Snap’s Smart Glasses History: From $129 Spectacles To $2,195 Specs

Snap was an early entrant into the smart glasses world back in 2016 with its Spectacles which, it was later claimed, lost the company $40 million. Those glasses were deemed expensive at $129, so the latest version may spark a sharp intake of breath.

Specs are priced at $2,195 (they’ll be £1,995 in the U.K.), and while that’s a lot more, it’s fair to say they do a lot more than their predecessor from a decade ago.

Pre-orders are now open, with a $200 deposit, which is refundable, and the glasses will start shipping in the fall.

Battery life on board the glasses is claimed to last four hours, and unlike the Meta glasses, they’re not attached to a companion phone. Nor do they have an external battery, as seen on the Apple’s AR headset, the Vision Pro.

The glasses have a chunky frame around the lenses, which may not be to everyone’s taste but are certainly unmissable. A video post on X showed they were frames that make a statement, and that even the arms of the glasses were thick and chunky, presumably to maximize battery life.

Snap’s co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel suggested that they heralded a post-smartphone world. “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. The smartphone put our lives in our pockets. Specs put computing into the world, where life actually happens,” he said.

Dual Snapdragon Processors And Liquid Crystal Display

The glasses use a proprietary liquid crystal on silicon display, promising a 51-degree field of view. The display is capable of 16 million colors, which should deliver smooth visuals with rich contrast, the company said.

This is unlike some smart glasses which only have monochromatic displays. Perhaps that’s part of why there are not one but two Snapdragon processors, from Qualcomm, on board. Industry analyst Max Weinbach commented on the double processor. “Wonder if this will become more common on glasses, dual chip. Makes a ton of sense,” he said. Other commenters suggested it was a way around thermal issues on smart glasses.

So far, the Specs are all about claims, including low latency and lenses which can shift from tinted to clear in 10 seconds. When they’re actually shipped it’ll be possible to judge how innovative they are.

For sure, the price, at $2,195 somewhere between Meta Ray-Ban Display at around $800 and Apple Vision Pro at $3,499, will still be high enough to cause concerns for some.