Later this year, Snap is expected to release the latest version of its consumer AR glasses, Diopter. In anticipation of this big event, the company launched a new subsidiary, Specs Inc., focused solely on the further development of the glasses.
Snap announced the new company on Tuesday, explaining that the move will 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 serious about its smart glasses — though it’s worth noting that the company has been developing its AR hardware for quite some time.
In fact, Snap first started working on the technology behind the specs a decade ago, though the last time the company offered a consumer version was in 2019. As of 2024, the latest version of the hardware (technically its fifth generation) has been a developer-only product, which has allowed Snap to work on complementing the glasses. launch.
As Snap continued to improve its product, other companies jumped into the forefront of the AR glasses race, most notably Meta — which cut deals with major glasses companies (Ray Ban and Oakley through its partnership with the owner of these brands, EssilorLuxottica) while you enjoy growing demand in the US Snap apparently hopes to make a substantial entry into this market once its glasses are released later this year.
At CES earlier this month, I sat down with Russell Patton, product manager for Specs, who gave me the opportunity to show off Snap’s new headgear. Patton, who walked me through the user experience and the latest features of the device, said the “spatial nature” of the Specs meant there were many user experiences we could enjoy that aren’t possible with a phone. That spatial experience is largely powered by the glasses’ four cameras, which enable hand-held tracking and power the company’s Snap Spatial Engine, which is the software component that renders the device’s AR images.
The specs run on a separate operating system, Snap OS, which was released its latest version last September. The latest version specifically includes an improved browser (which I was able to test by visiting TechCrunch’s website), as well as an AI-powered feature (called “spatial tips”) that can automatically provide information about what you’re looking at (while looking at a table full of snacks, the health glasses gave me the best). Also included is a “travel mode,” which Snap says can help travelers translate foreign signs and menus.
Then there are the games. During my demo, I managed to get through a round of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which was a lot of fun. The headsets also have the ability to sync with each other, meaning two different people wearing different sets of glasses can see the same thing in the same physical space. As you can imagine, this opens the door for collaborative gaming.
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The form factor of the glasses I used was a little unwieldy (at almost 8 ozthey’re a bit heavy) and tended to get warm after use, although the team told me that the particular pair of glasses I was using were in use all day. The physical composition of the material is also expected to change before it is released publicly.
The company has not yet given an exact release date, so interested consumers should keep their eyes open for this announcement.
Correction: The third generation of consumer glasses was released in 2019, not 2018 as previously reported. This article was updated after publication to reflect the correct year.
