To enhance the experience of AR glasses, XREAL has developed a chip | The Frontline

Text | Wang Fangyu

Editor | Su Jianxun

On December 5, 2024, XREAL officially released a new generation of consumer-grade AR glasses - XREAL One.

This new product is priced at 3299 yuan and brings a wider field of view, better clarity, a higher global refresh rate compared to the previous generation, and is also equipped with a new acoustic device tuned by Bose.

The more important upgrade is that XREAL One is equipped with a self-developed X1 spatial computing chip. Xu Chi, the founder and CEO of XREAL, said that this is "the biggest innovation since the launch of lightweight and portable wired AR glasses".

Why choose to develop a chip by oneself? Xu Chi explained: Existing chips are designed for general-purpose devices and cannot meet the unique needs of AR. These chips have obvious deficiencies in terms of latency, power consumption efficiency, and customization capabilities for spatial computing. Therefore, in order to meet a better user experience, a chip specifically designed for AR glasses must be created.

Xu Chi told 36Kr that one of the uses of XREAL's Series C financing in 2021 is to develop the chip by itself. After three years of polishing, mass production has finally been achieved.

This X1 chip is equivalent to the "brain" of AR glasses, which can seamlessly collaborate with host devices of different systems and chips to achieve real-time ultra-low latency, seamless perception-driven computing, and cross-device compatibility.

According to XREAL, with the help of the chip, XREAL One, on the one hand, has achieved an enhancement in spatial computing capabilities, improving the display effect and visual quality. On the other hand, it can also achieve a low latency of 3 milliseconds, which is only 1/4 of that of Apple Vision Pro. It can also better compatible with devices in different ecosystems such as iPhone, Android devices, Windows PC, MacBook, etc., to achieve a stable AR effect.

For the market performance of XREAL One, Xu Chi also has high hopes: "The X1 chip has made the most portable and best display ever", "Conservatively, it is expected that the single product sales will at least break through 600,000 units."

The current smart glasses industry is undergoing rapid changes. XREAL is the leading enterprise of AR glasses in China. IDC data shows that in the first half of 2024, its global market share of AR glasses reached 47.2%. However, another product line, AI glasses, has emerged suddenly this year.

In 2023, the AI glasses MetaRay-Ban released by the American tech giant Meta sold more than one million units, driving the "Hundred Glasses Battle" in China, and new players are constantly entering the game.

Regarding the hot market of AI glasses, Xu Chi said that the reason why MetaRay-Ban is popular is not because of AI, but because it is a fashionable item with technological attributes.

"Today's AI glasses are all AI weak glasses. Whether in terms of photography, display module, lightweight, and chip performance, it is still difficult to meet the needs of consumers for AI experience. The experience in the first half of the entire industry is not ready enough."

However, this does not mean that XREAL does not make AI glasses. Xu Chi said that XREAL has a team for AI glasses and is also making a long-term layout, but what is more important at present is to further upgrade the product experience of its AR glasses.

In addition to AI glasses and AR glasses, there is currently a third development path on the smart glasses road - the head-mounted "spatial computing" display device represented by Apple Vision Pro. However, this type of device is less portable and relatively bulky, and even the giant Apple has failed to make it truly popular.

Xu Chi believes that the popularization of spatial computing devices is more difficult. It not only requires high-performance glasses, but also requires a new and large-scale ecosystem and developers. It cannot be achieved by a single enterprise and requires a long development cycle.

He defined the current development stage of AI glasses as the first half of the industry, and XREAL's strategy is to try to stay at the table in order to have the opportunity to create more extreme products after the technology is highly mature.

"AI glasses is a 10,000-meter long-distance race. Running in the right direction is more important than starting early." Xu Chi said.