Snap Specs AR glasses debut at $2,195, marking company's biggest bet on augmented reality

Snap finally debuts its long awaited AR glasses, Specs, and, oof, they aren't cheap

At a spatial AI convention in Long Beach on Tuesday, Snap finally unveiled Specs, its long-awaited consumer smart glasses, and at $2,195, they don't come cheap. Specs will be available for preorder on June 16th, with a $200 refundable deposit, and are expected to ship this fall in the US, the UK, and France. The price is well above most Meta Ray-Bans (which can run as low as $350), though still far below the Apple Vision Pro's $3,500 starting price. Either way, it's steep enough to put Specs out of reach for most everyday consumers. For over a decade now, Snap has been working on this device. Despite this, the last time the company released a consumer-facing version of the glasses was in 2019 -- its latest iterations have been developer only. Earlier this year, Snap spun off a new company to focus exclusively on bringing the product to market. Now the glasses are finally here. So what stands out on first impression? Visually, Specs looks like a fairly normal pair of glasses -- albeit a slightly bulkier, goggle-like pair. That extra bulk comes down to a key design choice: unlike some competitors, all of the computing takes place on the actual device, and it conveniently lacks a puck or tether. Specs runs on two Snapdragon processors, and it comes with up to four hours of continuous battery life, plus a charging case that extends that to 20 hours total. But what can you actually do with them? For starters, there are games, including ones that support shared multi-player sessions between two users. Snap calls this feature "EyeConnect," and it's activated simply by two wearers making eye contact with each other. You can also watch videos (Snap says the display offers a 51-degree field of view and 16 million colors), record point-of-view footage and, at least in theory, get work done since the glasses allow you to surf the internet, connect to productivity apps, and check your email. One standout feature is contextual AI. Look at an object and ask about it, and the glasses can pull up information on what you're seeing -- a glimpse of the kind of AI-assistant layer that's becoming a competitive battleground in this category. The glasses come in two sizes -- a 47mm model, which weighs 132 grams (approximately 4.6 ounces) and a 52 mm model, which weighs 136 grams (4.7 ounces). That makes them noticeably heavier than Meta's Ray-Bans -- the first-gen Wayfarers weigh under an ounce -- but far lighter than Apple's Vision Pro, which tips the scales at 26.4 to 28.2 ounces. There are also privacy protections. On privacy, Specs follows Meta's lead with a built-in LED light that glows while the device is recording. The company says that users will also have control over what data is stored, synced, or deleted. When I was in Las Vegas for CES earlier this year, the Snap team let me demo an earlier version of the glasses. It was fun to play around with the apps and I found myself impressed by the contextual AI, but the device was also quite heavy and, after running for awhile, it could get hot. From the looks of it, Snap has since slimmed down the hardware, making the glasses both less obtrusive and more efficient. The bigger question is whether this decade-long innovation marathon will result in some sort of viable business for Snap. Specs enters a market that is increasingly saturated with competitors. Meta now leads with its popular Ray-Ban series, and Google has announced its own new line of AI-powered glasses. As for who these glasses are for, Snap says it's aiming first at tech enthusiasts, developers, and studios -- though at $2,200, that audience is going to need some deep pockets to match their enthusiasm. The cumbersome price highlights an ongoing dilemma for the smart glasses industry -- which is that consumer interest has yet to go beyond mere curiosity to the kind of enthusiasm that can result in consistent profits. As a result, no one is really making a profit. Even the industry's current champ -- Meta -- is losing tons of money on its AR development division. Snap has struggled over the past few years with a wobbling stock and a recent decline in North American user engagement. Despite launching well over a decade ago, the company is still not consistently profitable. In April, it also underwent a round of layoffs. Will Specs be the product to turn it all around and usher in the next evolution in computing? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Snap's first consumer AR glasses are coming this fall for $2,195

Snap is finally launching augmented glasses for the public. Specs, which Snap describes as "a wearable computer built into see-through augmented reality glasses," will cost $2,195. You can preorder a pair of Specs now at specs.com with a $200 refundable deposit, and Snap says they're expected to ship "this fall" in the US, UK, and France. This is a big moment for Snap: The company made a big entry into smart glasses with its original Spectacles in 2016, and the company has been toiling away on nonpublic AR versions of Spectacles over the past few years. CEO Evan Spiegel promised the company would launch consumer AR glasses in 2026 and even turned its smart glasses team into a separate business. The company says that Specs are "fully standalone, with no puck and no tether." (Which is perhaps a jab at Apple's Vision Pro, which is tethered to a separate battery pack.) They'll be offered in two sizes, a 47mm model weighing 132g and a 52mm model weighing 136g, and will have removable inserts that Snap says will support "a wide range of prescriptions." You probably won't mistake Specs, with their wide, bold frames, for any of Meta's smart glasses -- Snap clearly picked a design that it wants to stand out. (They're not my style -- I don't think I can pull off the "snow goggles, but fashionable" look -- though maybe Jony Ive might like them.) They have visible light and infrared cameras, and while the Specs are recording, a little LED bar will glow in the middle of the glasses. Both of the lenses will be able to show you content, and Snap says that its display system is powered by a "proprietary liquid crystal on silicon technology" that offers a 51-degree field of view and can show 16 million colors. The lenses can also go from clear to tinted in 10 seconds, Snap says. The Specs have two Snapdragon processors onboard, and while Snap isn't specifying exactly which ones they are, the company says that one is focused on "computer vision" while the other is focused on running AR Lenses. "Together, they enable fast hand tracking, low latency, and responsive interactions that help digital content feel anchored in the real world," Snap says. You can also expect up to four hours of battery life on a charge, which Snap says accounts for things like "audio and video playback, AI assistance, Bluetooth notifications, and more." The Specs come with a charging case that Snap says will offer four more charges for a total of 20 hours of battery. Specs could be interesting, but we haven't tried them ourselves yet, so we can't vouch for what it's like to actually use them day to day. And we don't know how Specs actually hold up as a product that sits in between something like Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, which have been a hit, and the Vision Pro, which has not. Nowadays, there are a lot more smart glasses than when Snap first launched Spectacles. The company is actually a year behind Meta in launching consumer AR glasses. And as my colleague Victoria Song recently wrote, most smart glasses still don't make sense, not to mention the problem that there are growing privacy concerns about smart glasses. Despite all that, Snap is pushing forward with its Specs launch, so we'll see how they fare when they're finally available.

Snap Unveils Pricey 'Specs' Augmented Reality Glasses

Snap today showed off Specs, a pair of premium, standalone augmented reality glasses intended to "bring computing into the world around us." "We believe the best technology fades into the background, helping when it's needed and getting out of the way when it's not," Snap says. "That's why we built Specs." Specs are powered by two Snapdragon processors: one for computer vision and another dedicated to running AR experiences known as Lenses. Expect up to four hours of mixed-use battery life; a charging case will give you four extra charges. They operate independently; no puck or tether needed. Snap says developers have built "hundreds" of Lenses for Specs. Examples include "walking through a city and seeing directions exactly where you need them, measuring a space without pulling out a tape measure, or getting help from AI while you're working on a project instead of stopping to search for an answer." The display uses a liquid crystal on silicon technology, which delivers a 51-degree field of view. "The result is a large, vivid display that feels like a 24-inch desktop monitor when you're working, or a 115-inch home cinema screen placed about 10 feet away when you're watching a movie," according to Snap, which promises 7-millisecond motion-to-photon latency. The company has "redesigned" its waveguide technology for a more seamless view of the world. As PCMag's Will Greenwald explained recently, waveguide smart glasses promise a future of powerful, nearly invisible wearable technology. However, none of the devices he's tested thus far have been successful enough to rely on in day-to-day use. Can Specs change his mind? Maybe if he has an extra two ground lying around. Specs are available for preorder now for $2,195 with a $200 refundable deposit. Their Swiss TR90 frames come in two sizes: Narrow Fit (47mm) and Wide Fit (52mm). They'll ship in the US, UK, and France this fall. Prescriptions are supported via removable inserts. For developers, Snap is rolling out a developer preview of agentic development in Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor. It's also introducing tools that let developers bring their own code and libraries into Lens Studio. Snap stressed that it wants Lenses to be unobtrusive, so guidance shows up "exactly where it's needed." On the privacy front, Specs will ask permission to access sensitive information, while an LED indicator light will alert people when the glasses are recording. "Specs prioritize on-device processing, and give people control over what gets stored, synced, shared, or deleted," Snap says. "Trust isn't something that can be added later -- it has to be built in from the start."

Evan Spiegel doesn't want you to call Snap Specs AI glasses - Engadget

Evan Spiegel doesn't want you to call Snap Specs AI glasses Snap's CEO sat down with Engadget after his keynote at AWE. Snap's newly announced AR Specs might seem similar to other smartglasses, but Snap CEO Evan Spiegel says that's the wrong way to think about the product. Specs, he says, is "a new type of computer, a see-through computer." Shortly after unveiling Specs at AWE, Spiegel sat down with Engadget to tell us more about the device we got a glimpse of onstage. The CEO repeatedly referred to Specs as a "computer" and that really is core to understanding how Snap is positioning the product (and justifying the price). Specs, Spiegel said, "is able to overlay computing on the world around you and bring computing into the world, which is so important if you want to make computing feel more human." But Snap will have to do more than just persuade people to buy a computer for their face. When Specs go on sale later this year, the company will face a very different environment than when it first started experimenting with camera-enabled glasses in 2016. For one, it has a lot more competition now. But today, there's also increasing suspicion of smartglasses, given that there have been some very public cases of people misusing the tech. There's the Meta of it all, too. The company was recently caught with an unreleased facial recognition feature on its Ray-Ban glasses (that it removed soon after outside researchers discovered it). Spiegel, not surprisingly, isn't a fan of facial recognition. "There are certain use cases, like facial recognition, that we don't allow in Lenses, and one of the benefits of having our own developer ecosystem and our own developer tools is that we're able to moderate the Lenses that are submitted and available on Snap to make sure that they comply with our guidelines," he told Engadget. He also said he hopes people will view Specs differently than what's currently out there. "I think AI glasses are typically being used to record content, that's sort of the purpose of the glasses as they're marketed," he said. "That's not the purpose of Specs. In fact, I think that might be an almost tangential use case." Spiegel said he thinks people will feel more comfortable around Specs once they understand wearers are more likely to be "using a computer, not surreptitiously recording videos." Specs will also launch at a time when more governments and regulators are scrutinizing social media companies' track records on child safety. Earlier this week, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK would ban children under 16 from social media, including Snap. Spiegel said that while he anticipates Specs "will mostly be used by adults," the company has built some parental control features for people who want to share the glasses with their teens. "You can basically swipe a little toggle [in the Specs app] and limit the world of Lenses that they can use when they're using Specs," he explained. "So they can have all the fun and play, and still provide comfort to parents that they're overseeing what their teens are doing." At $2,195, Specs will be more expensive than any other smartglasses currently on the market. It's also more expensive than even most headsets, save for the Apple Vision Pro, which Spiegel drew a clear comparison to during his keynote. I asked if Snap's goal is for the price of Specs to come down eventually and he said it is a long term goal for the company. "That's something we're really focused on over time, because we want Specs to be as accessible as possible," he said. "As far as computers go, it's an incredibly powerful new computer, and we try to price in a way that makes it something that early adopters and developers and folks who are really passionate about this technology can afford." Besides price, the biggest question ahead of the Specs reveal was just how much Snap would be able to change their design. Spiegel was wearing the new Specs throughout our conversation, and after seeing them up close I'm able to confirm they are indeed much more refined than the developer version from 2024. The arms are still quite thick, though, and stuck out a bit past Spiegel's head. But from the front, they are noticeably narrower and rounder than the boxy, more angular frames we've seen in the past from Snap. While he was speaking, I was able to easily see his eyes through the lenses, though I could detect some rainbow-like reflections from the embedded waveguides when he turned his head. I also saw the lenses when the dimming feature was enabled and they looked fully blacked out, like dark sunglasses. Unfortunately, Snap isn't offering demos of the glasses just yet, so my impressions are limited to what I was able to observe during my quick chat with Spiegel. But I'm looking forward to seeing how Snap's "computer" will look and fit on different faces.

Snap launches its AR glasses at $2,195 as a consumer product, betting the company on augmented reality

Snap's Specs AR glasses cost $2,195, preorder now with $200 deposit, ship fall 2026 in US/UK/France. Self-contained with 4-hour battery and AI. Snap unveiled the consumer version of its augmented reality glasses on Monday at the Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, California, pricing them at $2,195 with preorders opening immediately through a $200 refundable deposit. The glasses, which the company calls Specs, ship this fall in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. They are self-contained computing devices that require no phone tether, no external processing puck, and no cable, a distinction Snap is emphasising against every AR headset that has come before. The hardware runs on two Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, one handling the operating system and applications and the other dedicated to computer vision. Snap has not disclosed the specific chipset models. The glasses deliver a 51-degree diagonal field of view across 16 million colours and offer four hours of continuous battery life with an additional 20 hours from a charging case. They come in two sizes: 47mm at 132 grams and 52mm at 136 grams. Both are lighter than most over-ear headphones, though heavier than conventional eyewear. What Snap has not disclosed is equally notable. The company refused to share the display resolution, brightness in nits, refresh rate, RAM, storage capacity, or camera specifications. For a $2,195 product entering a market where consumers are accustomed to detailed spec sheets, the omissions are conspicuous. Whether the missing numbers reflect specifications Snap considers uncompetitive or a deliberate strategy to avoid direct comparisons with rivals is unclear. The software side is where Snap is making its differentiation argument. An AI assistant powered by partnerships with both OpenAI and Google provides contextual awareness, answering questions about what the wearer is looking at, translating text and speech in real time, and surfacing relevant information without requiring the user to reach for a phone. EyeConnect, a feature Snap describes as a first for AR, activates shared multiplayer augmented reality experiences when two Specs wearers make eye contact, overlaying collaborative content in both users' fields of view simultaneously. A privacy LED illuminates whenever the glasses are recording, following the approach Meta adopted for its Ray-Ban smart glasses after sustained criticism about covert recording. Meta's indicator light has been widely criticised as too dim to notice in daylight, and it remains to be seen whether Snap's implementation is more visible. The launch comes from Specs Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary Snap spun off in January to insulate the AR programme from the broader company's financial pressures. Those pressures are significant. Snap cut approximately 1,000 employees in April, roughly 16% of its full-time workforce, and closed more than 300 open roles to save over $500 million annually. The company is not consistently profitable. Its Q1 2026 advertising revenue grew just 3% while Meta's grew 33%, and the $400 million Perplexity AI partnership that was supposed to bring AI search into Snapchat collapsed before launch. The competitive landscape makes the $2,195 price point a gamble. Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses start at roughly $350 and have sold more than seven million units, though they are camera-equipped sunglasses with audio rather than full AR displays. Apple's Vision Pro costs $3,500 but is a spatial computing headset, not glasses. Google announced Android XR smart glasses at I/O with Samsung, Warby Parker, and Gentle Monster as hardware partners, targeting a fall 2026 launch, but those devices are audio-first with no display and no confirmed price. Snap's Specs occupy an awkward middle ground: more expensive than Meta's glasses, less capable than Apple's headset, and launching into a market where the category leader has a seven-million-unit head start. The bet is that consumers will pay a premium for what Snap says no other product offers: lightweight, untethered AR glasses with a full-colour display, AI integration, and social features designed for face-to-face interaction rather than isolation. Whether that pitch resonates with anyone beyond developers and early adopters at $2,195 is the question that will determine whether Specs Inc. justifies its existence or joins the long list of ambitious AR hardware that never found a market. Snap has not disclosed sales targets or production volumes.

Snap Launches $2,195 'Specs' Augmented Reality Glasses

Snap today unveiled Specs, a pair of augmented reality glasses that it describes as a wearable computer built into a pair of see-through glasses. Specs are made from Swiss TR90 polymer that Snap suggests is "plastic titanium" because of its light weight and durability. The glasses are light enough to be "worn for hours" and two sizes are available. The 47mm frame weighs 132 grams (4.7 ounces), while the 52mm frame weighs 136 grams (4.8 ounces). Prescription lenses can be easily inserted and swapped out for sharing glasses with friends and family. The AR glasses include cameras and sensors that feed data to AI with contextual understanding. There are two full-color high-resolution cameras, two infrared computer vision cameras, and 6-axis IMUs for inertial sensing. There are two Snapdragon chips inside, with one processor running the lenses, and the other handling computer vision. Specs have a 51-degree field of view and a stereo waveguide display with automatic tinting for different lighting conditions. The device uses liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) miniature projectors to project images to the display. Snap compares the field-of-view to a 115-inch screen viewed from 10 feet. Stereo speakers are included for spatial audio, and there's a microphone array for audio input. The glasses have hand tracking capabilities for gesture control, along with voice recognition and support for natural voice commands. Specs last for up to four hours with mixed use, and there is a custom magnetic charging cable that can charge the glasses while they're being worn. They come with a charging case that supports 20 hours of use. Prior-generation Spectacles from Snap that were limited to developers only offered 45 minutes of battery. Specs can be used for watching content like movies, videos, and TV shows, casting to a screen, writing on a whiteboard, and using the myriad existing Snapchat lenses. Specs can also connect to a computer, phone, or gaming system over USB-C to be used as a display. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel introduced the Specs at AWE USA 2026 and showed some of the experiences developers have created with Snap's Lens Studio. Since Specs can use lenses developed for Snapchat, there are already options for placing virtual items, playing mini games, getting DIY help, and more. Specs are priced at $2,195 with a refundable $200 deposit, and they can be pre-ordered today. They're set to launch later this fall in the U.S., UK, and France. Snap is beating multiple other tech companies to market with AR glasses, including Apple. Apple is developing augmented reality smart glasses with lenses, but the product won't launch for several more years. Apple's first glasses, which will be limited to AI capabilities and no built-in display, won't launch until late 2027.

Snaps debuts new consumer AR glasses Specs

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, an activist investor 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.

Everything you need to know about Specs, Snap's latest venture into augmented reality

Snap has positioned the glasses as a standalone AR device that overlays 3D digital content onto the real world, aiming to bridge the gap between lightweight smart glasses such as Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, and bulkier mixed-reality headsets such as Oculus VR. Snap Inc., parent company of photo-sharing platform Snapchat, launched its first consumer augmented reality (AR) glasses, Specs, on Tuesday. Here is everything you need to know about Specs and how they differ from rival smart glasses by Meta and Google. What are Specs? Snap has positioned the glasses as a standalone AR device that overlays 3D digital content onto the real world, aiming to bridge the gap between lightweight smart glasses such as Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, and bulkier mixed-reality headsets such as Oculus VR. Specs features dual Snapdragon processors by American chipmaker Qualcomm, a 51-degree field of view, up to four hours of battery life and support AI-powered experiences that can understand and interact with a user's surroundings. The company claims the glasses can be used for navigation, productivity, entertainment and real-time AI assistance while keeping users engaged with the physical world. What is the price? Is Specs available in India? Priced at $2,195, Specs was unveiled at the Augmented World Expo in California and will ship in the US, UK and France starting in September. The company has not clarified when the product will be available in India. How does Specs fare against rivals? The product enters a nascent but increasingly competitive market led by Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, with Google and Samsung also expanding their AR and mixed-reality efforts. While Snap's Specs have been designed as full AR glasses that project 3D digital objects into the real world, Meta's and Google's devices primarily focus on AI assistance, notifications and displaying information in the wearer's field of view, making them closer to smartphone companions than standalone AR computers. Samsung, meanwhile, is pursuing mixed-reality headsets that offer more immersive experiences but that are bulkier and less practical for everyday use. Yet, Snap's AR glasses are extremely expensive compared with Meta's smart glasses, which start at $299 and its display-equipped models, launched last September, at $799. Snap is betting users and developers will pay a premium for a more immersive AR experience. How has Specs been received? Per reports by Reuters and AFP, activist investor Irenic Capital Management urged Snap to shut down or spin off its hardware business, particularly revolving around Specs, as it consumed more than $3.5 billion in investment. Snap separated the business into a standalone subsidiary in January, a move that may enable outside funding. Yet, CEO Evan Spiegel has argued that Specs is central to the company's long-term strategy. Snap, which listed in 2017, continues to remain unprofitable. Snap shares closed nearly 10% lower on Tuesday following the announcement.

Snap unveils SPECS AR glasses with AI assistance and Snap OS platform

Snap Inc. introduced SPECS Augmented Reality Glasses at Augmented World Expo 2026. The device integrates AI assistance, productivity tools, entertainment, and shared experiences through augmented reality. The company stated that SPECS are based on more than a decade of augmented reality development, reflecting the shift from traditional computing systems to personal devices with continued screen-heavy usage patterns. It added that SPECS are designed to place digital content into physical environments while maintaining user awareness of surroundings, aligning augmented reality with human visual and spatial perception. SPECS Augmented Reality Glasses SPECS are standalone AR glasses that operate without a tether or external computing unit. The device is built using Swiss TR90 polymer and comes in two physical size variants. The core physical specifications include: * 47 mm model weighs 132 grams * 52 mm model weighs 136 grams * Prescription lens support included * Electrochromic lenses shift from clear to tinted in ~10 seconds The display system combines liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) with a waveguide architecture. It supports a 51-degree field of view and 16 million colors for spatial overlay rendering. The visual output is designed to simulate: * 24-inch display for productivity use * 115-inch screen at ~10 feet for media viewing The waveguide uses nanoscale structures to improve light control and alignment with real-world visuals. SPECS use a dual Snapdragon processor configuration where each chip is assigned a separate function. One handles computer vision while the other processes AR Lenses and spatial computing tasks. This system enables real-time spatial tracking, object recognition, and anchored AR rendering. It also supports a motion-to-photon latency of 7 milliseconds based on robotic measurement testing. Battery performance is structured for mixed usage scenarios including AI functions, AR Lenses, media playback, and notifications. * Up to 4 hours of active use * Charging case adds 4 full charges * Total usage up to ~20 hours Snap stated that SPECS development spans optics, hardware, operating systems, and computer vision systems, supported by more than 7,000 patents. AI and real-world interaction SPECS include AI capabilities that process real-world input in real time and generate contextual responses based on what the user sees. Core AI-enabled functions include: * Real-time navigation and guidance overlays * Object-linked information display in the user's field of view * Task assistance without switching applications The device also supports spatial computing use cases where physical environments become interactive workspaces. These include screen casting, content streaming, virtual whiteboards, and collaboration tools. Developers have built AR Lenses for specific use cases such as golf green reading tools, Drum Kit interactive overlays, and Vector Fields visualizations representing physical forces. Developer platform and Snap OS Snap continues development of its Snap OS platform for augmented reality applications. Over the past 18 months, it has released 10 updates and added more than 40 features and APIs for developers. The ecosystem includes hundreds of AR Lenses across productivity, education, and entertainment categories. New development tools are focused on improving spatial computing workflows and AI-assisted creation. Key developer tools include: * Agentic development support in Lens Studio * Integration with Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor (developer preview) * SPECS Spatial Benchmark system for performance evaluation * Migration Agent for porting existing AR experiences * Native Development Kit for custom code integration These tools support building AR applications that respond to real-world environments and AI-driven inputs. Privacy and safety SPECS include privacy controls designed to provide transparency and user control over data usage. The system includes an LED indicator that activates during recording. Users must grant explicit permission for access to sensitive data, and selected features rely on on-device processing. Data controls allow management of storage, syncing, sharing, and deletion. Key privacy mechanisms include: * LED indicator for active recording * Explicit permission prompts for sensitive access * On-device processing for select functions * User-controlled data storage and sharing settings Snap stated that these safeguards are intended to ensure transparency in AI-enabled spatial computing systems. Pricing and availability SPECS are available for pre-order at $2,195 (Rs. 2,07,175 approx.) with a $200 refundable deposit. The device is scheduled to ship in fall 2026 across the United States, United Kingdom, and France.

Snap unveils 'Specs' augmented reality glasses with $2,195 price -- and goal of replacing smartphones

Snap Inc. unveiled the company's new "Specs" augmented-reality glasses on Tuesday with an eye-watering $2,195 price tag - and CEO Evan Spiegel is touting the devices as a potential replacement for smartphones. The thick-framed black glasses were unveiled in a splashy celebrity marketing campaign that featured model Kaia Gerber, NBA star Jimmy Butler and rapper Jack Harlow. Featuring about four hours of battery life, Specs will be capable running apps through an overlay that will blend seamlessly as the user goes about their daily life, according to Snap. Specs are "the beginning of a new era in computing," Spiegel boasted. "The smartphone put our lives in our pockets," he said. "Specs put computing into the world, where life actually happens." Specs were made available for pre-order and are expected to ship to customers in the US, United Kingdom and France this fall. The $2,195 price include a $200 refundable deposit. "Imagine walking through a city and seeing directions exactly where you need them, measuring a space without pulling out a tape measure, or getting help from AI while you're working on a project instead of stopping to search for an answer. That's what makes augmented reality different," Snap says on the product's website. Snap shares were down more than 4% in Tuesday trading - a potential sign that Wall Street was skeptical about the announcement. Snap is pushing into an increasingly crowded marketplace for AI wearables - and consumers have been slow to embrace the technology. Apple's Vision Pro augmented-reality headset, which costs over $3,000, has yet to become a major sales driver for the tech giant. Meta, Snap's main rival in the social media sector, sells its own smart glasses in collaboration with Ray-Ban but hasn't yet launched augmented-reality rims. OpenAI is also developing some kind of AI-powered wearable device, though it's unclear what form it will take. Snap's previous foray into smart glasses, the $130 Spectacles, were released in 2016 and never became a big hit with customers. However, the company argues that Specs, which wre developed with a proprietary operating system and more than 7,000 patents, offer much more functionality to the public than other devices developed by rivals. Specs will be available in two sizes. "Today's devices force a tradeoff between capability and wearability," the company said in a press release. "AI glasses are wearable, but limited in what they can do. Headsets are powerful, but can be uncomfortable to wear and shut people out of the world. Specs represent a new category: more capable than AI glasses, more wearable than headsets, and fully standalone, with no puck or tether." The glasses were unveiled at a precarious time for Snap, the stock of which has plummeted more than 30% since the start of the year and is now trading at under $6 per share. In April, the company slashed about 1,000 jobs, or 16% of its overall workforce, and closed another 300 open roles. Spiegel said the belt-tightening effort was part of Snap's effort to rely more heavily on AI tools to boost efficiency -- the latest tech company to make that claim. "While these changes are necessary to realize Snap's long-term potential, we believe that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity, and better support our community, partners, and advertisers," Spiegel said in a memo at the time.

Snap Launches Its First Augmented Reality Glasses for the General Public

Unlike previous versions of Spectacles that were primarily reserved for developers, Specs now targets a broader market. The glasses feature an enlarged display, a battery life of approximately four hours, and Bluetooth connectivity. They will also allow developers to create advanced experiences akin to artificial intelligence agents through tools compatible with Anthropic's Claude Code, OpenAI's Codex and Cursor. Parental control features are also scheduled to be deployed by the end of the year. However, Snap is entering a nascent but highly competitive market where Meta, Google, and Apple are ramping up investments. Despite its ambitions, the company continues to face significant challenges, notably the lack of an annual profit since its initial public offering and a high price point in a context of pressure on purchasing power. Consequently, some analysts question the group's ability to convince its core customer base, largely young consumers, to adopt a device sold for over $2,000.