XREAL One Pro review: a big private screen that lives on a cable

You buy these for the screen. Sony Micro-OLED panels give you a 57-degree view at 1080p per eye and up to 120Hz, with rich, accurate color and very few reflections. Text is clear enough for laptop work, though if you read code all day, the optics show their limits.

Three levels of electronic dimming take you from seeing the room to shutting it out, and buttons on the frame change the screen's size, distance and color temperature without an app. The X1 chip inside keeps the screen pinned in place as you turn your head.

At 87 grams they're comfortable enough to forget for a whole film. The nose pads sit on metal arms you can bend, and spare pads come in the box. If your eyes sit close together, focus can be hard to get right, so try them on early and send them back if the picture never sharpens. XREAL sells prescription lenses made for this model, and lenses from the older Air and Air 2 won't fit.

The speakers are clear, with more bass than speakers this small should have. In a quiet room you won't need earbuds for a video. On a plane you will.

Almost anything that sends video out over USB-C will drive them. On an iPhone, XREAL lists the iPhone 15, 16 and 17 series and excludes the 16e, so check XREAL's list before you count on any other model. UltraWide, the extra-wide virtual desktop, isn't available on iPhone at all. Android phones need USB-C video output, which on a Pixel means a Pixel 8 or later, and UltraWide only works in a desktop mode such as Samsung DeX. A Mac, a Windows laptop, a Steam Deck or a ROG Ally gets the full feature set, UltraWide included.

Consoles take more hardware. A PlayStation 5 or an Xbox needs a powered HDMI-to-USB-C adapter, and the original Switch needs the XREAL Hub. For the Switch 2, XREAL's own pages disagree on which adapter works, so check with XREAL before you count on it. There's no built-in camera. The XREAL Eye add-on brings photos and video.

The XREAL 1S is the one most people should look at first. It costs less, weighs less and adds auto-dimming, and the One Pro mostly buys you a wider view. If you just want a big screen for as little as possible, the XREAL XBX a01+ does the basic job for far less. The Viture Beast also beats it for less money, with more tint levels and a built-in camera, unless you want a frame with no camera. Against the RayNeo GT Max, it's a matter of taste: the GT Max is the lighter frame, comes in three sizes and gives a bigger virtual screen, while the One Pro has speakers tuned by Bose.

The One Pro does win some matchups. The ROG XREAL R1 is a gaming pair that costs much more, and for movies and work the One Pro is the better buy. XREAL's newer 1 Pro+ sells at the same price and does much the same job, so for most people either pair is fine.