Wired
In WiredAC Editor-in-Chief Harish Jonnalagadda explores everything hardware, including phones, audio products, storage servers and network devices.
Thermal management is one of the biggest challenges with wearables; Limited real estate in devices like smartwatches and smart glasses precludes conventional solutions—like a special layer used in phones to wick heat away from internal parts. It’s simply not possible to do this on a small PCB that contains all the parts needed for XR glasses, and it’s only going to be a problem as these glasses start to get additional features and on-device AI utilities.
It was an issue RayNeo X3 Pro; While smart glasses clearly have a lot of potential, they tend to get hot and the limited battery means they’re not meant to last all day. There have been decent advances in battery technology as brands have started using silicon batteries in wearable devices. Xiaomi Watch 5 uses a silicon battery and it lasts twice as long as other Wear OS smartwatches – and xMEMS now has a thermal management solution aimed at smaller devices.
I am familiar with xMEMS products; the brand pioneered solid-state audio drivers and used the likes of it SoundPEATS Air5 Pro+it is clear that the technology allows for higher audio fidelity in a smaller size. xMEMS does the same with heat dissipation; the brand showcased its all-silicon cooling solutions at MWC 2026, and I had a hands-on demo to see the technology’s effectiveness.
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Brand demonstrated XMC-2400an active cooling solution that provides enough airflow to move a traditional fan at 35 cubic centimeters per second. The product is designed for use in wearable devices and has unique advantages over traditional cooling systems: as it is made entirely of silicon, it is significantly thinner at just 1 mm and highly efficient – it only needs 30 mW of power.
The best part is that it is IP58 dust and water resistant, so wearable manufacturers can easily integrate it into their products without any problems; if anything, it’s one of the biggest reasons we haven’t seen actively cooled products in this category. In a demonstration, xMEMS installed the XMC-2400 on one side of a 1W 3D-printed smartglasses, and activating the cooling solution showed that it could easily drop temperatures by more than 20 degrees in a minute.
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That’s a big deal when you consider the product’s size, and the unique design means wearable brands don’t need to sacrifice battery size or other internals to accommodate a cooling solution. It’s an interesting use case, and with XR glasses getting increased features like custom waveguides and built-in navigation and AR capabilities, having an efficient cooling solution makes all the difference.
While xMEMS didn’t reveal further details, Mike Housholder, the brand’s VP and General Manager of Thermal Management, said the design won out and that a consumer product with the XMC-2400 will debut by the end of 2026. Given the breakneck pace of progress with XR glasses, I’m eager to see how much of an active difference there is in this category. to wait too long.
