While they’re often not the one you think of first, Snapchat has pushing for smart glasses for quite some time now, and the company has just announced that its new “Specs Inc” subsidiary is pushing for smart glasses even harder.
Snapchat’s efforts around smart glasses date back years, with the company’s iconic “Spectacles” (pictured above) having released a decade ago in 2016. Those glasses were mostly focused on POV photo and video capture for social sharing, but Snap Inc has been building on the idea ever since. In 2024, the company introduced a new AR glasses model that, while not exactly stylish, did a lot to build on the world around you.
Our colleagues at 9to5Mac documented their experience with the glasses:
Last year, Snap unveiled a newer generation that’s apparently set to go on sale sometime in 2026. Ahead of that, Snap today announced the formation of “Specs Inc,” a new subsidiary company that will focus solely on development of smart glasses, starting with “the public launch of Specs later this year.”
Snap says:
Establishing Specs Inc. as a wholly-owned subsidiary provides greater operational focus and alignment, enables new partnerships and capital flexibility including the potential for minority investment, allows us to grow a distinct brand, and supports clearer valuation of the business as we work towards the public launch of Specs later this year.
For over a decade we’ve been working to make computing more human by building a new type of eyewear called Specs that integrate your digital experience with the real world. Instead of staring at an opaque screen that separates you from your surroundings, Specs smartglasses have see-through lenses that add digital objects to the world in three dimensions, enabling natural controls with your hands and voice. Developers have already been building with Specs, creating new ways to learn, play games, and get work done, all grounded in the real world.
Meanwhile, Android XR is gearing up for the launch of its first smart glasses, with new glasses from Samsung in the pipeline and due out later this year.
More on Smart Glasses:
- Smart glasses are better than ever, but the promise of Android XR is too close to ignore
- Samsung’s Android XR glasses reportedly have a 12MP camera, maybe multiple models
- Even Realities started a trend, but its smart glasses probably aren’t for you
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