Xreal’s AR Rival Witnesses Surge in Shipments as Apple Prepares to Sell Vision Pro

BEIJING — Xreal, a startup backed by Alibaba, announced that it expects to ship 200,000 units of its augmented reality glasses in the near future, less than a year after starting sales. The Chinese company shipped 100,000 units worldwide within four months of its mass launch in August 2022. Co-founder Peng Jin expressed confidence that they can achieve the milestone quickly. However, it is unclear whether the pace of sales has changed, as Xreal previously reported selling 150,000 products globally in late May.

Peng Jin, co-founder of Xreal, emphasized the growing acceptance of their augmented reality glasses. While their Air glasses cost $379, Apple plans to charge $3,500 for its Vision Pro headset. Despite the price difference, both products aim to provide a similar experience by replicating the physical screen time with a virtual screen. Peng Jin believes that spatial computing is the major technological trend of the future.

According to sources cited by the Financial Times, the projected sales for Apple’s Vision Pro headset are lower than expected due to complexity and production difficulties. The report suggests that suppliers are only expecting a few hundred thousand units to be shipped in the first year, compared to Apple’s internal target of 1 million. In contrast, Meta recently unveiled its Quest 3 virtual reality headset with a price tag of $499. Canalys predicts that Vision Pro and related devices will have a user base of 20 million by 2024.

Xreal, formerly known as Nreal, still faces challenges in terms of content and device connectivity. However, despite these shortcomings, Xreal’s AR glasses have become popular among gamers. Xreal has raised $160 million in funding and has partnered with Nio to develop AR glasses for in-car entertainment. The company is also looking to raise more capital in the near future.