Snap unveils $2,195 Specs AR glasses, Spiegel bets on post smartphone

explode CEO Evan Spiegel claims that consumers are so tired of staring at smartphone screens that they would be willing to pay more than $2,000 for augmented reality glasses that bring digital images into the user’s field of vision.

“Almost 20 years since the iPhone was introduced, people are ready to think differently about computing,” Spiegel said in an interview with CNBC. he said.

On Tuesday, the Snap co-founder launched Specs, his company’s first AR device aimed at broader audiences rather than developers. At $2,195 with a $200 refundable deposit, Spectacles are more than 15 times the price of Snap’s $130 camera-only Spectacles, which launched in 2016 and were never popular.

“The specifications represent a way to use computing together in shared experiences in the real world, looking through transparent lenses rather than through an opaque screen,” Spiegel said. The device is expected to be available in the US, UK and France later this year.

This is an emerging market, but one that already has better capitalized competitors. Meta’s Reality Labs has had some success partnering with Ray-Ban Meta glasses EssilorLuxotticaAfter the company struggled to find a wide audience for its Quest-branded virtual reality headsets. And in May, Google Samsung and eyeglass manufacturers Warby Parker and Gentle Monster introduced their upcoming artificial intelligence-supported glasses developed with a focus on sound.

Spiegel dismissed audio-only smart glasses, calling them “very lightweight glasses that don’t really do much.”

“These are kind of like a phone accessory or open headphones,” Spiegel said.

But Meta and Google have built dominant digital advertising businesses that generate enough cash to allow the companies to experiment with costly hardware efforts. Snap, on the contrary, is a publicly traded company, so it loses money every year and has a hard time impressing Wall Street.

In January, Snap partnered with Specs Inc. to host the development of its AR glasses. He established a subsidiary called.

“Since we founded the company, we’ve been pretty clear with investors that we’re going to run the business for the long term and really be at the service of our community and our customers,” Spiegel said. “I think this is an important step for investors in the sense that they’re going to see a lot of advances that they haven’t seen before, but really it’s just another step.”

Snap shares were down around 4% in midday trading after the company announced the Specifications.

Much of Spiegel’s confidence is based on his view that there is life after smartphones.

Spiegel said more and more people are “questioning their relationship with screens,” citing factors such as “neck pain from staring at a tiny phone screen” or the feeling that they’re missing out on daily moments.

While the early days of smart glasses were promising, VR remained a niche category. Apple’s The Vision Pro, which starts at $3,500, did not become the iPhone makers’ next great product despite major investments and major marketing efforts, and Meta scaled back its VR ambitions this year, turning its Horizon Worlds VR platform into a Roblox-like mobile app.

“There are definitely a lot of developers coming from the VR space or looking for more opportunities in augmented reality,” Spiegel said.

Compared to those on the market, Spiegel called Specs the most capable, most aware and most accessible spatial computer available today.”

However, selling high-priced electronics may be difficult at the moment as rising inflation weakens consumer confidence.

“This is like the worst time for any company to launch any premium product,” said Jitesh Ubrani, director of research at IDC. “It’s also true that the core audience has always been young people, and generally the audience can’t afford to spend a lot,” he added of Snap.

The new Specs AR glasses are lighter and have a larger screen than the previous developer-focused version of Spectacles. They offer nearly four hours of battery life and Bluetooth connectivity. Developers will also be able to create AI agent-like experiences for the device using a preview feature that integrates with Anthropic’s Claude Code, OpenAI’s Codex, and Cursor’s coding tools.

As for possible child safety concerns about the specs, Spiegel said the company plans to release “parenting tools that will make it easier to share the specs with your teenager with a more limited set of Lenses,” namely AR effects and certain features “on the operating system side” later this year.

Spiegel, a father of four boys, said he tested Specs at home with his family.

“Instead of kids looking at one player on a small screen, you can run around and play laser tag, learn about dinosaurs, build Legos,” Spiegel said. “It’s really fun to be able to play with see-through computing because it’s something you can share.”

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