On July 16, Snap unveiled Specs, its consumer AR glasses, at the AWE conference. Priced at $2,195, the device will launch in the US, UK, and France this fall. CEO Evan Spiegel didn't mince words: "The smartphone era is ending. AR glasses are the next computing platform."
This isn't Snap's first eyewear attempt. The 2016 Spectacles camera glasses cost just $130, marketed as a toy accessory. A decade later, Specs costs over 15 times more. The hardware leap is real: two Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, roughly 4 hours of battery life, and a charging case that refills four full cycles—no external battery or controller needed. Developers can use tools like Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, or Cursor to build AI agent interactions on the glasses. Demoed use cases include Apollo 11 moon landing reenactment, golf route assistance, and immersive AR education.
Priced Between Giants: More Than Meta, Less Than Apple
Meta's Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, co-developed with EssilorLuxottica, retail for $379–$799 and have already gained traction. Apple's Vision Pro costs $3,499 but has underperformed in sales. The $2,195 Specs sits awkwardly in the middle—below Vision Pro but far above Meta. Whether it delivers enough to justify the price remains to be seen by actual users.
A Decade of Losses, a $3.5 Billion Gambit
Snap has posted losses every year since going public, with its ad business squeezed by Meta. The Specs project alone has burned through over $3.5 billion. Earlier this year, activist investors publicly demanded the company spin off or kill the entire Specs division. Spiegel's launch is both a technical milestone and a desperate bet under financial pressure.
Snap's core user base skews young, with limited spending power. Spiegel, a father of four, said he has been testing Specs at home, letting his kids experience AR dinosaur education, Lego building, and laser tag games. Parental controls are coming later this year, he added.
Giants All Around: Who Owns the Post-Smartphone Future
Snap isn't alone in this race—but its rivals are far bigger. Google is co-developing AI smart glasses with Samsung, Warby Parker, and Gentle Monster, backed by a full ecosystem. Meta already has supply chain and channel muscle in wearables. Apple continues R&D in the same direction. Whether the $2,195 Specs can make people ditch their phones is an open question. Whether Snap can survive long enough to find out may be the harder one.