Snap Inc. unveiled its first consumer-facing augmented reality glasses, branded SPECS, on June 16, 2026, at the Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, California, priced at $2,195. The standalone, AI-integrated device opens pre-orders now and is expected to ship in fall 2026.
The launch caps more than a decade of development and marks the sixth generation of Snap’s Specs hardware, following a last consumer version released in 2019. Pre-orders require a $200 refundable deposit, with first shipments planned for the United States, United Kingdom, and France.
A standalone AI spatial computer
Unlike many rivals, SPECS is fully standalone, with no compute puck or tether. The glasses run on two Qualcomm Snapdragon processors — one dedicated to computer vision, the other to running AR “Lenses” — and use Snap’s proprietary LCoS display technology delivering a 51-degree field of view, 16 million colors, and 7-millisecond motion-to-photon latency that the company says was verified via robotic measurement systems.
The hardware comes in two frame sizes — 47mm at 132 grams and 52mm at 136 grams — built from Swiss TR90 polymer, with prescription inserts supported. Electrochromic lenses shift from clear to tinted in 10 seconds, the same technology used in Boeing 787 Dreamliner windows. Battery life runs about four hours of mixed use, extending to 20 hours total with the charging case.
SPECS are the beginning of a new era in computing. 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.
Spiegel pitches a different purpose
Co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel framed SPECS as a departure from camera-first smart glasses. “I think AI glasses are typically being used to record content, that’s sort of the purpose of the glasses as they’re marketed,” he told Engadget. “That’s not the purpose of Specs.” Snap emphasized privacy features including on-device processing, permission prompts, an LED indicator that glows when recording, and a developer ban on facial recognition in Lenses. Parents can also toggle settings to restrict Lenses available to teens.
Snap is courting developers with new tools, including agentic development in Lens Studio integrated with Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor, a new Native Development Kit, a SPECS Spatial Benchmark, and a Migration Agent. The company says hundreds of Lenses have already been published by third-party developers, and that it filed more than 7,000 patents while building the product. In January 2026, Snap spun off a wholly-owned subsidiary, Specs Inc., to focus exclusively on the glasses.
A high-stakes bet
The price positions SPECS between Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, which start around $350, and Apple’s Vision Pro, which starts near $3,500. The launch arrives at a delicate moment: Snap cut roughly 16% of its workforce in April 2026 and remains not consistently profitable. Spiegel signaled a path to broader reach over time, telling Engadget price cuts are “something we’re really focused on over time, because we want Specs to be as accessible as possible.”
The marketing push features a campaign shot by photographer Steven Meisel, with brand “Visionaries” including Jimmy Butler, Imogen Heap, Hoyeon, Jack Harlow, and Kaia Gerber. Google has also announced its own AI glasses, intensifying competition in a category major tech players are racing to define.