Brad Scoggin
Well, welcome back to the XR Industry Leaders podcast with ArborXR. I’m your host, Brad Scoggin, CEO and co-founder of ArborXR, along with my co-host, Will Stackable, also a co-founder and our CMO. Today we have a fun update. We don’t often talk about AR on the show, but today we get to sit down with Ralph Jodice, General Manager of North America for XREAL, and Amir Khorram, Global Head of Enterprise for XREAL. Welcome to the show, guys.
Ralph Jodice, XREAL
Thanks for having us.
Amir Khorram, XREAL
Thank you for having us.
Brad Scoggin
Before we jump into what XREAL is and some of the exciting updates you have, could you each give us a quick background on how you came to XREAL and what you do there?
Ralph Jodice, XREAL
Absolutely, and thanks again for having us. It’s always a pleasure to talk with you guys and your audience. I’m Ralph, General Manager for XREAL in North America, coming to you from Seattle. I just crossed my two-year milestone with the company, which feels really exciting.
In these two years, I’ve been leading efforts to expand into the U.S., focusing on partnerships and publicity. My background is in PR and communications—I spent 12 years with Xbox before this—so I’ve been deep in the gaming world and have brought some of that consumer focus into AR. It feels like the right time to be here. We’re on the verge of some huge moments in AR.
Transitioning from such a massive machine like Xbox into the fast-growing, dynamic environment of XREAL has been really energizing. I’m thrilled to hit the two-year milestone and continue helping build this company in North America.
Brad Scoggin
And for those listening, Ralph is wearing the glasses right now. They look just like regular glasses, and he committed to wearing them for the whole show to prove the point. We’ll see if he can handle it! Amir, we’ve known each other for years—go ahead and introduce yourself.
Amir Khorram, XREAL
If anyone can handle it, it’s Ralph. Thanks again for having me, Brad and Will. I’m Amir, Global Head of Enterprise for XREAL. I’ve been in XR for about 10 years, mostly focused on enterprise VR. I spent several years with HTC on the Vive team, then at Pico, before joining XREAL.
With the growth of augmented reality and everything it’s bringing to the enterprise space, I had the opportunity to join this team and help accelerate adoption. There are so many amazing use cases unfolding—some that are familiar from years of XR, and some brand new ones that are really exciting. I’m glad to be here.
Brad Scoggin
Great. I’m excited to dive into those use cases. But before that, Ralph, could you tell our audience what exactly XREAL is and walk us through the expansion from primarily a consumer focus to now including enterprise?
Ralph Jodice, XREAL
Of course. It’s been an interesting journey that’s brought us to a full-circle moment. XREAL is the global market leader in AR—not just AR glasses like the ones I’m wearing, but in AR overall. We just crossed our eight-year anniversary, and from the beginning we saw a need for lightweight, split-compute AR glasses.
The idea was to move away from bulky VR headsets toward something lightweight, where the compute is handled by a host device like a phone, Steam Deck, PC, or Mac. The reason is simple: if you put processors and batteries into the glasses, they become hot, heavy, and expensive—all in the wrong direction. From day one we’ve focused on keeping the heat, weight, and cost down through split compute.
We began shipping glasses in 2022, and since then have shipped over 600,000 units—more than anyone else in AR, including Magic Leap and HoloLens. Our bread and butter has been wearable displays and spatial computing—big cinematic virtual screens you can plug into virtually any device.
When we first launched back in late 2021 and early 2022, we actually included full spatial computing features—SLAM sensors, LIDAR, six degrees of freedom, gesture control. But at the time, the industry and developers weren’t ready for it. So we pulled back, focused on display-first devices, and had great success in the consumer space.
Now, after several years of growth, we’re returning to enterprise. Since June, we’ve been expanding back into enterprise with the same proven hardware but tailored services and software to meet enterprise needs. It’s really a full-circle moment: we started in enterprise, shifted to consumer, and now we’re bringing it all back together.
Brad Scoggin
Yeah, I love that you said earlier, when we talked before, “it just works.” And as we know in enterprise, that’s critical—it has to work. From our side, it just works; from the enterprise side, it must work. So Amir, I’d love to hear more about the use cases you mentioned. You said you’ve got some really cool ones—some we know about and some maybe we don’t.
Amir Khorram, XREAL
Yeah. When you think about enterprise XR over the years, there are the really common and widely adopted use cases: healthcare, education, corporate training, and location-based entertainment. Those have been the four pillars of enterprise XR deployments, and there’s been some amazing work done in that space by developers and hardware companies alike.
What we’re seeing at XREAL—because we’re focused on both spatial compute and spatial display—is that we’re entering spaces VR headsets always wanted to but never could. You can see it right now with Ralph wearing his glasses. The ability to wear an immersive display for multiple hours a day just wasn’t realistic with VR headsets. HMDs with battery packs, heavy tech on the bridge of your nose, fans to keep them cool—it was never comfortable.
Now, with lightweight and less expensive headsets, people can actually be more productive. They can wear the glasses for four, eight, even twelve hours throughout the day. Suddenly, they can set up multiple screens in front of them whether they’re on a flight, in a hotel room, or sitting at their desk. That’s where we’re seeing some really unique work efficiency use cases.
And I’d add, a lot of organizations that deployed VR headsets in healthcare, classrooms, or corporate training are now asking, “Can we do that again with a less expensive pair of glasses?” As we innovate, expand our field of view, and build on partnerships with companies like Google and Qualcomm, the lines are blurring. The gap between AR glasses and fully immersive VR headsets is getting smaller and smaller. That’s a big win for enterprise, a big win for students, and a big win for Fortune 500 companies.
It allows for much wider adoption. I’ve been saying this like a broken record, but it really kicks the door wide open. The door was open before—we’ve seen exciting deployments in enterprise XR—but now it’s being kicked wide open. Everyone can come in, experience it, and benefit from this tech.
Will Stackable
I don’t want to put either of you on the spot, but is there a specific enterprise deployment or use case that gets you particularly excited? And maybe could you describe it from the point of view of an employee—what’s different about their Monday morning because they have a pair of AR glasses?
Amir Khorram, XREAL
Yeah, I think remote assistance is a really cool one. You’ve got people out in the field doing all kinds of work. Being able to wear glasses and pull up critical information while you’re repairing an air conditioning unit, or climbing a cellular tower like we just shared on social media—that’s powerful. You can gather the information you need and apply it in time-sensitive or even dangerous tasks.
We always imagined VR being used in the field, but there were limitations because of the hardware design. With AR glasses, that vision is finally practical. Ralph, what about you—any interesting or killer use cases that stand out?
Ralph Jodice, XREAL
Yeah, I’ll say the one that excites me the most might be the simplest, but I find it the most impactful. Going back to what Amir mentioned—we recently posted a video of a guy in a hard hat climbing a cell tower. When he gets to the top, instead of pulling out a notebook for his notes, he puts on glasses and opens a giant three-foot virtual screen off to the side so he can read his steps. Seeing the first-person point of view from hundreds of feet in the air with that virtual screen—it’s awesome.
But for me, what’s even more exciting is what I’m doing right now. I’ve got a 310-inch curved screen in front of me, stretching from side to side. I’ve got you guys’ three-foot-high heads right here in front of me, my notes over here—including a little cheat sheet so I don’t get numbers wrong—my email over there, and my internal chat off to the side. The productivity is through the roof.
That’s what I hear from other “desk jockeys,” whether they’re in offices, airplanes, or hotels without external monitors. They say, “I need more space. I need to focus. I need to eliminate distractions.” For business travelers especially, where you can’t set up multiple monitors, this makes a huge difference. Your workstation goes where you go—it’s not just your laptop screen anymore.
That’s what I find most impactful: it just works. It’s easy, the deployments are easy, and the productivity gains are obvious.
Ralph Jodice, XREAL
I need more space. I need to be able to focus, to really home in and lose the distractions. Especially for business travelers who don’t have external screens, this ability to plug in anywhere means your workstation goes where you go. It’s not just your laptop screen anymore. That’s what I find most impactful—it just works. It’s easy, and deployments are easy.
We don’t need to over-control what the glasses do with an MDM solution, because they plug right into all your devices. That’s why I genuinely find this so exciting. It’s not just an enterprise-specific unit. You can use it for personal stuff too, which makes it more attractive to teams and employees. They realize, “Hey, I can also have a little fun with this.”
If I’m surfing Instagram or YouTube, it’s still a great experience. But I can also use it for work. It’s not just a “work-only” device. Personally, when I have a device that’s only for work, I start to loathe it—it becomes an albatross. With this, I can watch a movie on a flight, and then turn around and be way more productive at my day job. That one-two punch is powerful, and we’re seeing a lot of employees drawn to that as well.
Amir Khorram, XREAL
And to add to that, Brad, I remember when we recorded a podcast maybe two years ago, you asked about adoption in companies. At the time we were still asking, “Are we at a one-to-one level yet?” Because when we started in XR, it was more like hundreds-to-one, sometimes thousands-to-one. One VR headset on the warehouse floor or the office floor that people would check out and use for different things.
That ratio has shrunk dramatically, to dozens-to-one and now in some cases close to single units. And to Ralph’s point, the fact that these glasses are so easily used for both personal and professional use cases means we’re truly getting to that one-to-one stage in the enterprise. That’s exciting for IT managers and budget owners. Now you’ve got your laptop, your iPad, your phone—whatever the device is—and you can tag on a pair of immersive glasses that work across all of them.
Ralph Jodice, XREAL
Yeah, exactly. IT managers already know how to secure and manage a PC or a phone. They know how to lock it down or open it up. They know how to deploy software there. Maybe they don’t know how to deploy into a VR or AR headset, but they don’t have to. This just passes everything through. Keep locking down and managing the host device—that’s where your security needs to be. Let this just be the monitor for now.
And when you want to get more advanced with unique AR applications, great—build them into the device, and we’ll bring them to life through the glasses. You don’t have to learn a new language to make it work.
Brad Scoggin
Yeah, that’s cool. And Amir, what you said about one-to-one makes sense. I think AR glasses have the best shot in the short run of getting us there, which is exciting. On that note, I’m curious—where do you both see the market right now? More specifically, the growth of AR versus VR, and AR overall.
Amir Khorram, XREAL
Yeah.
Ralph Jodice, XREAL
They haven’t crossed yet, but VR is trending down while AR is trending up. They’re still a little ways apart because of the legacy and existing deployments, but VR deployments and sales are declining, while AR deployments and sales are increasing.
Some forecasts say global AR shipments will reach 600,000 units in 2025, with high estimates up to 32 million units by 2030. I love that. What will be really interesting is the segmentation of AR—AI glasses versus AR displays. They’re very different products.
The number one question I get is, “How are these different from Meta Ray-Bans?” And the answer is: night and day. Totally different. AI glasses versus AR glasses—it’s easy for people to get confused, but they’re not the same.
So yes, AR is on the incline. It’ll take time before it surpasses VR because of the legacy deployments, but the momentum is there. And we’re seeing more big tech players moving into AR. Just yesterday there were reports that Amazon has a couple of devices in the works. We all know Meta is developing more, both monocular and binocular, plus their Project Orion dev kit further down the road. Apple’s reportedly working on theirs as well. Great—bring it on. Rising tides in AR will lift all of us.
I really think we’re at the moment where more deployments are happening because big companies realize the form factor, comfort, and portability make a huge difference.
Will Stackable
That’s great. I wouldn’t say we’re seeing VR shipments go down, exactly—I think enterprises are still scaling up use cases. But where you’re right is in the relative AR-to-VR trend. AR used to be very narrow—like, maybe a manufacturing firm could afford a high-end headset that lasted two hours. Pretty small use case, small footprint.
Now, the long-term potential of AR is clear. It’s the one-to-one spatial device everyone’s going to have. And I want to dig into your hypothesis that we don’t need a dedicated AR device with all the compute onboard, because we already have devices that do that. We just need to plug them in. What do you think?
Will Stackable
I guess the question I have is, is that the long-term future, or do you think that's the midterm? And eventually, will we get to the point where everything is just on board with the glasses?
Amir Khorram
Thank you.
Ralph Jodice
Yeah, we'll eventually get there, but I think it's generations away, not a year away. It's a ways out. We’ll see that reflected in some of the big tech companies who are investing billions upon billions in R&D. They're coming to the same conclusion: all-in-one devices are years away. In the short term, we’re likely going to see split compute models, or very low-powered monocular notification display glasses.
Now, that’s cool, but those aren’t going to deliver full-powered cinematic, everywhere-you-look AR experiences. So we’re going to have that in-between period for a while. Our focus will stay on split compute, because these existing devices are really good at powering almost any scenario you need. Let’s keep using them and pass through, augmenting the experience—not just augmenting the world around us.
Will Stackable
Could you give a little bit of a comparison? Because “AR glasses” gets thrown around a lot, but not all AR glasses are the same. We see some that have everything on board, a battery pack, limited FOV, and maybe a two- or three-hour runtime before you need a hot swap. That’s just a different device than what you’re wearing right now. It’s heavier. So just give me a sense—not all the specs necessarily—but what does it feel like to wear yours compared to some of the AR glasses we’ve seen in the industry?
Ralph Jodice
Yeah, you’re right—that’s an important distinction. What I’m wearing today has a 57-degree field of view, which is massive in the AR space. Think back to when HoloLens launched with a postage-stamp field of view. It was an impressive computer, but that FOV was tiny.
Right now, I’m looking at a 310-inch curved screen. It’s so large I have to move my head side to side to take it all in. That’s a big deal. The average AR glasses today are maybe 48 to 50 degrees FOV. Adding seven degrees gives you noticeably more viewable space. For example, I can get a 222-inch screen into my field of view without moving my head corner to corner. That’s a ton of real estate, which can be one giant screen—or multiple holograms placed around you.
By contrast, a monocular, notification-only display might just give you a little text. There are good use cases for that, but it won’t deliver rich visuals. So it depends on what you need. With our approach, I don’t run out of battery because I’m plugged into my PC, which is plugged into the wall all day.
Also, weight matters. These are 84 grams—about two and a half ounces. Compare that to a pound-and-a-half VR headset. It’s night and day. We’ve spent a lot of time balancing the weight so it sits evenly between the nose and ears. It’s not as light as your everyday glasses, Will, but it’s very wearable. Meta’s Ray-Bans are a great example of an all-day wearable. What I’ve got here is an all-day portable.
I wear them while I work all day, because I need the virtual screens. But I don’t keep them on when I’m in the car or grabbing coffee. They’re easy to slip off, toss in the case, and carry around. So that’s the distinction: all-day wearable versus all-day portable. Both have value, but we’re still a ways off from having an all-day wearable with a 50-plus degree cinematic 1080p display. For now, those tend to be green-text notification glasses.
Amir Khorram
Although I’ll say, Ralph, you and I went to a Mariners game recently, and afterward, you pulled up Google Maps on the glasses. I put them on while we were walking, and I could see the arrows right in front of me showing which way to go. What’s here now is already crazy exciting. The potential is limitless.
Ralph Jodice
Yeah, and to circle back to your question, Will—we’re generations away from truly cutting the tether. Battery is the biggest reason. As soon as you put a battery inside glasses, they get hot, heavy, and expensive. That’s a big barrier to mass adoption. If you only get two hours of use before recharging, it’s just too limiting.
Amir Khorram
One thing I’ll add is that XREAL leans into the tether. Some companies try to hide it in stock images or avoid mentioning it, but the tether has real benefits. It keeps the device lightweight, cool, and comfortable to wear long term.
Amir Khorram
Most of the conversations I’ve been having with major enterprise organizations are like, “Yeah, that makes sense. That’s fine.” What we’re really trying to do is enable people to wear these glasses for longer than just a 15, 30, or 45-minute session. If that means having a tether into a Beam Pro, that’s totally fine. There’s nothing lost, and a lot gained.
Ralph Jodice
Exactly. And hot-swapping the battery is fast and easy. If you’re in the field with a puck in your pocket, it’s simple to swap it out or plug in an extra battery. It’s much easier than swapping out your whole headset.
Brad Scoggin
Mm-hmm.
Amir Khorram
Mm-hmm.
Brad Scoggin
All of that makes sense. The technology today is very impressive. I’m curious about the future. From what I understand, you’re expanding enterprise adoption using a device that was initially built for consumers. I know there are new devices coming with an expanded focus. Could you share what you can, including thoughts on price point—both for current devices and future ones?
Ralph Jodice
Good point. That’s a great segue. We have multiple models on the market at different price points. Some of our earlier generation devices are still available, though no longer being produced, and they’re accessible at $200, $300, or low $400s—plug-and-play.
Our current lineup, the One Series, has two models priced at $499 and $649. The differences are larger fields of view and slimmer technology inside the glasses, invisible from the outside. Enterprise models have additional features on top of that.
Looking forward, we’ll continue our consumer and enterprise lines with plug-and-play simplicity. You can develop for them, or just plug in. We’re also moving aggressively into Android XR with partners Google and Qualcomm. That platform, announced last December with Samsung as the launch partner, is a really impressive piece of technology.
Our focus now is Project Aura: Android XR glasses with split compute. It combines our glasses, Google’s XR software, Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets in a puck, and Unreal technology for an immersive experience. We’ve overclocked the system to a 70-degree field of view—huge in this space. SLAM sensors, cameras, RGBs, all integrated. Unite that with Gemini and AI, and you have a legitimate XR assistant. Pricing and availability aren’t ready to share yet, but we’ll have more details in 2026.
Amir Khorram
The excitement around Project Aura is incredible. XR developers, distributors, and strategic partners are all eager to engage. I’ve seen more enthusiasm than in any prior XR launch I’ve been part of. People are asking when they can try it and start developing for it. It’s a testament to Google’s Android XR platform, our partnership with Qualcomm, and the capabilities we’ve built into these devices. Partnering with ArborXR to bring Aura into the enterprise globally is really exciting.
Ralph Jodice
Project Aura is a bespoke puck-and-glasses solution. It’s not BYOD, which is great for enterprises—it gives you much more freedom to customize and make it your own solution.
Brad Scoggin
That’s awesome. Very exciting. Thanks for sharing. If people want to stay up to speed on your work, what’s the best place to follow you?
Ralph Jodice
The easiest place is xreal.com. You’ll find consumer and enterprise solutions there. On social media, we’re @xreal_global. We’ll also be at trade shows like AES, Enterprise Summit, CES, and Augmented World Expo, so you can see us there. Our enterprise landing pages are also expanding as the program develops.
Amir Khorram
Hit us up on LinkedIn as well. We get messages regularly from partners, end users, and developers worldwide. If you want to know more about our current market offerings or Project Aura, just send a DM, and we’ll gladly discuss next steps or strategic partnerships. The opportunities in AR and enterprise are significant—it’s an exciting time for everyone to get involved.
Ralph Jodice
Speaking of opportunities, I want to turn it back to you, Brad and Will. What do you think AR needs to accelerate adoption and succeed in the enterprise space? What’s missing, and what do end users need to see for it to take off?
Brad Scoggin
Right now, what we’re seeing live in the field is mostly VR. In enterprise, the value proposition is clear: people learn faster, retain more information, and there’s a strong ROI. The AR use cases we see today are almost exclusively remote assist, and there are challenges—like form factor and device types—that need to be addressed.
Amir Khorram
Absolutely.
Brad Scoggin
So a lot of what you’ve shared today is exciting for enterprise. But I think the “killer use case” for AR hasn’t fully emerged yet. Once we have proof of that, combined with the right price point and ease of use, adoption could really accelerate.
Ralph Jodice
Mm-hmm.
Will Stackable
There are a few use cases. Remote assist is the most widespread—it’s compelling because it can save companies significant costs by avoiding travel for experts. Instead, they can guide someone on-site virtually.
We’re also seeing promising applications in healthcare, like surgical guidance overlays, retail with virtual try-ons, and in manufacturing, not just remote assist, but things like part picking and warehouse navigation. A lot of the current challenges are hardware-related.
Amir Khorram
Absolutely.
Ralph Jodice
Yep.
Will Stackable
You might run a pilot that works well, but if the headset is heavy or has a short battery life, adoption is tricky. Employees might tolerate it for short sessions, but full-day usage—like part picking—is harder.
Ralph Jodice
Yeah.
Amir Khorram
What XREAL is doing with this form factor is moving XR use cases from the back of house to the front of house. Previously, VR headsets were used in classrooms or back rooms, often out of line of sight. Now, with devices like One Pro and Project Aura, employees can walk retail floors, work outdoors, or scale a cellular tower while overlaying critical information. It’s the difference between simply rendering the environment and actually interacting with it while receiving essential data in real time.
Ralph Jodice
I completely agree. Remote assist is critical. Last week, we turned on live streaming for remote assist scenarios, which is unique because these glasses don’t have a native camera. We figured out a modular solution, enabling live streaming to video conferencing apps like Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams through our puck. It’s a capability that didn’t exist natively, and it’s exciting to see it come to life.
Brad Scoggin
Mm-hmm.
Ralph Jodice
Right in the middle of my glasses, there’s a small, removable camera. It took some effort to get it working, but now live streaming is seamless. We’ve built a lot behind the scenes to make this possible, using off-the-shelf technology for the glasses themselves.
Brad Scoggin
That’s awesome. I really appreciate your time today. This has been great, and we look forward to chatting again soon.
Amir Khorram
Thanks, gentlemen. Appreciate it.
Ralph Jodice
Thanks for having us. This was great. See you at AES soon.
Amir Khorram
See you soon.
Brad
Well, man, it’s been a while since we really went deep on AR. That was fun. It’s exciting to hear where the technology is today and what’s coming next.
Will Stackable
Yeah, I kept thinking about this: when I was a kid, I used to fly on planes and read the Sky Mall magazine cover to cover. There was always an insert for the same type of glasses, and I remember thinking, “This is the future. This is going to be so awesome.” Then one time I got my hands on them—it was the worst experience. These chunky plastic glasses had the tiniest little blurry screens. It was basically the opposite of what I imagined as a kid.
Brad Scoggin
Ha ha ha.
Will Stackable
But now, think about it—a pair of AR glasses where you could sit on a plane with an immersive big screen in front of you. That’s pretty cool. The price point is really interesting to me too. I don’t know of anything else in AR at that range. And the field of view—if anyone’s tried HoloLens, I remember putting it on for the first time and having to move my head around to find objects embedded in the room. It completely breaks the immersion.
If you’re an employee using AR for work, it needs to just be there. It needs to be in your field of view, it needs to work, and it needs to be as good—or better—than a large monitor setup where you can have multiple spreadsheets side by side. The glasses themselves aren’t enough; the experience has to deliver. Hearing Ralph talk about wearing them four or five hours a day really underscores that.
Also, it’s interesting to see the shift from all-in-one AR glasses, with battery and everything on the device, to a lightweight pair connected to a pocket puck. That seems to be where more companies are moving, and it’s exciting to see it in action.
Brad Scoggin
You’re officially the first person I’ve ever met who bought something from Sky Mall, Will. That’s a new fact about you!
As always, we really appreciate everyone listening. Make sure you check us out and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and we’ll catch you next time.
