Snap debuts new consumer AR glasses Specs
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Model Kaia Gerber wearing Specs. Photo: Courtesy of Snap
Snap on Tuesday unveiled its long-awaited Specs augmented reality glasses, making them available to consumers after several years of private development.
Why it matters: Snap is betting its future on Specs, but the consumer smart glasses race is getting more competitive and investors want the company to focus more on growing its core ads business.
Zoom in: The new glasses, called Specs, were unveiled Tuesday at the Augmented World Expo 2026.
- The wearable computer lenses bring the power of AI assistant tools to a 3D augmented reality experience that can be controlled through hand and voice controls.
- With Specs, a user can browse the internet, watch video and interact with various media, without being tethered to any cords or equipment.
Between the lines: The glasses are built to be much lighter and more consumer-friendly than the developer version of Spectacles, the 3D smart glasses that predated Specs.
- Snap released its fifth generation of Spectacles for developers in 2024 to improve and refine the technology before rolling out a consumer version broadly.
- The glasses are being marketed by Snap Inc. as a fusion of AR and AI technologies. The AI capabilities are meant to help users interpret the world around them in real-time.
- Developers can leverage backend interfaces that allow them to build Lenses for the AR glasses using Claude Code, OpenAI's Codex, and Cursor.
Zoom out: Specs are rolling out to a crowded field, but Snap Inc. believes its glasses will address a hole in the consumer market.
- "Today's devices often require a tradeoff," the company said in a statement. "AI glasses are lightweight but limited in what they can do, while headsets are powerful but can feel isolating and cumbersome. We wanted to build something different."
- It debuted the new glasses alongside a global marketing campaign that features celebrities such as Jimmy Butler, Imogen Heap, Hoyeon, Jack Harlow and Kaia Gerber wearing Specs.
By the numbers: At $2,195 for pre-orders, Specs are more expensive than many of the smart glasses and virtual reality headsets on the market today.
- Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses are generally priced between $200–$500. Its "Quest" VR headsets cost anywhere between $300-$600, not including add-on features.
- Google and Warby Parker plan to launch smart glasses this fall, but have yet to reveal pricing details.
- By building its own frames instead of partnering with a retailer, Snap believes it has more control over the end-to-end consumer experience, allowing it to better optimize its hardware for AR.
The big picture: Snap is betting that augmented reality glasses, not smartphones, will eventually become the primary way consumers interact with the world around them.
- But Wall Street has put pressure on the firm to prioritize growing its core ad business before investing too much in the future.
- While Snap isn't the only tech giant that's faced Wall Street scrutiny over hardware costs, its ads business is still much smaller than its wearable competitors.
- To ease those concerns, Snap established Specs as a separate subsidiary in January. Despite that effort, activist investors still urged the company sell or spin off its hardware unit.
What to watch: Snap CEO Evan Spiegel told Axios last year that while the company didn't need to raise funds to launch Specs, it could consider opportunities to accelerate its expansion.
