Augmented World Expo (AWE) has evolved rapidly into one of the biggest shows for seeing the future of virtual reality, smart glasses and spatial computing. This year's edition gave us some truly showstopping news with earth-shaking announcements from Snap, Qualcomm and many more.
It really feels like we're getting to the point where the lines of VR headset and smart glasses are starting to blur into one device that gives you all the performance of a big set of goggles — crammed into something the size of specs.
And while there were some key headline announcements, that key DNA of small innovations that will change the face of spatial computing in the future remained strong underneath. We were able to go hands-and face-on with several products here, and now it's time to pick the cream of the crop. Here are our picks for best of AWE 2026.
Best of show: Snap Specs
Snap's iPhone moment is here. The Snap Specs are official, and they're far beyond any other standalone glasses you've seen in terms of capability. This is what happens when you combine the tech of the best VR headsets with the portability of the best smart glasses.
The end result is more than just a technologically advanced set of frames, but rather a new paradigm in computing — moving it away from being a tool that takes you out of the world to a form that gets out of the way. They're a bit chunky, but the design around this hefty tech makes them look kinda stylish!
They've worked with developers for years with prototype hardware, and with over 5 million lenses ready to use from measuring things in free space to augmented guides on complex real-world tasks like fixing a car, and much more.
Will Specs stick the landing? That's the ultimate question of these $2,195/£1,995 glasses. That's a high price to pay — making them much more targeted towards the early adopters in this space. Time will tell what happens in the future of these glasses, but we did genuinely just witness a breakthrough moment in AR.
Jason England
Best chip: Snapdragon Reality Elite
Snapdragon Reality Elite is the high-end follow-up to the XR Gen 2 that powers the Galaxy XR headset. It comes with upgrades in performance and efficiency, powering the Xreal Aura compute puck.
In several eyes-on demos with the Xreal Aura, I've been impressed with the performance of the glasses and the processor. The glasses are responsive and quick, and I'm not saying it's the only thing that enables the Auras to connect to the Switch 2, but we played latency-free Breath of the Wild and the chip certainly helped make that happen.
This chip does what Qualcomm claims by bringing "spatial computing into the AI era." Snapdragon Reality Elite blurs the line AR glasses and VR headsets with hardware that makes spatial computing useful; now it's up to the software to catch up.
Scott Younker
Best AR glasses: Xreal Aura
The Samsung Galaxy XR is a good mixed reality headset, but for all the Android XR and Gemini features it has, they feel a little limited in the isolation of a chunky VR set you use at home.
Enter Xreal's Aura, and turns out a pair of AR glasses is the answer to a lot of this. Moving to optical see-through (OST - basically seeing the real world through lenses rather than a display) creates a real nice augmented layer with what you see in Android XR.
That compute puck packs Snapdragon Reality Elite to keep all your experiences running buttery smooth, and apps that were just fine on a VR headset become great on here, like the tabletop game Demeo for example!
Throw in a massive 70-degree field of view, and you've got another eal step towards squashing VR tech into glasses.
Jason England
Best AR Accessory: KiWear 2nd Gen smart ring
Kiwear's smart ring might just be the way we control smart glasses in the future. The ring utilizes intuitive gestures on your finger to navigate menus, open apps and even control the volume by twirling your finger in a circle.
We saw an early iteration at AWE 2025, but the version I tried this year was even better.
The second-generation version adds "whisper controls" which allow you to talk into the ring to prompt an AI assistant. This can be used for prompts or AI programs. In one example, we were able to ask about AWE using an on-device model
The ring doesn't come with health sensors like an Oura or Galaxy Ring, but maybe it doesn't need it when what you're really doing is using it as a controller for your other devices.
Scott Younker
Best VR accessory: bHaptics TactGlove
I've been impressed by the immersive bHaptics VR haptic vest and gloves in the past, and they didn't disappoint this year. The updates were minor: new motors in the palm of the glove and a redesigned VCM wrist motor, but all three proved to make demos a more interesting experience.
The two palm motors make it feel like actually holding things in your hand versus gripping with your fingers. Meanwhile, the redesigned wrist motor helps give some weight to lifting objects, especially in demos where the items were supposed to have different measurements, like a wooden block versus a metal one or a dumbbell compared to a drill.
Scott Younker
Best innovation: Lumus Waveguide display lenses
An obviously important part of smart glasses are the lenses you see through especially now that displays are being integrated into AI glasses and not just AR spectacles.
Lumus, which makes the lenses for the Meta Ray Ban Display glasses is interesting because the company builds lenses that utilize mirrors to refract the light for the images. I was told by David Goldman, Lumus's VP of marketing, that this enables the lens to be thinner, lighter and enables direct bonding of perscription layers as needed.
It makes for impressive tech when normal seeming glasses can display information and down the line even pictures and video at high resolution with decent color.
Scott Younker
Best budget AR glasses: X By Xreal a01
I've got a confession to make. While the X By Xreal a01 glasses are indeed being showcased right here at AWE, I've already had a pair for a while now — having flown around the world with them!
So this is equal parts an award pick and a small set of impressions on my time with them. And in short, they get rid of many things a lot of regular folks don't care about (3DoF tracking, electrochromic lenses), and focus on the fundamental experience most of us actually use them for: watching stuff and playing games on a private cinema display.
And the end result is a solid pair of $299 AR glasses — the picture is bright and colorful, and while there isn't any image tracking whatsoever, smooth follow does keep things far less jittery.
Jason England
More from Tom's Guide
- I’ve worn smart glasses for over 5 years — here’s the best AR and AI glasses in 2026
- Tested: Xreal Aura DOES work with Nintendo Switch over USB-C — they won’t tell me how they did it, but I think Snapdragon Reality Elite and Android XR is the way
- I just tested the phone everybody thinks is a preview of the iPhone Fold — God, I hope they’re wrong
