XREAL xbx a01+

The XREAL XBX a01+ — sold under the new budget X by XREAL brand, and reviewed everywhere as the a01+ even though catalogs often shorten it to XBX A01 — is a $299 pair of display glasses that deliberately drops XREAL’s spatial computing features to hit its price. It launched in the US in July 2026; the plus-free base a01 is a China-only model. This review aggregates the hands-on record — Engadget’s scored review, Tom’s Guide’s long-haul travel review and its separate head-to-head against the Viture Pro 2, TechRadar’s vacation-length comparison against the RayNeo Air 4 Pro, and Steam Deck HQ’s handheld-focused test — alongside XREAL’s published specifications. AR Compare has not performed hands-on testing of this device; every observation below is attributed to the cited sources, and the category scores are an editorial aggregate of cited reviewer sentiment. Product facts were cross-checked against AR Compare’s spec record for the a01+ (dual-layer Micro-OLED at 1920x1080 per eye, a recorded 50-degree field of view, a recorded 1,600 nits, a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10, roughly 62 grams, $299).

How This Review Was Compiled

Engadget published the fullest scored review (9/10) across work, gaming, and family life. Tom’s Guide’s Jason England tested the a01+ over 25,000 miles of travel and wrote the most tempered verdict, and his colleague Scott Younker wore it back to back against the Viture Pro 2 for a week. TechRadar’s Hamish Hector, a RayNeo Air 4 Pro owner, compared the two budget rivals directly, and Steam Deck HQ ran the deepest handheld testing, down to per-game battery and frame-rate measurements. Where the sources disagree — mostly on how the a01+ ranks against its two $299 rivals — both readings are reported below rather than smoothed over.

The Pitch: A Cheaper Screen, Nothing Else

Every source tells the a01+ story as subtraction: XREAL removed the things most buyers never use. There is no X1 chip, no 3DoF tracking, no companion app — just a bright 1080p screen in sunglasses form. Tom’s Guide argues that is the point, concluding that most people do not need fancy spatial tracking, they need a cheaper screen, and that scrapping the extras makes these glasses feel more focused. Engadget frames it as the easy on-ramp: much of what makes XREAL’s premium frames great, without the $599 XREAL One Pro’s price, and a simpler purchase than any camera-equipped smart glasses since there is nothing on board to raise privacy questions. The answer to the line-position question — what separates this from the XREAL One — is exactly that chip: the One family pins screens in space on-device, while the a01+ only mirrors whatever it is plugged into.

How Good Is the Display for $299?

Very good, with an asterisk about the edges. The recorded 1,600 nits is the headline: Engadget calls the brightness shocking for the class and usable in direct sun, and TechRadar notes it clearly beats the RayNeo Air 4 Pro’s 1,200-nit rating, giving the HDR10 support real room to breathe. Steam Deck HQ praises the OLED contrast and color coverage, and Engadget found the 147-inch virtual screen genuinely cinematic for video. The recorded 50-degree field of view carries some edge blurring that Tom’s Guide and TechRadar both note, though both judge it tolerable for games and video. Two quirks belong in any honest summary: enabling HDR drops the refresh rate from 120Hz to 60Hz or 90Hz per Tom’s Guide, and the AI SDR-to-HDR converter — praised by Tom’s Guide as a subtle, low-latency improvement — struck Steam Deck HQ as a case-by-case feature that over-saturates some games. Color tuning out of the box runs a little drained next to RayNeo’s per both Tom’s Guide pieces, and small text gets fuzzy in productivity work unless the interface is scaled up.

Does It Work With Steam Deck and Phones?

This is the a01+‘s strongest suit in the record. Steam Deck HQ reports it was recognized instantly by a Steam Deck, an Odin 3, an ROG Xbox Ally X, and an iPhone 15 Pro Max, with no configuration at all, and Engadget’s Steam Deck sessions worked flawlessly the same way. Steam Deck HQ’s measurements add useful fine print: the glasses draw roughly 1.5 to 2 extra watts from the Deck, and Deck owners choose between the default 720p output blown up on the 1080p panel (slightly soft, full performance) or native 1080p (sharper, measurably lower frame rates). That draw is the entire battery story — the a01+ has no cell of its own — so the battery score of 5.5 follows this site’s category convention for tethered display glasses rather than a standalone runtime. The hard limit is Nintendo: Switch and Switch 2 do not output video this way, and with XREAL’s own Neo dock canceled per Engadget, console play requires a third-party dock such as VITURE’s. iPhones and laptops mirror directly over USB-C, and prescription wearers can add roughly $50 clip-in lenses — which Steam Deck HQ warns loosen if swapped in and out repeatedly.

Comfort, Build, and the Odd Features

At a recorded 62 grams — about a C battery, in Engadget’s comparison — the a01+ wears lightly by every account. TechRadar dozed off wearing them on a sun lounger, Engadget wore them for hours of outdoor writing in a Georgia summer where a Vision Pro would have been unthinkable, and Tom’s Guide calls them a feather next to premium glasses. The dissent is minor: Steam Deck HQ found the arms clamp tightly at first, and heat builds on the left arm near the USB-C port — placed away from the head by design, but warm enough to notice when taking them off. Build quality is the record’s biggest reservation: Tom’s Guide describes the plastic as cheap-feeling and worries about longevity given hinge cracking on pricier XREAL models, and Steam Deck HQ calls the removable front frame thin and flimsy. That same snap-off front is also the most-liked design touch — XREAL publishes 3D-print files, and reviewers note a small scene of custom faceplates already exists. The one feature the record pans outright is stabilization mode: Tom’s Guide saw the image warp and ghost around fast motion even after a firmware update said to fix it, and Steam Deck HQ reached the same keep-it-off conclusion independently.

XBX A01+ vs Viture Pro 2 and RayNeo Air 4 Pro

The three-way budget fight has no unanimous winner, which is itself the finding. Tom’s Guide’s head-to-head narrowly recommends the Viture Pro 2 for its diopter wheels, seven nose-pad positions, and more tunable display, while giving the a01+ the edge on style, out-of-box comfort, and HDR — and calls the two nearly identical on paper. Against RayNeo, TechRadar’s advice is to buy whichever is cheaper on the day, noting the a01+ is brighter and lighter (a recorded 62 grams versus 76) while the Air 4 Pro counters with richer audio and a bigger virtual screen; TechRadar also records a $359 list price for the a01+ with the $299 figure as its regular discount, which is worth checking at purchase. Engadget and Steam Deck HQ, reviewing the a01+ on its own terms, both land unreservedly positive.

Value

At $299, the aggregated verdict is that the a01+ is one of the two or three best ways to spend the minimum on display glasses, and the single best if brightness, weight, or looks top your list. Engadget’s 9/10 calls it a dead-simple entry into the category; Steam Deck HQ says it is hard not to see the value for handheld owners. The tempering voices are about ceilings rather than flaws: Tom’s Guide reminds buyers the cost-cutting shows in the plastic and the text rendering, and productivity users — the one group every source cautions — should consider the Pro 2’s adjustability or a pricier pair with a sharper working view. Availability in the US runs through XREAL’s own store and Amazon per AR Compare’s spec record.

Who Should Buy the XREAL XBX A01+

Per the aggregated consensus: Steam Deck and handheld-PC gamers who want a big private screen with zero setup, travelers who want the lightest, brightest budget pair for flights and hotel rooms, first-time display-glasses buyers testing the category without spending flagship money, and anyone who enjoys the customizable snap-off faceplate. Who should skip: productivity workers who read small text all day, Switch and Switch 2 owners unwilling to buy a third-party dock, buyers outside the fixed pupillary-distance window, motion-sensitive users hoping stabilization mode would save them, and anyone who wants spatial pinning — that is what the XREAL One line is for.

Scores are aggregates of the cited reviews and hands-on reports, not AR Compare hands-on results.

Sources

• Engadget — Xreal XBX a01+ Review: Astoundingly Bright, Lightweight AR Glasses For $299 (9/10)
• Tom’s Guide — X By Xreal a01+ review: Cheap and (sort of) cheerful
• Tom’s Guide — Xreal xbx a01+ vs Viture Pro 2: Which AR glasses win?
• TechRadar — Xreal’s most stylish budget smart glasses give the RayNeo Air 4 Pro a real run
• Steam Deck HQ — XREAL xbx a01+ Review - XR Glasses That Feel Unreal For The Price Tag
• XREAL — XBX a01+ official product page (specifications)