Snap Inc. unveiled Specs, a wearable computer built into see-through augmented reality (AR) glasses. “Specs are the beginning of a new era in computing,” said Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc. “For decades, computers have asked us to look down, sit still or step out of the moment. Specs bring computing into the world around us where we live, work, learn, create and connect.”
For more than a decade, Snap has invested across the full augmented reality stack, including developer tools, a proprietary operating system, displays, optics and computer vision, filing more than 7,000 patents to create technology that makes computing more human. With Specs, that long-term vision moves from phones to glasses.
“The smartphone put our lives in our pockets,” Spiegel said. “Specs put computing into the world, where life actually happens.”
Today’s devices force a tradeoff between capability and wearability. AI glasses are wearable, but limited in what they can do. Headsets are powerful, but can be uncomfortable to wear and shut people out of the world. Specs represent a new category: more capable than AI glasses, more wearable than headsets and fully standalone, with no puck or tether.
Specs are built to be wearable for everyday life and capable of rich spatial computing. Crafted from high-performance Swiss TR90 polymer, Specs are available in two sizes: the 47-millimeter model weighs just 132 grams, and the 52-millimeter model weighs 136 grams. Removable inserts support a wide range of prescriptions.
The glasses feature Snap’s proprietary liquid-crystal-on-silicon display, with a 51-degree field of view and 16 million colors for sharper contrast and richer, smoother visuals. The field of view is equivalent to a 24-inch desktop display for work or an up to 115-inch home cinema screen placed about 10 feet away.
Snap redesigned the waveguide to deliver a clearer, more seamless view of the world with minimal distortion, using billions of invisibly small nanostructures—so small that more than 10,000 can fit on the tip of a single hair. Electrochromic lenses, inspired by the same advanced technology found in Boeing 787 Dreamliner windows, shift from clear to tinted in 10 seconds.
“Specs are not designed to replace the world,” Spiegel said. “They’re designed to bring computing into it.”
Powered by two Snapdragon processors, one for computer vision and one dedicated to running lenses, Specs enable high-speed hand tracking, lower latency and more natural interactions. Verified by advanced robotic measurement systems, Specs deliver 7-millisecond motion-to-photon latency, helping digital content feel anchored in the real world.
Specs make augmented reality useful every day by bringing real-world tools, a large private display and shared immersive experiences into the world around you. Directions, spatial measurements and contextual AI assistance appear exactly when people need them. A large, private display makes it possible to stream content, cast a screen, open a whiteboard or turn almost any place into a workspace. Hundreds of developer-built lenses unlock shared experiences that screens cannot, from reading the green to overlaying interactive lessons onto a drum set to education tools that make invisible forces visible.
Specs offer up to four hours of mixed-use battery life, including audio and video playback, lenses, AI assistance, Bluetooth notifications and more. The included charging case provides four additional charges on the go, delivering up to 20 total hours of mixed use.
“Specs are the most capable and most wearable AR glasses ever built,” Spiegel said.
Snap also announced new tools for the Specs developer ecosystem. Over the past year and a half, Snap has shipped 10 Snap OS updates with more than 40 new features and application programming interfaces (APIs), and developers have already published hundreds of lenses for Specs.
“With Specs, AI is not intelligence trapped in a chat box,” Spiegel said. “It is intelligence that can see what you see, understand what you’re trying to do, and help you in the moment.”
As Specs bring computing into a more personal form factor, Snap emphasized its privacy-first approach. Specs ask clearly before accessing sensitive information, include an LED light that glows when recording, prioritize on-device data processing and give people control over what gets stored, synced, shared or deleted.
“Specs only work if people trust them,” Spiegel said. “Privacy has to be built in from the very beginning.”
Snap also unveiled a global Specs campaign shot by photographer Steven Meisel and featuring a group of creative visionaries, including Jimmy Butler, Imogen Heap, Hoyeon, Jack Harlow and Kaia Gerber. Each visionary has been working with Snap to imagine new Specs experiences that will debut this fall.
“Together, we will create something truly special,” Spiegel said. “A future where computing empowers us, brings us closer together and reconnects us with the world around us.”
