Xreal on Tuesday announced a set of so-called “extended reality” glasses that run Google’s Android XR software, as the companies look to take on Meta and Apple in a new arena.

The launch marks an early step from Alphabet‘s Google to become a major operating system for future virtual and augmented reality smart glasses and headsets, much like Android has turned into a default option for most smartphones.

Xreal, a Chinese company backed by Alibaba, calls its glasses Project Aura and describes them as a lightweight extended reality — or XR — product. XR is a broad term encompassing technologies that merge real and virtual worlds.

Android XR, Google’s operating system for these products, was launched last year and is infused with its AI assistant Gemini.

Samsung’s Project Moohan, a type of headset that looks to rival Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro, was the first device announced that runs Android XR. Samsung plans to launch the hardware this year.

Xreal’s Project Aura is the second device announced that will operate on Android XR, and it is the first such device in the glasses format.

Few details have been released about the tech, which was announced at the Google I/O conference. Xreal said the glasses will have Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon XR chips, which are specially designed for these pieces of hardware.

Xreal also said the glasses will be “tethered,” meaning they will connect to another device to run. The company has not yet provided details on what the glasses will need to be linked to.

The startup has released previous products that have run its in-house operating system, featured its own chips and connected to its own second device. But Project Aura will now rely more heavily on Google’s software and on Qualcomm semiconductors.

The timeline and price of Project Aura were not immediately disclosed. Xreal will likely release a headset for developers to start experimenting and building apps first, then a consumer product at a later date.

For Google, the more devices that run Android XR, the more appealing it will be for developers to build apps for the operating system. A large part of any operating system’s success is the quality of apps available for users.

For Xreal, being an early partner with Google and working with Qualcomm will give it access to the latest technology in the XR space, as well as to marketing for its products.

The launch of Project Aura also marks a step up competition with Meta and its continued efforts with the Meta Ray-Ban product and the likes of Snap, which unveiled a new set of its Spectacles last year.

Glasses also offer an alternative to bulky headsets. Tech giants including Apple and Meta see extended reality as a potential new paradigm in computing.

Palo Alto Networks reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the latest quarter but its gross margin was below estimates. The stock dropped 4% in extended trading on Tuesday.

Here’s how the company did, compared to analysts’ consensus estimates from LSEG:

• Earnings per share: 80 cents, adjusted vs. 77 cents expected
• Revenue: $2.29 billion vs. $2.28 billion expected

Sales in the company’s fiscal third-quarter grew 15% from $1.98 billion a year earlier. Net income fell to $262.1 million, or 37 cents per share, from $278.8 million, or 39 cents per share, a year ago.

The company said its fourth-quarter adjusted earnings will come be between 87 cents and 89 per share, ahead of analysts estimates of 86 cents.

Palo Alto Networks said that its non-GAAP gross margin was 76%, which trailed analysts’ estimates of 77.2%.

The company said capital expenditures for its latest quarter were $68.3 million, below Wall Street estimates of $70.8 million.

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Elon Musk said Tuesday that he expects Tesla and xAI will continue buying chips from semiconductor giants Nvidia and AMD, and possibly others.

Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, which now owns X (formerly Twitter) has already installed 200,000 GPUs at its Colossus facility in Memphis, the Tesla CEO told CNBC’s David Faber on Tuesday. XAI is also planning a 1 million GPU facility outside of Memphis, Musk said. 

He did not specify how many chips the company had already ordered and by which date they may be installed.

“A few years ago, I made a very obvious prediction, which is that the limitation on AI will be chips,” he said.

At his autos business, Tesla, Musk said the company’s Dojo supercomputer in Buffalo, New York is already used for training its Autopilot and Optimus robotics systems.

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