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Snapchat, long-known as a featherweight in the league of Big Tech giants, is hoping to best opponents Meta, Google and Apple by releasing its new augmented reality AI-enabled smart glasses months, maybe even years, before the big guys.
Speaking at a conference on Tuesday, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said the company would release a new version of its camera-equipped glasses next year that will incorporate an interactive, AI-enhanced digital screen within the lens. The 2026 release date would be ahead of Meta, which plans to release its AR “Orion” glasses in 2027, while Google has not attached a date to its Android XR glasses.
“The tiny smartphone limited our imagination,” Spiegel said in his keynote at the Augmented World Expo conference in Long Beach, Calif. “It’s clear that today’s devices and user interfaces are woefully inadequate to realize the full potential of AI.”
The new “Snapchat Specs” will be lightweight and AI-enhanced, Snap said. They will allow users to look at objects in the real world and leverage AI to access information, such as translating ingredients on a label from foreign languages. The glasses will also allow users to interact with the objects on the lens, Snap said, citing examples like playing video games with their eyeballs.
The company did not share photos of the Specs frames or provide information on pricing. As part of the Specs announcement, Snapchat shared that operating system partnerships with OpenAI and Google Gemini will extend into experiences for the glasses.
If Snap follows through on the promise of 2026 launch, it would be the first Big Tech company to market with augmented reality glasses for mainstream consumers, claiming an early lead in the race to create the successor to the smartphone—a competition involving everyone from Meta, Google, and Apple, to ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which recently announced a partnership with former Apple design boss Jony Ive.
A pioneer in the glasses form factor, Snap made waves with the release of its “Spectacles” in 2016. The funky looking glasses were equipped with a camera that allowed users to post photos and short video clips directly to their Snapchat feed. But in recent years, Snap’s Spectacles have been eclipsed by Meta, which partnered with EssilorLuxottica to release Ray-Ban smart glasses. Though Meta hasn’t shared financials around its Ray-Ban glasses, EssilorLuxottica noted that the companies have sold over 2 billion glasses since their 2023 debut. Luxottica plans to increase products of the co-branded glasses to 10 million units by 2026, suggesting that the companies are pleased with the results and potential of the glasses.
That said, Meta’s glasses do not have AR capabilities; rather, the glasses have audio-based AI features as well as photo and video capability. Meta has said it will release its Orion AR glasses in 2027, with technology that will allow users to scan their Threads feeds with eye tracking hardware.
Other tech giants have glasses in their sights, too. At its IO developer’s conference in May, Google announced that it would join the smart glasses market by partnering with Warby Parker. And Apple, whose $3,500 VisionPro headset has failed to catch on with consumers, is reported to release smart glasses next year that mimic the current version of Meta’s Ray Bans, while working on more advanced AR glasses that are still years away, according to Bloomberg.
The Specs announcement follows a turbulent financial period for Snapchat. After years of worrisome financials, Snapchat seems to have stabilized and increased free cash flow in the most recent quarter. The glasses are partially a revenue diversification effort as the company is propagated by ads to its social network.
Still, Snapchat did not share what the glasses will cost consumers. Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses, which do not have AR capabilities, cost between $239 and $303 so it’s reasonable to assume the Specs’ prices will be steeper due to the hardware requirements.
The style and comfort of the glasses are also likely to be critical, with consumers having repeatedly demonstrated an aversion to bulky- or geeky-looking smart glasses and headsets. With its 2026 launch date, Snap has thrust itself back into the conversation, but success will rest on whether it can produce a product consumers actually want to wear.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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