Xreal is the leading manufacturer of smart glasses with displays, with the the Xreal Air 2 Ultra even including some AR features. Now you can upgrade any model from the Xreal Air product line with the new $199 Xreal Beam Pro companion device. While the new device shares the name of the original Xreal Beam, they have quite different designs.
The first Xreal Beam was a short but chunky box that let you connect Xreal Air and Air 2 smart glasses to your iPhone. The new Beam Pro, though, looks and behaves more like a smartphone, running Android 14 and sporting a 6.5-inch LCD screen, Wi-Fi 6, 5G, and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. In fact, you no longer need to connect a separate phone, tablet, or computer to use your Xreal glasses.
To be clear, Xreal isn’t describing this accessory as a phone, and we don’t know if you can place and receive calls with it. However, it has 5G and can run Android apps, so it sounds a bit like a super-cheap Android phone with special features for Xreal Air smart glasses.
According to Xreal, the Beam Pro can play games from Xbox Cloud Gaming, Amazon Luna, Steam Link, and other cloud game services. The Beam Pro has two USB-C ports — one for charging and another for smart glasses. You can connect a Bluetooth game controller or wireless keyboard for productivity.
For entertainment, the Beam Pro works with streaming video services like Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, and more. Just install the app from the Google Play Store like you would on an Android phone.
Xreal preloaded Nebula on the Beam Pro, so your Xreal Air smart glasses can display three virtual screens with head-tracking support. With the Xreal Air 2 Ultra, the Beam Pro can recognize hand gestures, so you can point and pinch to interact with virtual content.
The Beam Pro looks quite similar to a phone except for its dual 50MP cameras that are nicely spaced for capturing 3D videos in 1080p at 60 frames per second. The iPhone 15 Pro can record spatial videos, but the camera spacing isn’t ideal for recording three-dimensional video, so the Beam Pro has the potential to offer more depth.
Xreal will offer two Beam Pro configurations: one with 6GB memory and 128GB storage for $199, and another with 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage for a yet-to-be-announced price. Both come with microSD slots so you can easily expand the storage with an inexpensive microSD card.
You can preorder the Beam Pro at Xreal’s website today with Amazon availability in July. The first orders are expected to ship in August. If you already own an Xreal Beam, you qualify for a $50 discount if you preorder by July 10.
While the Xreal Beam Pro sounds really interesting, we haven’t had a chance to test it yet. We’ll share more details and our hands-on experience when review samples are available.
