AR headset player XREAL ventures into the Hong Kong stock market with challenges.
The commercialization process of AR glasses is still struggling to break through the deadlock.
Recently, XREAL, a leading enterprise in the industry, submitted its prospectus to the Stock Exchange, revealing the current situation of this sector - AR glasses are still in the pioneering stage, with high R & D costs and low popularity, and continuous losses for enterprises have become the norm.
From 2023 to 2025, XREAL accumulated losses exceeded 2 billion yuan. However, as the company's losses have been decreasing year by year and the gross profit margin has been steadily increasing, it may have survived the most difficult period.
As the first enterprise in the global pure AR glasses field to rush into the capital market, XREAL's IPO in Hong Kong this time is not only to open a larger financing window but also to tell a new growth story in the global AR glasses market with its technological and market advantages.
Continuous Losses
In 2017, Xu Chi and others founded XREAL and designated AR glasses as the company's core product. At that time, AR glasses were still a blank in the wearable device market. After nearly 10 years of development, smart glasses have become a popular track in the consumer electronics industry, and the company has also joined the leading camp in this field.
Recently, XREAL submitted its prospectus to the Stock Exchange, becoming the first pure AR glasses enterprise in the world to rush into the capital market, which also allows the outside world to glimpse the tortuous process of AR glasses from concept to commercialization.
According to the prospectus, from 2023 to 2025, the company's operating revenues were approximately 390 million yuan, 394 million yuan, and 516 million yuan respectively. The net profits attributable to the parent company were losses of approximately 882 million yuan, 709 million yuan, and 456 million yuan respectively. The adjusted net profits were losses of approximately 437 million yuan, 375 million yuan, and 250 million yuan respectively.
XREAL is moving forward despite losses, betting on the future of the smart glasses market. According to data from iResearch, the global smart glasses market size was approximately 2.3 billion US dollars in 2025 and is expected to increase to approximately 24 billion US dollars by 2030. Among them, AR glasses, with the convenience of daily wearing and immersive digital display functions, will become the main growth driver of the market.
XREAL has firmly ranked first in the market. From 2022 to 2025, it ranked first in the global AR glasses market for four consecutive years, with a market share of 27% in 2025. The company focuses on the overseas market. From 2023 to 2025, its overseas revenues were approximately 255 million yuan, 260 million yuan, and 366 million yuan respectively, accounting for 65.3%, 65.9%, and 71.0% of the total revenue respectively. Among them, the revenue from the US market accounted for more than half.
In the past decade, Google, Meta, and Ray - Ban have successively set off two waves in the smart glasses industry. AR glasses have become a hot trend, and XREAL has also continuously received the favor of capital.
Since its establishment, the company has completed 12 rounds of financing, totaling approximately 2.3 billion yuan. Well - known institutions and industrial capitals such as Alibaba, Yunfeng Fund, Sequoia China, and Hillhouse have all participated. Consumer electronics manufacturing giants such as fashion eyewear brand Gentle Monster and Luxshare Precision have also completed their layouts on the eve of XREAL's capitalization.
Affected by the dual needs of technology R & D and market expansion, the AR glasses industry is still in the investment stage. XREAL is no exception, and its self - financing ability is relatively weak. From 2023 to 2025, its cash and cash equivalents were approximately 181 million yuan, 205 million yuan, and 64 million yuan respectively, and it mainly relied on financing to maintain its daily operations.
During the reporting period, the net current liabilities were approximately 1.932 billion yuan, 2.562 billion yuan, and 3.084 billion yuan respectively, and further increased to 3.254 billion yuan on February 28, 2026.
Betting on the Mass Market
XREAL's main revenue comes from the sales of AR glasses hardware products. From 2023 to 2025, the revenues were approximately 303 million yuan, 308 million yuan, and 403 million yuan respectively, accounting for more than 70% of the company's total revenue. Among them, the Air series products, which are positioned in the mass consumer market, have supported half of the company's hardware business.
From 2023 to 2025, the sales volumes of the Air series were 134,074 units, 103,991 units, and 17,403 units respectively, with the corresponding average selling prices of 2,151 yuan, 2,325 yuan, and 1,656 yuan per unit.
The application scenarios of this series of products are relatively extensive, covering not only immersive movie - watching, console games, and mobile office but also providing a wearing experience similar to ordinary glasses and can be connected to mobile phones, PCs, and game consoles.
Relying on the market foundation of the Air series products, the company further strengthened the performance and interaction ability of the products in 2024 and launched the One series products, which are priced slightly higher than the Air series.
From 2024 to 2025, the average selling prices of the One series products were 2,709 yuan per unit and 3,196 yuan per unit respectively. The sales volume increased from 13,512 units to 111,355 units, achieving both volume and price growth.
The optimization and upgrading of the product structure have improved XREAL's profitability. According to the prospectus, the gross profit from the sales of the company's AR glasses increased from 54 million yuan in 2023 to 67 million yuan, and the gross profit margin increased from 19.3% to 21.8%.
In addition to the two major series, the Light - Ultra - Aura product line launched by the company is positioned in the ultra - high - end market and has more technological imagination space. All products in this product line are equipped with front - facing cameras and environmental sensors, enabling intelligent perception of the surrounding environment. During the reporting period, the average selling prices of this product were 4,515 yuan, 4,014 yuan, and 3,665 yuan per unit, and the sales volumes were 3,165 units, 7,368 units, and 4,973 units respectively.
On the Eve of Dawn
Currently, the core users of AR glasses are limited to groups such as gamers. Although consumers have an urgent need for AR products that combine immersive image entertainment and portable wearing, the industry still needs a long cultivation period to achieve explosive growth like smartphones.
From the hardware perspective, the current AR glasses products on the market still have great room for iterative upgrading in core dimensions such as battery life, body weight, and display effect. This also means that enterprises in the industry need to continuously invest heavily in R & D.
XREAL disclosed in its prospectus that from 2023 to 2025, the company's R & D expenditures were approximately 216 million yuan, 204 million yuan, and 183 million yuan respectively, accounting for 55.3%, 51.8%, and 35.5% of the total revenue respectively. In the future, it will also focus on investing in core technology areas such as optics and chips through financing.
As of the end of 2025, the company had 481 patents, of which more than 50% were invention patents. The core technologies include the self - developed X - Prism optical engine, customized end - side coprocessor, advanced algorithms, and self - developed operating system.
The core team members of the company all graduated from top universities such as Zhejiang University, and many core members have held important R & D positions in global top technology companies such as Magic Leap and Apple, with an average age of around 40.
As a technology - driven high - tech enterprise deeply involved in the AR field , XREAL has reached the eve of the industry's development. Currently, Google has become an important technological ally for the company's next - generation products. The two sides will conduct joint R & D in core fields such as lightweight optical technology and AI interaction to further strengthen the company's technological leadership in Android - based AR devices.
According to the prospectus, the two sides will jointly develop the next - generation AR product Project Aura, focusing on the integration of product lightweight, cinema - level experience, and AI technology. This high - end flagship product is planned to be officially launched in 2026 and is expected to be a key layout for the company to enter the high - end market and achieve technology commercialization.
This article is from the WeChat official account “Banma Consumption” (ID: banmaxiaofei), author: Shen Tuo, published by 36Kr with authorization.