Best AR glasses for Steam Deck gaming: Forget monitors, virtual screens and ultra-portability are where it's at

The virtual screen they provide is best on this list, not just in terms of raw specs, but perceivably so. Vibrant, very bright, supports up to 120Hz high refresh rate. The Rokid Max's stereo speakers are best too, in my opinion – quite full-sounding, considering how tiny they must be, in order to fit in those small frames.

Check out our full Rokid Max review for the details on these AR glasses.

Xreal Air (formerly known as Nreal Air)

• Price: $379
• Resolution: 1080p
• Display technology: Micro-OLED
• Refresh rate: 60 Hz
• FOV: 46°
• Brightness: Up to 400 nits perceived brightness
• Microphone: Yes
• Stereo speakers: Yes
• Weight: 79g

XREAL Air AR Glasses

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Xreal (formerly Nreal) is perhaps the biggest name in consumer AR glasses circles, and one of the most trusted names too, for good reason. The Xreal Air glasses might have lower specs on paper than our previous pick, but they're also more affordable, and their design is arguably better (at least if you prefer a more traditional sunglasses look).

In fact, I'd buy these primarily for the design, as it matches the Steam Deck's aesthetic quite a lot, almost like the Xreal Air were meant to be an accessory to it.

And they can indeed be a great one you may want, if you're looking for a good, large virtual display for your games, and pretty good stereo speakers paired with it too.

See our full Xreal Air review for the details on these.

What are the top benefits from using AR glasses instead of a portable monitor?

Besides the huge difference in portability, these AR glasses will provide not only a (likely) significantly better-quality screen for your games than what a sub-$400 external monitor would, but here's a bonus feature – the glasses also serve as headphones.

They have stereo speakers embedded into their frames, so it's an all-in-one entertainment system. You don't need to carry around a big portable monitor, and you don't need to carry headphones either. Just your Steam Deck and a pair of AR glasses in your pocket, and you're the king of gaming on-the-go.

How do I get the AR glasses working on my Steam Deck? Do I need special software, dongles or adapters?

If you're (understandably) worried that you'll have to do some complicated techy stuff – fear not, it's purely plug-and-play.

Just plug those AR glasses into the Steam Deck, and in a few seconds its own display will turn off, and the AR glasses will start serving as an external display for it.

The AR glasses listed here all work with USB Type-C ports, and come with the cable needed to plug them into the Steam Deck. So you really don't need to do anything more complex than connecting the two devices, and you're off to enjoy gaming on a bigger, virtual screen!

Because these are AR glasses, won't I see the real world through their screen? Won't this be distracting while playing, and impact my immersion?

All glasses listed here come with an optional cover that you can put over their lenses to black them out completely, turning the glasses into a private cinema, basically.

So it's up to you – if you're playing without putting that cover on – you will perceive the virtual screen as transparent, and you will see the real world through it, as the screen is projected over glass lenses.

But once you put that cover on – the lenses become solid black, so you'll only see the virtual screen in front of them, and you can fully immerse yourself into your games.



Whether on a plane flight, or during a long bus trip; wherever you may want to play your games – you have the option of either fully private and immersive gaming, or gaming on a floating, semi-transparent screen, while also being fully present and aware of your surroundings.

Can I watch movies or use the Steam Deck's desktop mode with these AR glasses too?

Definitely! Anything your Steam Deck can do, you can enjoy on a bigger screen with your AR glasses.

You can switch to desktop mode and browse the web, watch Netflix, YouTube, or anything else that you do for entertainment on your Steam Deck – the glasses will serve as an external monitor for it all, providing you with an (optionally) higher-resolution experience, on top of a more vibrant, immersive, and color-accurate one.

And again – they have stereo speakers too, so gaming and watching movies in particular are notably more immersive with AR glasses.

Plus, your head can rest comfortably on a pillow, not needing to face the Steam Deck at all.

Will AR glasses drain my Steam Deck battery faster?

Yep. These AR glasses contain two full-HD Micro-OLED screens (one for each of your eyes), yet no battery of their own. So the screens are powered by whichever device they're plugged into; in this case the Valve Steam Deck.

However, in my experience, the battery percentage won't dip that significantly faster than usual, especially if you don't bother changing the Steam Deck's default resolution into a higher one, so it's not a big deal to worry about, considering what you're getting – both a bigger screen and headphones.

In fact, the only real battery-related issue worth noting is that you can't charge your Steam Deck while using AR glasses, obviously, since the Steam Deck only has a single USB Type-C port.

So keep that in mind – once it's time to charge the handheld, those AR glasses need to be unplugged. If you wish to continue playing – you're back to that small low-resolution screen, until the Deck is done charging.