Xreal is chasing the budget crowd now.
The device is the a01. It costs $299. Launching under a new sub-brand, X by Xreal, it arrives in the U.S. this July. A press release confirmed the details.
They aren’t the cheapest game in town anymore. Remember the TCL RayNeo Air 4 Pro? Those launched at $299 early this year. They brought HDR10 support too. Xreal has to answer for that price drop.
To hit that number the a01 cuts corners. The field of view shrinks to 50 degrees. Narrower than the Pro models. You lose the dimming lens. The tracking chip is gone. No floating display anchors here. Just a tethered monitor. USB-C connected. Always has been.
But the brightness is wild.
The micro OLED panels push hard. We’re talking 1,600 nits. Previous models can’t touch that. It supports HDR10 video now. The frame is light. Under 65 grams. There’s even an anti-shake mode to stop things from blurring when you walk.
The real trick isn’t the specs. It’s the look.
Snap-on faceplates. That’s the twist. Clear lenses or sunglasses. You swap them out on the fly. Cheap, sure. But it feels thoughtful. Like someone cared how you looked in public. Budget usually means “stripped down.” This feels intentional.
China gets the first batch. The U.S. follows in July.
The X by Xreal site is up in English. But the Shop button? It takes you to a Chinese page. Confusing, right. Wait a few more weeks then.
