{"id":400357,"date":"2026-01-10T10:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T10:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/400357\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T10:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T10:55:13","slug":"next-level-vision-these-smart-glasses-stole-the-show-at-ces-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/400357\/","title":{"rendered":"Next-Level Vision: These Smart Glasses Stole the Show at CES 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS\u2014The Consumer Electronics Show is always filled with wearable technology, and that means new smart glasses<\/a> to check out. I saw a fair share as I walked the seemingly endless booths, halls, stages, and meeting rooms of CES 2026<\/a>. Glasses for playing games and watching movies, glasses for talking to AI assistants, glasses for captioning and translating conversations\u2014you name it, this show had it.<\/p>\n

Unless you name Android XR, however. Google\u2019s promising mixed reality platform could become a much-needed unifying force for the entire category<\/a> of smart glasses in the future, but no Android XR models were on display at CES. This wasn\u2019t too surprising, as Google only\u00a0just showed off<\/a>\u00a0its Android XR smart glasses development kits and XReal\u2019s Project Aura last month. I was impressed by what I saw then, but the timing of the demo, and XReal\u2019s confirmation that Project Aura wouldn\u2019t be at CES, made it clear to me that Android XR smart glasses will be something to keep an eye out for at next year’s show, not this one.<\/p>\n

That said, here are the best smart glasses I saw at CES this year.<\/p>\n

XReal 1S\"XReal<\/p>\n

\n (Credit: Will Greenwald)\n<\/p>\n

I said XReal didn\u2019t show Project Aura at CES, but I didn\u2019t say XReal didn\u2019t show anything at the show. The company revealed its 1S smart glasses, the follow-up to last year\u2019s XReal One<\/a>. It has a new Real 3D feature that can convert any 2D video signal it receives to 3D. I\u2019ve been testing the $449 1S<\/a> for a few weeks, and I can say that Real 3D is surprisingly effective, especially when playing video games. <\/p>\n

Xreal has some wrinkles to iron out, though, the biggest factors being frame rate drops and flickering. This is based on a pre-release implementation, though, and the company will hopefully smooth out the chopiness. The 1S also adds my favorite feature from the XReal One Pro<\/a>: an ultrawide 32:9 mode that has become vital when I\u2019m trying to get work done on the go. Those are some pretty nice upgrades, considering that the 1S is launching for $50 less than the One and $200 less than the One Pro.<\/p>\n

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Asus ROG XReal R1\"Asus<\/p>\n

\n (Credit: Will Greenwald)\n<\/p>\n

XReal unveiled a second pair of smart glasses at CES, this time alongside Asus\u2019 Republic of Gamers brand: the ROG XReal R1. It\u2019s claimed to be the fastest display-equipped smart glasses ever, with a 240Hz refresh rate. It also features built-in head tracking for a more immersive view, just like XReal\u2019s other smart glasses, although it lacks Real 3D and an ultrawide mode. It does have some snazzy RGB gamer lights on the temples, though.<\/p>\n

RayNeo Air 4\"RayNeo<\/p>\n

\n (Credit: Will Greenwald)\n<\/p>\n

The RayNeo Air 3s Pro<\/a> was my top budget pick for smart glasses last year, thanks to its incredibly vibrant colors, and the Air 4 looks like an even more impressive value. According to RayNeo, it\u2019s the first pair of smart glasses to support high dynamic range (HDR<\/a>) content in HDR10, meaning it can show greater extremes of brightness and darkness in the same picture, and more variations between them, than non-HDR video. Otherwise, its specs are very similar to the\u00a0Air 3s Pro. So is the low $299 price.<\/p>\n

Recommended by Our Editors<\/p>\n

XGimi Memomind Air Display\"Xgimi<\/p>\n

\n (Credit: Will Greenwald)\n<\/p>\n

Xgimi is known for projectors, but it\u2019s jumping into the smart glasses field with the MemoMind series. The company unveiled three new pairs of AI smart glasses, all of which are built around a hybrid multi-LLM system that combines OpenAI, Azure, and Qwen models depending on what you ask them to do. The Memo One has a binocular green waveguide display, while the Memo Air Display has a monocular one, and a third, unnamed, audio-only model will come later this year. More than anything, they all looked and felt like ordinary, even stylish, glasses. And at just 1.02 ounces, the Memo Air Display is one of the lightest display smart glasses I\u2019ve seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Captify Pro\"Captify<\/p>\n

\n (Credit: Will Greenwald)\n<\/p>\n

Most waveguide display smart glasses have some form of live captioning capability, but it can be hit-or-miss, limited by the quality of the microphones and the speech-to-text engine. Captify\u2019s smart glasses, which I first saw at CES last year<\/a>, are designed specifically for providing closed captions, and the new Pro model is especially well-equipped. It boasts beam-forming, noise-cancelling microphones specifically for hearing whoever you\u2019re talking to. It can identify non-speech sounds like laughter or alarms for true closed captioning (and not just subtitles). It can also translate speech between 40 different languages, and can even function offline.<\/p>\n

The Captify Pro isn\u2019t cheap, though; at $899, it’s more expensive than most other waveguide models, and it doesn\u2019t have any additional functionality beyond captioning and translation. It’s built with those specific purposes in mind, with the intention of excelling at them.<\/p>\n

About Our Expert<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/p>\n

Will Greenwald<\/p>\n

Principal Writer, Consumer Electronics<\/p>\n

Experience<\/p>\n

I\u2019m PCMag\u2019s home theater and AR\/VR expert, and your go-to source of information and recommendations for game consoles and accessories, smart displays, smart glasses, smart speakers, soundbars, TVs, and VR headsets. I\u2019m an ISF-certified TV calibrator and THX-certified home theater technician, I’ve served as a CES Innovation Awards judge, and while Bandai hasn\u2019t officially certified me, I\u2019m also proficient at building Gundam plastic models<\/a> up to MG-class. I also enjoy genre fiction writing, and my urban fantasy novel,\u00a0Alex Norton, Paranormal Technical Support,<\/a>\u00a0is currently available on Amazon.<\/p>\n


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