Title: Augmented Reality Glasses Struggle in AR, Shine as Secondary Displays
Two years ago, at CES 2023, I peered into my AR crystal ball and announced that "glassholes" would be a hot topic soon. Once again, CES 2025 was flooded with AR glasses, and it was impossible to walk five feet without bumping into another booth eager to have you pop a pair over your peepers. The displays are looking sharp, and the controls are snugger than ever. But they're not there yet. We're still staring at screen replacements.
Companies like Chamelo held up smart glasses with color-shifting lenses. Beyond that, there was a horde of glasses that functioned as wearable cameras, similar to the increasingly popular Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. These weren't novice companies, either. Alongside new handhelds, Lenovo released an upgraded version of their glasses, the $400 Legion Glasses 2. They're a revamp of the company's 2023 tethered glasses, offering improved screen clarity and brightness. To get the most out of these glasses, you need to adjust them just right, but they deliver sharp-looking micro-OLED displays and crisp audio.
Those glasses were designed with handhelds in mind, although they remain ancillary to mobile gaming. Similarly, AR glasses maker XReal unveiled its $500 XReal One and $600 XReal One Pro. These glasses tether to your device, creating a secondary screen. They have a switch to affix the image in place or let it follow your gaze. The chart-topper of the show? The XReal One Pro, offering an ultrawide option for PC and the ability to adjust the size of your mirrored screen. It felt like the Apple Vision Pro ultrawide Mac mirroring experience at a fraction of the price.
The Harsh Reality of the AR Glasses of CES 2025
XReal's Pro glasses offer an ultrawide option for PC and the ability to control the size of your mirrored screen. © Photo: Remi Lou / Gizmodo
But as our discerning readers pointed out, XReal's offering doesn't fit the AR mold. Any true XR ambitions were merely prototypes. In fact, these glasses have been grapple with the same issues for the last two years.
Take TCL's RayNeo brand and its RayNeo X3 Pro glasses. The company attempted to translate Mandarin to English with the glasses, and it mostly worked – but not reliably. With too much noise, the glasses struggled to accurately interpret language or respond to commands. Translation was slow and laborious, and even then, it didn't feel like a finished product. The glasses have touch controls on the right-side arm, but they were hit-or-miss, just like other glasses. To see the green, beta text spelling out the AI-connected software required precise positioning. These issues were similar to those I'd experienced with the company's prototype glasses from two years ago.
Waveguide displays, like those used by TCL, were a step up from the projection used by the XReal glasses. The RayNeo glasses also included two sensors for image recognition and hand tracking, but I didn't get to try those features. Fellow glasses brand Rokid showed off app lists that could be viewed with hand controls, but the green text displayed on the AR environment remained a recurring issue.
Can Anyone Solve the AR Glasses Dilemma?
The RayNeo glasses are an improvement over its previous model, featuring Waveguide displays, image recognition, and hand tracking sensors. But the user interface remains rough around the edges. © Photo: Remi Lou / Gizmodo
Unfortunately, no real "augmented reality" glasses felt like a complete product this time around, even though I tried similar designs at CES two years ago. Just like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, I have reservations when it comes to trusting AI models with anything beyond simple queries, especially when reliant on external devices for functional use.
Meta is one of the few companies to peer into the AR glasses future earlier than others, with its "Orion" project that includes AR glasses, a wristband for motion controls, and a pocket processor. Rumors hint that Samsung may launch its own smart glasses with AI vision capabilities this year, but it's doubtful they can replace a phone just yet.
I'm optimistic about AR glasses, but we're still in the prototype phase. Currently, most AR glasses aren't useful for everyday life, except for tech-savvy individuals and futurists. But a cheap flight with no in-seat entertainment can be a good excuse to pull out those tethered glasses and enjoy a movie without the hassle of a laptop or the bulk of an Apple Vision Pro headset.
Despite Meta's early exploration with the "Orion" project, offering AR glasses, a motion control wristband, and a pocket processor, we're not yet at the stage where AR glasses can fully replace a smartphone for everyday use. The future of AR technology in glasses is promising, but it seems we're still mainly in the realm of prototypes and niche use cases, such as entertainment during long flights. However, with advancements in tech and companies like Samsung potentially launching smart glasses with AI vision capabilities, the future of AR glasses in our everyday lives is something to look forward to.
