Stephen Schenck / Android Authority
Right now is an utterly fantastic time to get into head-mounted displays (HMDs). Whether we’re talking immersive VR experiences, lightweight smart glasses, or the new world of Android XR, there’s something for everyone. And as I learned while visiting XREAL at CES 2026 last week, this hardware has come a long way.
I first got started with HMDs about 30 years ago, thanks to the VictorMaxx Stuntmaster for my SNES. It offered a private viewing experience, supported limited game input… and was very, very bad. Heavy, uncomfortable to wear, and worst of all, featuring a low-res, blurry screen, it coasted by on sheer novelty. Obviously, things have gotten a lot better since then, but until XREAL handed me its latest AR glasses, I really had no idea just how far we’d come.
Will 2026 be the year you buy your first pair of smart glasses? 4 votes Absolutely! There's finally a lot of good models to choose from! 25 % Maybe. I'm going to wait and see what things look like in another six months. 50 % Probably not. I think we're still a generation or two away from being great. 25 % Nah. These kind of wearables just aren't for me. 0 %
There’s “good,” and then there’s “this can replace your monitor” good
Stephen Schenck / Android Authority
What better place to start than top of the line? XREAL just unveiled its ROG XREAL R1 glasses with some eye-melting specs. These are built for gamers who are either looking for a little privacy or just want to enjoy the effect of a high-end gaming monitor wherever they go. To that end, XREAL has built these AR glasses with specs like a 240Hz refresh rate, 1080p resolution, and bright, responsive micro-OLED panels.
Ever hear an early AR adopter brag about getting work done on an airplane by plugging in their glasses to view a big, virtual screen — and found it a little hard to believe? How could something small enough to fit into a frame still deliver an image with enough fidelity to handle fine text, let alone interacting with the precision of a cursor?
Seeing the R1 in action for the first time feels slightly unreal.
Well: It can. It absolutely can, and seeing the R1 in action for the first time feels slightly unreal. I was expecting to be let down by the image quality, but it really does approach that of an actual monitor. The biggest downside is arguably the viewing angle — it’s quite good, at 57 degrees, but even that’s still a bit short of fully immersive.
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