Summary: On January 8, 2026, XREAL CEO Chi Xu said the company had completed a $100 million round at a valuation above $1 billion, with supply-chain partners among the investors. Days earlier, Google named it a lead hardware partner for Android XR, targeting wired and optical-see-through glasses. Project Aura, expected within the year, turns that partnership into a concrete Android XR device bet.
On January 8, 2026, with CES week winding down, Chi Xu, the co-founder and chief executive of Beijing AR glasses maker XREAL, told Bloomberg Television that the company had completed a fresh $100 million round at a valuation above $1 billion — officially joining the unicorn club. The capital came from “supply chain partners” and other investors; Xu withheld the full list.
The figure matters less than its timing. That same week, Google deepened its strategic partnership with XREAL and designated the company a lead hardware partner for the Android XR ecosystem. With Meta and Apple each keeping their XR ecosystems walled off, Google handed the primary carrier role to a Chinese hardware company founded only in 2017, to carry Android XR onto wired glasses and optical-see-through devices.
Inside the Round: $100 Million and Unicorn Standing
XREAL dates to 2017 and is headquartered in Beijing. Crunchbase figures cited by Road to VR put the company’s cumulative external fundraising at about $433 million counting this round; the round before it came in May 2025, with Pudong Venture Capital leading an injection of roughly RMB 200 million — around $28.6 million.
Who put up the money is the more instructive question. Supply chain partners form the core of this round, and for a hardware company that capital rarely stays purely financial. Secure access to optics components, micro-displays, and assembly capacity is the decisive variable in pushing AR glasses prices down and shipments up. Xu also used the interview to stress that the fresh funds and the product roadmap — Project Aura included — are on schedule.
Three Launches in Three Days: 1S, ROG XREAL R1, and Project Aura
Around CES, XREAL refreshed its product line at a clip of one announcement per day. The XREAL 1S, unveiled January 4, takes the budget-friendly route with 1200p optics and a Neo Power Hub on board; in Xu’s account the product is “not only lowering the cost of entry” but lifting specs and performance too. On January 5 came the ROG XREAL R1 gaming glasses, developed jointly with ASUS Republic of Gamers and headlined by a 240Hz refresh rate — XREAL’s lightweight optics hitched to ROG’s gaming pedigree.
The product that sets the direction is Project Aura: glasses running the Android XR operating system, expected within the year. It is the tangible outcome of the expanded Google partnership announced January 6: the two sides will bring the Android XR OS to wired XR glasses and optical-see-through devices, and widen developer support for the platform.
The Reasoning Behind Google’s Choice
Google’s arrangement rests on a clear division of labor. Samsung handles the head-mounted flagships (with Qualcomm inside), leaving XREAL the form factor with the toughest assignment: passing for an ordinary pair of glasses. For Android XR that category is the hardest to execute and the broadest road to the mass market: XREAL One’s birdbath optics have already proven consumer demand, and the missing piece — agents and AI capability at the OS layer — is exactly what Google intends to supply.
Set that beside NVIDIA’s same-week CES campaign (NVIDIA’s CES campaign) to push “physical AI” into robots and autonomous driving, and a second route appears: the AI device worn on your face — no waiting for robot hardware to mature, glasses as AI’s first carry-everywhere device.
The Smart Glasses Market’s Next Round of Cuts
A unicorn valuation means the race has entered its capital-intensive stage. Meta’s Ray-Ban series holds the AI glasses spotlight, Apple and Samsung occupy premium ground, and a dozen-plus startups are still jostling inside the AI-driven boom. The difference: most players field one standalone product; XREAL holds self-developed optics, supply chain shareholders, and an Android XR operating-system ticket at once.
For developers and product teams the signal reads plainly. Android XR developer support is widening, and building early for wired glasses and optical-see-through devices offers a shot at a first-mover spot before the ecosystem takes shape. The hardware-side bar is just as plain: prices low enough, weight light enough, AI useful enough — fall short on any one and this market stays a demonstration floor, not a mainstream platform.