Nreal’s $599 mixed reality glasses are launching in the US on Verizon

Nreal’s augmented reality glasses are coming to the US through a Verizon partnership. The $599 Nreal Light glasses will appear in 20 Verizon stores nationwide on November 30th and be available for purchase online December 2nd. The glasses are compatible with several recent 5G-enabled Samsung phones and one OnePlus 5G device.

The Nreal Light is one of the only consumer-focused AR headsets on the market. The Light glasses launched first in Korea last year, and they’ve since expanded to Japan and Germany. They support projecting 3D images into real space using reflected micro OLED displays, while outward-facing cameras let the glasses scan real space and pin virtual objects — like screens or game boards — into particular locations. The visual experience is broadly similar to the Microsoft HoloLens or Magic Leap One, although the Light uses different optics technology. Nreal particularly touts the glasses’ wider-than-average 53 degree field of view, as well as a light 106-gram design.

Nreal’s glasses are powered by an Android smartphone — in the US, they’ll work with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus 5G, Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G, Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G UW, Samsung Galaxy S20 5G UW, Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G, and OnePlus 8 5G UW. Once you’ve plugged it into the glasses, you can either directly mirror your phone screen, including streaming video apps, or enter a full mixed reality experience that includes some AR games and productivity tools. The phone itself acts as a controller, although Nreal also lets developers build apps with hand tracking.

Earlier this year, Nreal announced that it was launching a second, cheaper pair of camera-free glasses called the Nreal Air. Those glasses are set to debut in China, Japan, and Korea, with no launch date set for the US.