Snapchat announces that new lightweight AR Spectacles will be launching next year

At Augmented World Expo 2025, Snapchat announced a next-generation version of Snap Spectacles. These new spectacles should have a more lightweight and immersive design, and will be launching to the public next year.

I had the opportunity to go hands on with the fifth generation Snap Spectacles towards the end of last year, and they were quite impressive. That generation of Spectacles was only available for developers, and weren’t planned to launch to the public. They were also fair bit bulky, but they served as a means for developers to get working on their lenses for an eventual public release.

New Spectacles

Now, Snap is announcing that a version of Snapchat Spectacles, their immersive AR glasses – will be launching to the public in 2026. They’ll be called ‘Specs’, and Snap describes them as “an ultra-powerful wearable computer integrated into a lightweight pair of glasses, featuring see-through Lenses that enhance the physical world with digital experiences.”

Compared to the previous version of Snap Spectacles for developers – these should look much nicer. Plus, they’re all-in-one, no compute puck or external battery required.

Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap, shared the following about Snap Specs:

“We believe the time is right for a revolution in computing that naturally integrates our digital experiences with the physical world, and we can’t wait to publicly launch our new Specs next year,” said Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc. “We couldn’t be more excited about the extraordinary progress in artificial intelligence and augmented reality that is enabling new, human-centered computing experiences. We believe Specs are the most advanced personal computer in the world, and we can’t wait for you to see for yourself.”

Snap OS

Snap also announced a couple of noteworthy changes for Snap OS, the operating system that runs on Snap Specs:

• Deep Integrations with OpenAI and Gemini on Google Cloud
• Depth Module API, translating 2D information from large language models in order to anchor AR information accurately in three dimensions
• Automated Speech Recognition API, enabling real time transcription for 40+ languages
• Snap3D API, allowing developers to generate 3D objects on the fly inside of Lenses

There’ll also be fleet management, allowing developers to manage multiple pairs of Specs, a new Guided mode that makes it easier to demo to guests, and Guided Navigation – which’ll allow developers to make AR guided tours in real world places.

All in all, this new version of Specs sounds quite impressive – and I’m looking forward to their launch next year! You can learn more about the launch from Snapchat’s newsroom post.

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