With the Xreal Air 2 we get an insight into spatial data processing. The Xreal Air 2 Ultra has been positioned to take full advantage of this exciting future of user interface interaction, all in a much smaller and lighter device than the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3.
There's a reason I picked these specs as one of my favorite gadgets from CES 2024, and it's a combination of this high-end hardware and the scalable capabilities of integrating full-featured tracking with 3D cameras.
But should you spend $700 on a future idea? Or is it better to wait and see what the developers come up with before purchasing? Let's go.
Xreal Air 2 Ultra: price and availability
The Air 2 Ultra will be available in March for $699 – you can pre-order it now. It's a sizable jump over the
Xreal Air 2 Ultra: Design
Aesthetically speaking, the high-end Xreal specs feature a similar wayfarer design to their cheaper brothers, as well as similar features such as electrochromic dimmable lenses. However, you'll notice that the weight is a bit heavier at 2.8 ounces and everything feels much more premium here.
So what's the secret? In a word: titanium. This gives the rim around the lenses a nice metallic look and feel and ensures they look pretty good on your face, even if they're still a bit larger than life.
Even with the additional weight, comfort remains unchanged. I can imagine anyone wearing them for long periods of time without feeling the pressure on their ears. Additionally, they are much more portable considering that they can compete with much heavier and larger VR headsets.
Xreal Air 2 Ultra: display and sound
The viewing experience inside is slightly improved too: the same vibrant Sony Micro-OLED panels with a 1080p image per eye and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz (90Hz in 3D). The field of view has increased from 46 to 52 degrees. This is a small change that will be important as spatial computing evolves.
Combine this with electrochromic lenses to block light sources and you get an experience that can be as immersive as you like or layered over your surroundings. The directional sound also seems to be a bit louder in this experience. The listening experience is still quite poor because Xreal can only accommodate tiny tweeters.
But whether you're doing something more advanced while connected to an AR app or using it to project the image from your laptop or Steam Deck, the volume is reliable here.
Xreal Air 2 Ultra: AR features
Consumers can buy the Xreal Air 2 Ultra, but the company is positioning it as a device for developers. You can see that the hardware is there to do great things: two 3D cameras that enable position tracking with six degrees of freedom (6DOF).
The pursuit itself is good but not perfect as the tattoos on my hand seem to be a bit of a hindrance to the team. Holding my hands palms up is pretty perfect, but when I turn them over they often disappear, and the color of the table can also have an impact.
The biggest hurdle, however, is that the software must be present to take advantage of all the benefits. The demos I tried were definitely impressive, but not perfect. You used a selection of switches recognized by the glasses to switch between work and entertainment spaces and interact with them with your hands.
Alongside this, I had the opportunity to explore demonstrations of what Passenger Experience's recent partnerships are (a good way to start with the removal of the many cockpit screens).
In addition, the hardware must be present to fully unlock it. Xreal itself confirmed that a “tailor-made computing unit for the best AR experience” would indeed be coming, without a launch date being set.
outlook
With the Xreal Air 2 we got an insight into spatial data processing. But with Xreal Air 2 Ultra we now have the hardware capability to achieve this. It's only a matter of time before the software takes full advantage.
You see, buying now is an investment in a future intersection between VR headset capabilities and AR portability – a relatively smart bet on what's soon to come from a company that's investing left, right and center.
But for the general consumer who buys them now, you won't be able to do much more than a regular pair of Air 2 glasses. What you get is a pretty high-quality set of AR specs for a price tag of $700.
If you can afford to be future-proof, then do it. But there's an argument here for waiting to see who gets on board with the SDK.