For new AR glasses: Snap spins off AR division

Snap has announced the spin-off of a subsidiary named Specs Inc., which will specialize in the development and marketing of AR glasses.

The operator of the messaging app Snapchat has been developing smart glasses and AR hardware for over ten years. The current fifth generation of Spectacles is a fully-fledged AR glasses that Snap rents to developers for a monthly fee. A consumer product named "Specs" is announced for 2026, which is intended to be significantly slimmer, lighter, and more powerful, with a focus on AI assistance.

Open to Investments

Snap is open to investments. The founding of Specs Inc. enables new partnerships and financial flexibility, including potential minority stakes, according to the announcement.

The development of AR technology is extremely costly. When announcing the upcoming AR glasses last summer, CEO Evan Spiegel said that three billion US dollars had been invested in the development of the technology so far.

Meta, which has also presented a product prototype with the AR glasses Orion, has likely invested easily ten times that amount in the same period. It is therefore only logical that the significantly smaller Snap is looking for external investors with the spin-off of Specs Inc.

The Next Evolution of Spectacles

The current model Spectacles 5 runs on Snap OS. The operating system received a major update last fall, paving the way for the market launch of Specs.

Technically, the glasses rely on a combination of waveguides and LCoS micro-projectors. These enable 3D graphics and a diagonal field of view of 46 degrees. A special feature is the adaptive tinting of the lenses, which automatically adjusts to ambient brightness to display digital elements with high contrast both indoors and outdoors. Despite the advanced technology, the current model, weighing 226 grams, is still comparatively heavy and limited to a continuous runtime of about 45 minutes. The AR glasses are controlled via hand tracking and voice commands.

According to Evan Spiegel, the Specs launching this year will be significantly more compact than the bulky Spectacles 5, yet will function without external processors, cables, or pocket computers.

Whether this promise will be kept remains to be seen, as even Meta's "Orion" prototype requires an external pocket computer for operation. If Snap succeeds, it would be the first company to bring a fully-fledged AR glasses in a conventional glasses form factor to market.

When and where the wearable will be released this year, and how much it will cost, is currently unknown.

(vbr)