Co-Founder, CEO & Director, Snap
Snap Unveils Specs Smart Glasses at AWE 2026
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel reveals new Specs AR smart glasses at the Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, California.
Read more about Snap's Specs Smart Glasses on CNET.com
Snap's New Specs Are Chunky, Pricey and I Really Need to Try Them https://zdcs.link/a5jJL5
0:00 Introduction & Reveal
1:05 Hardware, Weight & Prescriptions
1:57 Display Tech & Field of View
3:15 Electrochromic Lenses & Transparency
3:52 Processors & 7ms Latency
5:04 Real-World Tools & Translation
5:49 Private Display & Workspace Features
6:44 AR Lenses in Action
7:38 Battery Life & Charging Case
9:22 Privacy & Security Features...
About Evan Spiegel
In June 2026, Spiegel unveiled Specs, Snap's consumer augmented reality glasses, at the Augmented World Expo. He described Specs as "a new type of computer" designed to "put computing into the world around you" and characterized them as distinct from both AI smart glasses and mixed reality headsets. He stated that the glasses are meant to address what he described as people spending excessive time staring at screens and feeling distracted from the real world. The device, priced at $2,195, was made available for pre-order with shipping expected in the fall. Spiegel said the company had spent more than 12 years working toward the product's consumer launch and described 2026 as a "crucible moment" for Snap, citing the company's progress toward reaching nearly one billion monthly active users and the milestone of net income profitability. On earnings calls and in interviews, Spiegel addressed investor concerns about the pricing and market for Specs, comparing them to high-end computers and laptops. He also discussed the company's cost-cutting measures, which included a reduction in annualized cost structure by more than $500 million, and the ongoing challenges of being compared to larger social media companies. In discussions about the role of AI in software development, Spiegel stated that "the entire way that software is written now has changed profoundly" and expressed a belief that humans would not be writing code within the next year.
Transcript (4 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Evan Spiegel0:01
Good morning, AWE. Oh my goodness, it is so great to be here. I'm Evan Spiegel, the co-founder and CEO of Snap, Inc. And now I'm so excited because you are going to be one of the first in the world to see specs. You ready?
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Narrator0:26
All right, let's go. Introducing Specs, a new kind of computer designed for real life and built into see-through glasses. And they're just gorgeous. Let's start from the moment that you put them on. Specs are made from high performance Swiss TR90 polymer. We call it plastic titanium, light enough to be worn for hours. And that matters because if a computer is going to be part of everyday life, it has to feel natural. And specs come in two sizes. The 47 millimeter frame weighs just 132 grams and the 52 mm frame weighs 136 g. And they support a wide range of prescriptions that can be inserted and removed so you can see clearly and easily share your specs with friends and family. Now, let's talk about what you can see through specs. Specs feature a new proprietary optical engine with a liquid crystal on silicon display that delivers one of the richest and most immersive visual experiences today. And the glass that carries light from the display to your eyes is called the waveguide. And our new waveguide uses billions of invisibly small nanostructures. So small that more than 10,000 can fit on the tip of a single hair. And they guide light exactly where it needs to go, creating a big bright image and an immersive 51 degree field of view. And that's equivalent to a 24-inch desktop display or a 5-inch home cinema screen placed about 10 ft away. And you get 16 million colors for sharper contrast and richer, smoother visuals. Now, check this out. Specs use the same advanced technology found in Boeing 787 Dreamliner windows. And the electrochromic lenses gently shift from clear to tinted in just 10 seconds. And across the full optical stack, we've driven a nearly 35% increase in transparency so you can see the world clearly and crisply through the waveguide. And that matters because specs are not designed to replace the world. They're designed to bring computing into it. For digital content to feel real, specs have to understand the world and respond instantly. So specs use two Snapdragon processors, one for computer vision and one dedicated to running lenses. And together this efficient architecture powers the advanced capabilities of specs. It enables high-speed hand tracking with lower latency and lower power consumption. So interactions feel more natural. Digital content feels grounded and battery life goes further. And verified by advanced robotic measurement systems, specs deliver a truly remarkable 7 millisecond motion to photon latency.
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Evan Spiegel4:52
And that means when you move, the digital overlay keeps up quickly enough to feel like it really belongs there. And that's what allows specs to anchor lenses in the real world. Now, the most important thing about specs is not any single technical spec. It's how naturally they fit into the flow of your day. Specs can bring powerful real world tools into your view exactly when you need them. Directions can appear as you move through a city, a station, or a building. And measurements can line up with the space right in front of you. Real time translation keeps you in the conversation and suggestions can appear in context instead of being buried in a search result or a how-to video. And that's the power of spatial computing. Specs provide a beautiful private display wherever you are. You can... I'm excited, too. It's going to be awesome. You can watch a movie, browse the web, or expand your laptop display. And because specs are see-through, you're not sealed off from the world. You can look away, talk to someone, stay aware of what's happening around you, and come back to your content right where you left it. You can cast your screen, open a whiteboard, put ideas in space, and for people who move between places at home, at work, on a train, in a hotel room, that changes what a workspace can be. And then there are the hundreds of lenses that simply could never have existed before. For example, specs can help you read the green while you practice your putt. Drum kit overlays interactive lessons onto your drum set, making it easier than ever to learn, practice, and improve. Vector fields can make invisible forces visible, helping students understand motion, pressure, and flow in the space around them. Because AR doesn't just make old software more convenient. It makes new experiences possible. Experiences that are useful, shared, playful, and full of wonder. And with all this capability, battery life is really important. So, we designed specs for a range of ways you might use them throughout your day. Specs offer up to 4 hours of mixed-use battery life, including audio and video playback, AI assistance, lenses, Bluetooth notifications, and more. And the custom charging cable snaps into place magnetically so you can easily power specs while wearing them for extended use. And that same charging interface also supports streaming video over USB-C when you use the display cable to connect your specs to your computer, your phone or gaming device to use them as a large immersive display. And the included charging case offers four charges on the go, giving you up to 20 total hours of mixed use. So, put simply, specs are the most capable and most wearable AR glasses ever built. And those copycats up north aren't going to be stealing this one. Specs ask clearly before accessing sensitive information. The LED light glows when someone is recording. They protect data by design, prioritizing on-device processing. And they give people control over what gets stored, synced, shared, or deleted. We're introducing specs for $2,195.
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Narrator10:04
You can pre-order today at specs.com. And they're expected to ship this fall.