Nreal, a Chinese manufacturer of consumer-grade augmented reality (AR) smart glasses, announced last week it would debut its flagship ‘Nreal Light” in the US on November 18th.
The Beijing-based firm unveiled its smart glasses during the 2019 consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and began shipping its products to selected regions in early 2020.
According to social media posts, the company will soon release the smart glasses in the US, allowing North American consumers to enjoy the vast amount of AR immersive experiences available on the Nreal storefront for the first time.
The news comes as the Chinese firm released Air, a brand new pair of media-focused smart glasses set for release globally in the first quarter of 2022.
The smart glasses have a decreased weight and improved streaming capabilities, which Dr Xu Chi, CEO and Founder of Nreal, claimed to be of “paramount importance and the basis for how Nreal decided to strike a balance.”
As 2022 approaches, Nreal will launch its long-awaited expansion into the US to compete with rival AR solutions such as Magic Leap, who recently revealed it raised $500 million USD in funding to develop the Magic Leap 2, and 5G leader Qualcomm, who purchased AR Software Firm Wikitude in September.
A Complicated Expansion
Nreal is debuting the Light product in the US following a complicated legal history that massively delayed global availability of Nreal’s products.
Nreal initially suffered mounting legal pressure from Unreal Engine parent company Epic Games, who filed a legal complaint claiming the trademarks ‘Nreal’ and ‘Unreal’ were visually similar.
Epic Games also argued the similar trademarks could confuse shared technology partners.
In response, Nreal supporters and investors assisted the Chinese firm with a countersuit, which claimed the trademarks were “sufficiently distinctive.”
After a 60-day negotiation period in 2019, US courts ordered Epic to pay all related court fees.
In addition, Dr Xu Chi faced a scandal with former employers Magic Leap, who accusing him of stealing company secrets to develop Nreal products, but US courts later overturned the case.
Recent Funding
Following the legal battles, Nreal announced it will become a publicly traded company just before securing roughly $100 million USD in a round of funding that increased the firm’s net worth to a massive $700 million USD.
Nreal products were previously available in South Korea, Japan, and Spain, but the additional funding has allowed the company to enter global markets.
In a statement to CNBC, Dr Xu Chi said at the time China was “definitely a huge market” which the company planned to enter next year along with the US and other countries.
