Taking the Giants Head-On
A company called Xreal in China made some special glasses that can show you things that aren’t really there. Lots of big technology companies think these glasses are going to be really popular, kind of like how smartphones are.
The Xreal Air 2 and Xreal Air 2 Pro are glasses that are not heavy or big like other virtual reality headsets. The company believes that more people will like these glasses because they are comfortable and easy to wear.
Peng Jin, one of the creators of the Air 2, said that they made it more comfortable for people to use.
AR is when you use special glasses to see things that aren’t really there, but look like they are. Xreal glasses are special glasses that let you see big and cool things from apps, like watching movies or playing games.
Xreal’s AR glasses are like special glasses that you can wear. They can connect to your phone, game consoles, and other things you might use.
When you use these glasses, you can open an app and see things on a big virtual screen that looks 330 inches big. It’s like having a really big TV right in front of your eyes!
Xreal will sell glasses in the United States, the United Kingdom, and a few European countries.
They have two different versions of the glasses: one is called Xreal Air 2, and the other is called Pro. The Air 2 starts at $399 and the Pro starts at $449. People will be able to order the glasses in November.
Tech giants bet on augmented reality
The market for special goggles that let you see things differently is still very new. Only about 8.5 million of these goggles will be sold this year. This is because not as many people are buying things right now because the economy is not doing well.
In 2024, the market is expected to improve and grow a lot, about 46.8% each year. This is because there will be new things coming out that people will want.
Next year, a cool thing called Apple Vision Pro will come out. It’s a special device that you wear on your head and it can show you things that aren’t there, like in a video game.
At the same time, another company called Meta will also release new stuff that you can wear on your head to see things in a different way. They are the biggest company that makes these kinds of devices.
Xreal wants to grow really quickly
Xreal is not very big in the market. Only 2% of people use Xreal compared to other big companies like Meta, Sony with its PlayStation VR, and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance.
The company has sold 250,000 headsets since it started, which is more than the 150,000 headsets it had sold in May.
Jin wants to sell 1 million things every year, and he hopes this will happen in the next two to three years.
Some important and rich companies, like Alibaba and Nio, are interested in giving money to Xreal. Xreal is talking a lot with these companies and is thinking about getting more money from them.
They are having serious talks with some other companies too, but we don’t know much more about it.
