INMO Air
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| INMO Air | |
|---|---|
| |
| Basic Info | |
| VR/AR | Augmented Reality |
| Type | Smart Glasses |
| Subtype | Standalone AR |
| Platform | INMO OS (based on Android 10 Go) |
| Developer | INMO |
| Manufacturer | INMO |
| Announcement Date | 26 July 2021 (launch event) |
| Release Date | Indiegogo crowdfunding from July 2021; mass production April 2022; China retail sale on JD.com from June 2022 |
| Price | US$469 (official Indiegogo price, 2021); 2,999 yuan (China, 2022) |
| Website | https://www.inmo.com/ |
| Predecessor | INMO xView (2020) |
| Successor | INMO Air2 |
| System | |
| Operating System | INMO OS (based on Android 10 Go) |
| CPU | Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53, 1.4 GHz (per VR Tuoluo); INMO's 2021 press releases give a main frequency of 2 GHz |
| Storage | |
| Storage | 32 GB |
| Memory | 2 GB RAM |
| Display | |
| Display | Single full-color Micro-OLED (right eye) |
| Resolution | 640x400 |
| Image | |
| Field of View | 26° |
| Optics | |
| Optics | Vertical array optical waveguide, 1.5 mm thick, 83% light transmittance (INMO figures) |
| Ocularity | Monocular (right eye) |
| Passthrough | Optical see-through |
| Tracking | |
| Tracking | 3DoF head tracking (9-axis IMU) |
| Audio | |
| Audio | Two speakers, one on each temple |
| Microphone | Yes (right temple) |
| Camera | 5-megapixel fixed-focus RGB camera, 720p video at 30 fps |
| Connectivity | |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz only), Bluetooth |
| Ports | USB Type-C |
| Battery Capacity | 350 mAh |
| Battery Life | 4 hours continuous use, 72 hours standby (INMO, 2021); 4.5 hours continuous use, 55 hours standby (later official figures reported in 2022) |
| Device | |
| Weight | Under 80 g (INMO); 78 g (launch release); 76 g (MoguLive, Display Daily); 79 g (VR Tuoluo and ZEALER reviews) |
| Color | Black (元界黑) and green (演绎绿) in China |
| Input | Touchpad on the right temple, power and function buttons, voice commands, head-controlled cursor |
The INMO Air is a pair of standalone augmented reality smart glasses made by the Chinese company INMO (Yingmu Technology).[1] The company unveiled it at a launch event on 26 July 2021 and sold it first through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo at an official price of US$469.[2] The glasses entered mass production in April 2022 and went on sale in China at 2,999 yuan.[3][4]
The Air runs its own Android-based software on a built-in processor, so it works without a tethered phone or PC. It shows a full-color image to the right eye only, using a 640x400 Micro-OLED microdisplay and a vertical array optical waveguide that INMO developed itself, with a 26-degree field of view.[5][3] INMO marketed it for notifications, navigation, translation, teleprompting, photos and video; in China the translation feature was developed with NetEase Youdao.[4] The binocular INMO Air2, announced in October 2022, succeeded it.[6]
Announcement and release
Launch and crowdfunding
According to INMO's July 2021 press release, the company was established in 2020 and released the xView, which it called ultra-thin all-in-one AR glasses, in July 2020; the company's website gives January 2021 as the date Yingmu Technology Co., Ltd. was established.[2][1] The company held the INMO Air launch event on 26 July 2021. Its press release named founder and chief executive Yim Yang, product director Ryan Zhang and co-founder and chief marketing officer Alfie Lv, and listed the official price as US$469, with Indiegogo as "the only designated sales platform". INMO said the Air's main processor frequency had been raised to 2 GHz and its performance doubled compared with the previous generation, and that its vertical array waveguide made the viewing angle "completely unobstructed" while the glasses looked like ordinary glasses from the front.[2] A separate launch release on Newswire, dated 26 July 2021, described the glasses as weighing 78 grams.[7] The Indiegogo campaign was titled "INMO AIR: World's Lightest True AR Glasses".[8] The "lightest" wording is INMO's own marketing claim.
On 4 August 2021 the Japanese site MoguLive reported that it had raised about 24 million yen against a target of about 1.4 million yen, with an early-bird price of HK$3,419 and shipping planned for December 2021.[9] Display Daily reported on 13 September 2021 that the campaign had raised US$271,363 from 558 backers, 2,110% of a flexible goal of US$12,841. It described the unit as "a working demo rather than a final product" and listed 6DoF motion sensing among its specifications, whereas a 2022 report described 3DoF head tracking.[3][10]
Mass production and sale in China
In November 2021, when INMO announced a pre-Series A round led by Matrix Partners, it said orders for the Air had passed 10,000 units, that the glasses had been sold through domestic mini-program and agent channels after the Indiegogo campaign, and that mass production and batch deliveries would begin at the end of 2021. The same release gave the official Chinese price as 2,999 yuan.[11] According to a May 2022 report, the Air completed mass production in April 2022 and was then in delivery; pre-orders at 2,999 yuan opened together with INMO's announcement of a Series A round of nearly US$10 million, invested solely by Hello Group (挚文集团).[3] In June 2022 the Air went on sale on JD.com at a pre-sale price of 2,999 yuan, in two colors, 元界黑 (black) and 演绎绿 (green), with sunglass and plain lenses in the box.[4]
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| July 2020 | INMO releases the xView AR glasses[2] |
| 26 July 2021 | INMO Air launch event; Indiegogo campaign opens at an official price of US$469[2] |
| 13 September 2021 | Display Daily reports US$271,363 raised from 558 backers[10] |
| November 2021 | INMO reports more than 10,000 orders and a 2,999 yuan official price in China[11] |
| April 2022 | Mass production completed; deliveries under way[3] |
| June 2022 | Sale on JD.com in China[4] |
| 28 October 2022 | Successor INMO Air2 announced[6] |
Design and hardware
Display and optics
The Air has one display, in front of the right eye. A full-color silicon-based OLED microdisplay feeds a vertical array optical waveguide in the right lens, while the left lens has no display. VR Tuoluo found the right lens built from three layers (an outer sunglass lens, the waveguide and an inner plain lens), and measured the visible picture area at about 1.7 by 2 cm.[5] The manufacturer figures quoted in that review give a resolution of 640x400, a 26-degree field of view, 83% light transmittance, a 20,000:1 contrast ratio and 100% of the sRGB color space.[5] A May 2022 report gives the same resolution and a waveguide thickness of 1.5 mm.[3] INMO's launch release also gave the 100% sRGB, 20,000:1 contrast and 83% transmittance figures.[7] Both the outer and inner lenses can be replaced; VR Tuoluo noted that the removable inner lens allows a prescription lens to be fitted, and measured the total thickness of the right lens stack at about 0.8 cm.[5] Display Daily gave the contrast ratio as 200,000:1 and the lens thickness as about 3 mm.[10] In an October 2022 report on the Air2 launch, China Daily's Chinese edition described the first-generation Air as a monocular, full-color array waveguide design.[12]
Computing, storage and battery
VR Tuoluo's review lists a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor at 1.4 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage and Android 10.0 Go.[5] INMO's own 2021 press releases described the processor only by its frequency: a main frequency "upgraded to 2Ghz" at launch and "up to 2.0GHz" in November 2021.[2][11] The tech reviewer ZEALER described the software as INMO OS, based on Android 10.0 Go.[13]
The battery is rated at 350 mAh.[5] In 2021 INMO quoted 4 hours of continuous use and 72 hours of standby.[11] The figures reported in 2022 were 4.5 hours of continuous use and 55 hours of standby.[5][4] Charging is through a USB Type-C port at the tip of the right temple.[5]
Camera, audio and controls
A single RGB camera sits at the left edge of the frame.[5][4] It is a 5-megapixel fixed-focus camera that records 720p video at 30 frames per second.[3] Each temple has a speaker. The right temple holds a microphone, a power button, a function button and a touchpad, and the glasses also have an LED indicator. The touchpad takes taps to confirm, horizontal swipes to scroll and a downward swipe to go back.[5] A 9-axis IMU tracks head movement in three degrees of freedom, which moves a virtual cursor on screen.[3] INMO also listed voice and gesture control.[7] Wi-Fi works only on the 2.4 GHz band, and Bluetooth connects the glasses to a phone.[5][7]
Build
INMO gave the weight as under 80 g, comparable to ordinary sunglasses.[11] Figures in other sources vary: 78 g in the Newswire launch release, 76 g in MoguLive's and Display Daily's reports, under 79 g in China Daily's Chinese edition, and 79 g in the VR Tuoluo and ZEALER reviews.[7][9][10][4][5][13] The frame is hard plastic, the silicone nose pads are adjustable, and the temples can spread outward by up to 8 degrees.[5][13]
Technical specifications
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Display | Single full-color Micro-OLED, right eye[5] |
| Resolution | 640x400[5] |
| Field of view | 26°[5] |
| Optics | Vertical array optical waveguide; 1.5 mm; 83% transmittance[3] |
| Contrast and color | 20,000:1; 100% sRGB (INMO figures)[7] |
| Processor | Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53, 1.4 GHz (per VR Tuoluo review)[5] |
| Memory and storage | 2 GB RAM, 32 GB storage[5] |
| Software | INMO OS, based on Android 10.0 Go[13] |
| Camera | 5 MP fixed focus, 720p at 30 fps[3] |
| Tracking | 3DoF head tracking with a 9-axis IMU[3] |
| Battery | 350 mAh; 4 to 4.5 hours of continuous use depending on the source[5][11] |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth[5][7] |
| Weight | Under 80 g (INMO); 76 to 79 g in reports[11][9][7][5] |
| Price | US$469 (Indiegogo, 2021); 2,999 yuan (China)[2][11] |
Software and features
At launch INMO listed calls, music, photos and video as features carried over from its previous generation, and AR navigation, instant translation, smart assistants and a travel and shopping app called "Discovery" as new ones. The interface was a 3D launcher controlled by voice, head movement and "fusion positioning". INMO also said it planned to open an SDK to developers.[2] The Newswire release added notifications for calls and texts, image, face and object recognition through a "smart scanner", speed, distance and altitude readouts, and a 3D road map and compass.[7]
For the Chinese market INMO called the Air a "third screen" for daily life, for video, games, cycling navigation, teleprompting, notifications, photos and music.[3] China Daily's Chinese edition described the translation feature, developed with NetEase Youdao, for business users, students learning foreign languages, travelers, and deaf and hard-of-hearing people, who could read what others said as live text in front of their eyes. The same report said the glasses could run many third-party Android apps.[4] VR Tuoluo found the translation service, INMO Translate, in the app store; it supported Chinese, English and Japanese. The reviewer counted nine apps in the store, including QQ Music, WPS and Bilibili.[5] A companion phone app, InmoLens, adjusts volume and brightness and handles wireless screen casting.[5][13]
Reception
VR Tuoluo found that the Air put no noticeable pressure on the bridge of the nose, because the battery, mainboard and display are spread along the temples. It rated translation accuracy for English and Japanese as very high, and VR Tuoluo's general manager used the Air as a teleprompter for a keynote lasting several tens of minutes. The review called it one of the few lightweight standalone AR glasses in China to reach mass production and consumer sale under 3,000 yuan, and judged that it balanced comfort and use cases at a price close to that of birdbath glasses. On the negative side, the review found the image hard to see in bright outdoor light, compared the processor to that of a phone from about ten years earlier, noted occasional stutter in some apps and while recording, reported a slight translation delay with fast speech, and said the single-eye 26-degree view was less suited to watching films than binocular birdbath glasses. It also judged the camera weaker than a high-end phone's and the voice commands and app library limited.[5]
ZEALER reported no noticeable fatigue after a full day of wear and said people nearby could not hear the speakers even at maximum volume. It found the single-lens display fine for occasional viewing but recommended a phone, tablet or TV for video, said the voice assistant often failed to carry out commands, and reported noticeable latency when casting a phone screen. It compared the product's stage to the year the first iPhone appeared, noting that there was no killer app and that many third-party apps had not been adapted.[13]
Successors
INMO announced the INMO Air2 on 28 October 2022. It moved to a binocular full-color array waveguide that can switch between one-eye and two-eye display. 36Kr reported that its frame was nearly 30% smaller than the first generation's and its temples were thinned to 6 mm. The official price was 3,999 yuan including the INMO Ring.[6] In September 2025 INMO introduced the INMO Air3 at IFA in Berlin. It has a 1080p Sony Micro-OLED panel with an optical waveguide, an eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon XR platform, 8 GB of memory and 128 GB of storage. INMO said it would launch on Kickstarter in September 2025 at an early-bird price of US$799, against a standard price of US$1,099.[14]
By October 2026 INMO's former international address, inmoxr.com, redirected to inmo.com, which did not list the INMO Air and centered on the INMO GO3 glasses.[15][16]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "About INMO". INMO. https://www.inmo.com/pages/about-us. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "INMO Debuts its New Generation Consumer-grade AR Smart Glasses". PR Newswire. INMO. 2021-07-29. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/inmo-debuts-its-new-generation-consumer-grade-ar-smart-glasses-301344257.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 "融资+新品上架，影目科技携 INMO Air AR 眼镜元宇宙签到". Sohu (from Shenzhen Bay). 2022-05-17. https://m.sohu.com/a/547752434_255990. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 "国内首款量产AR翻译眼镜INMO Air，京东开售". China Daily (Chinese edition), from Jiangxi Network Radio and Television. 2022-06-20. https://cn.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202206/20/WS62b03fd2a3101c3ee7adb9c8.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 5.22 5.23 Pancake (2022-07-06). "【评测】这个时代到底需要什么样的智能眼镜？INMO Air上手体验". VR Tuoluo (VR陀螺). https://www.vrtuoluo.cn/column/vr_headsets_review/531693.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Wei Wen (韦雯) (2022-10-28). "最前线 - 将SLAM空间定位技术应用于无线轻量级AR眼镜,AR眼镜品牌「影目科技」发布新品INMO Air2". 36Kr. https://www.36kr.com/p/1976091055563136. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 "INMO Announces the Launch of Truly Wireless Lightweight AR Smart Glasses on Indiegogo". Newswire. INMO. 2021-07-26. https://www.newswire.com/news/inmo-announces-the-launch-of-truly-wireless-lightweight-ar-smart-21454096. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ "INMO AIR: World's Lightest True AR Glasses". Indiegogo. INMO Glasses. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/inmo-air-world-s-lightest-true-ar-glasses. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 井文 (2021-08-04). "中国発のARグラス「INMO AIR」がクラウドファンディング実施 目標額の10倍以上調達". MoguLive. https://www.moguravr.com/?p=150639. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Arthur Berman (2021-09-13). "Inmolens Technology is Developing Fashionable AR Smartglasses". Display Daily. https://displaydaily.com/?p=76533. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 "AR smart glasses brand INMO completes the pre-A round of financing worth tens of millions of yuan, led by Matrix Partners". PR Newswire. INMO. 2021-11-24. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ar-smart-glasses-brand-inmo-completes-the-pre-a-round-of-financing-worth-tens-of-millions-of-yuan-led-by-matrix-partners-301431422.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ "展现多项黑科技，INMO影目科技新一代AR眼镜开创行业新纪元". China Daily (Chinese edition), from Jiangxi Network Radio and Television. 2022-10-31. https://cn.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202210/31/WS635f8962a310817f312f3d01.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 ZEALER (2022-05-31). "当未来跟现实交替，INMO Air AR智能眼镜评测指南". Tencent News. https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20220531A0BFCN00. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ "INMO announces the debut of INMO Air3, the world's first 1080P full color optical waveguide all-in-one AR glasses". Kyodo News PR Wire. INMO. 2025-09-06. https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/release/202509064707. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ "INMO XR". INMO. INMO. https://www.inmoxr.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ "INMO". INMO. https://www.inmo.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.