they differ more than the price suggests:

	Xreal Aura	Meta VR Glasses	Snap Specs
Price	$1,279	$1,299.99	$2,195
Expected	Before the holidays	Spring 2027	Later this fall, per Snap in September
Computing	Tethered puck	Tethered pocket puck	Standalone, no puck
How you see the room	Optical see-through	Camera passthrough	AR display, 51° field of view
Battery	Not stated in hours	Up to 3h of media playback	Up to 4h mixed use
Weight	95g glasses	Roughly 100g	132g or 136g

Meta’s figures are from our piece on Meta’s 2026 glasses, and Snap’s from our Snap Specs piece. Aura is $20.99 cheaper than Meta’s VR Glasses and, on both makers’ stated timing, due months earlier. The bigger difference is the view: Aura’s lenses let you see the room directly, while Meta’s VR Glasses are a VR headset in glasses form that shows the room through cameras. Against Specs, Aura costs $916 less and has the wider stated field of view, 70° against 51°, but needs its cable and puck where Specs run on their own.

Questions people ask

How much is the Xreal Aura?

$1,279 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, or $1,499 with 16GB and 512GB, on Xreal’s US store, read 9 October 2026. Neither was a sale price. Xreal lists separate prices for Canada, Japan and South Korea.

When is the Xreal Aura release date?

Xreal has not given one. Its US store says it expects Aura to begin shipping before the holidays in the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea, and its 7 October release calls the launch “just weeks away”. More markets follow in 2027.

Can I pre-order the Xreal Aura?

Only if you reserved one before 7 October. Xreal says general orders open in the coming weeks; until then new customers can pay a $199 Priority Deposit, and deposit holders who pay in full by 31 October get priority shipping.

Does the Xreal Aura need a phone?

Xreal’s pages do not say it does. The puck runs Android XR and Google Play apps itself, with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. Xreal names a PC, laptop or handheld console as wired display sources and does not mention phones.

How long does the Xreal Aura battery last?

Xreal does not say. It gives the puck’s battery as 4,455mAh, or 34.84Wh, and a 57W maximum charging input, but no hours of use.

Is the Xreal Aura a VR headset?

Not in the usual sense. The lenses are optical see-through, so you look at the room directly rather than through cameras, and electrochromic dimming can block up to 99.9% of outside light for films or games.

Does the Xreal Aura work with prescription glasses?

Aura comes with an optical insert frame, and Xreal sells Aura prescription lenses as a separate accessory in its US store. The glasses come in two sizes: M for an IPD of 60–66mm and L for 66–72mm.