Snap gets serious about Specs, spins AR glasses into standalone company

Summary

Later this year, Snap is expected to launch the latest consumer version of its AR glasses, Specs. In anticipation of that big event, the company has launched a new subsidiary, Specs Inc., focused solely on further developing the glasses. Snap announced the new company on Tuesday, explaining that the move would allow for “greater operational focus and alignment” as it continues to iterate on its product. It shows that, like other tech giants (see: Meta and Apple), Snap is getting serious about its smart glasses—although it’s worth noting that the company has been developing its AR hardware for quite a long time. In fact, Snap originally began working on the technology behind Specs over a decade ago, although the last time the company offered a consumer version of the glasses was in 2018. Since 2024, the latest version of the hardware (technically its fifth generation) has been a developer-only product, which has allowed Snap to work on populating the wearable with the kinds of programs that will hopefully make it a hit when it comes time to launch. As Snap has continued to refine its product, other companies have charged to the front of the AR glasses race, most notably Meta—which has cut deals with major eyewear companies (Ray Ban and Oakley via its partnership with those brands’ owner, EssilorLuxottica) while enjoying growing demand in the U.S. Snap obviously hopes to make a meaningful entrance into that market once its glasses are released later this year. At CES earlier this month, I met up with Russell Patton, product manager for Specs, who gave me the opportunity to demo Snap’s new headgear. Patton, who guided me through a tour of the device’s user experience and latest features, said that “the spatial nature” of Specs meant that there were a lot of user experiences that could be enjoyed that aren’t possible with a phone. That spatial experience is largely powered by the glasses’ four cameras, which allow for hand tracking and enable the company’s Snap Spatial ...