On October 23rd, RayNeo, a leading consumer AR brand, held its autumn product launch event, officially unveiling its fourth-generation pocket TV, the "ThunderNeo Air 4 Series" AR glasses. These are the world's first AR glasses to support HDR10, equipped with the Vision 4000 image quality chip, a B&O audio system, and support for AI HDR and AI 3D video. They offer a three-pronged approach to image, sound, and content quality, redefining the performance envelope for movie-watching AR glasses.
As a representative force in Chinese innovation, RayNeo is leading the global consumer AR market with its technological leadership and market share. According to Counterpoint Research, a third-party organization, by the second quarter of 2025, RayNeo will hold a 39% market share, taking the top spot in the global AR glasses market and surpassing Apple to become the third largest player in the global XR market (including VR headsets and AR glasses).
This data reflects the strength of RayNeo's products, technology, and strategic focus. Earlier, the Thunderbird X3 Pro was successfully selected as one of Time magazine's "Best Inventions of 2025," competing alongside tech giants like Apple and Huawei, earning global recognition. Thunderbird Innovation's establishment of two major production headquarters for optics and complete devices in the Yangtze River Delta region provides solid production capacity for continued technological research and development and large-scale market delivery. From China's champion to the world's number one, Thunderbird has completed its transformation from a follower to an industry-defining leader.
The Thunderbird Air 4 series marks another key milestone in Thunderbird Innovation's transformation of its world-leading technological strength into mass-market consumer products. Thunderbird Innovation, in collaboration with Pixelworks, a leading global image quality chip company, has developed the world's first AR image quality chip, the "Vision 4000." This ushers AR glasses into the era of custom chips, breaking the limitations of general-purpose hardware and adapting the chip to wearable screen scenarios, solving challenges in image quality, sound quality, and immersion.
The world's first HDR10 AR glasses have been released! Thunderbird Air 4 Reshapes Pocket TV Performance
Powered by Vision 4000, the Thunderbird Air 4 series debuts support for HDR10 picture quality, delivering twice the dynamic range, 1200 nits of brightness output, and up to 1.07 billion colors. This delivers 64 times the richness of traditional 8-bit images, giving you the feeling of being right in the director's studio. For SDR-only sources, the Thunderbird Air 4 series also supports AI real-time SDR-to-HDR technology, giving ordinary video content a new lease of life.
Notably, in a blind picture quality test conducted by professional review blogger Wang Ziru and 15 film school students, the Thunderbird Air 4 series' display score surpassed that of professional industrial-grade large screens, demonstrating that its "portable cinema" experience surpasses even some professional devices.
The world's first HDR10 AR glasses have been released! Thunderbird Air 4 Reshapes the Performance Limits of Pocket TVs
In addition to a significant display upgrade, the Thunderbird Air 4 series also delivers a revolutionary audio experience. The Air 4 series is the world's first AR glasses to support B&O audio tuning. Equipped with four speakers, they utilize ultra-large polymer diaphragm drivers and independent DAC chips, delivering cleaner and more layered sound. To achieve superior sound quality, Thunderbird's innovative audio engineers traveled to Denmark to collaborate with B&O acoustic engineers on audio tuning, resulting in high-sound pressure level and dynamic performance. Furthermore, Thunderbird and B&O jointly developed a new sound guide fin accessory that directs sound directly to the ear, reducing sound loss by 80% and preserving complete sound detail, truly achieving a quantum leap in sound quality.
The Thunderbird Air 4 series also uses new AI capabilities to give ordinary video content a new lease of life. The Air 4 series debuts the world's first AI 3D feature. Using AI analysis, users can convert 2D videos to 3D with a single click, delivering an ultra-immersive viewing experience. Furthermore, the Thunderbird Air 4 series supports AI conversion of SDR videos to HDR, allowing users to enjoy stunning HDR-like image quality on the Thunderbird Air 4 without having to wait for remastering of their existing SDR content.
The Thunderbird Air 4 is priced at 1,599 yuan, while the Air 4 Pro is priced at 1,699 yuan. These models bring the high-end experience of "professional image quality + B&O audio" to the mass market, completely breaking the industry trend of high prices for cutting-edge AR technology. At the conference, Thunderbird Innovation also unveiled the Thunderbird Air 3s 4th Anniversary Edition, further lowering the barrier to entry for AR users at a price of 1,299 yuan. Available now on JD.com.
A complete AI+AR refresh accelerates the widespread adoption of smart glasses.
In addition to the Air 4, at this event, Thunderbird Innovation also announced fall product updates for the Thunderbird V3 series of AI photography glasses and the Thunderbird X3 Pro AR glasses.
The Thunderbird V3 series has achieved Apple MFi certification for the first time and supports Apple Watch gesture control for even more convenient operation. The V3 series will also fully integrate the AI Agent Store, offering a rich selection of AI agents, including real-time cooking tips and travel guides. Furthermore, Thunderbird Innovation has introduced a dedicated mini charging case for the V3 series, equipped with a built-in 230 mAh battery, providing over an hour of video recording time. The price starts at 149 yuan.
The Thunderbird X3 Pro officially supports 3K video recording and comes with AR mini-games such as "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Rhythm of Deep Space." The fully bonded lens version of the Thunderbird X3 Pro will be available for customization in November. Compared to traditional clip-on or silicone patch solutions, the fully bonded lens solution successfully overcomes the dual challenges of ghosting and chromatic aberration, weighs less than 4g, and is priced at 10,999 yuan.
2025 is a crucial year for smart glasses to enter the mass market. Counterpoint data shows that despite weak overall demand for consumer electronics, AR glasses shipments maintained strong growth in the first half of the year, with product upgrades from domestic manufacturers such as Thunderbird Innovation being the primary driving force. This niche market, once considered "future technology," is rapidly moving towards mainstream adoption, driven by a combination of technology, products, and ecosystems. With the launch of new products such as the Air 4 series, the consumer AR industry is accelerating towards a new stage of "everyone experiencing" experiences. Thunderbird Innovation is at the forefront of this industrial transformation, leveraging the power of Chinese intelligent manufacturing to bring AR technology into the daily lives of more people.
