Snap gets closer to eventually replacing your smartphone with new lightweight AR glasses in 2026

Spiegel remained light on details, including the exact launch timeline and the cost of the Specs, but said the new glasses will be lighter and smaller than previous versions.

The consumer-focused Specs will run on the company’s Snap operating system. Snap said that developers will be able to include Google’s Gemini AI models into programs they develop for the smart glasses. Previously, developers could only use OpenAI’s GPT family of AI models to build AR apps for the smart glasses.

“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,” Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc, said in a statement. “We couldn’t be more excited about the extraordinary progress in artificial intelligence and augmented reality that is enabling new, human-centered computing experiences.”

The AR glasses represent nearly a decade of development and billions of financial investment at Snap. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Snap, the company behind the popular Snapchat app, debuted its first smart glasses—dubbed Spectacles—in 2016. These early models featured circular frames and were primarily designed for capturing photos and videos. They lacked any augmented reality capabilities and were similar to the earlier versions of Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses.

Snapchat’s Spectacles were fun and stood out for resembling real, fashionable sunglasses more than typical smart glasses. In the following years, Snap released updated versions of Spectacles, but in 2021, the company shifted its focus toward augmented reality. This pivot was driven by a desire to bridge the digital and physical worlds, seamlessly integrating virtual elements with the tangible environment. The AR-focused Spectacles adopted a black, sharp-angled rectangular design and were noticeably thicker than earlier models.

The Santa Monica, California-based company released the fifth-generation Spectacles in September of last year. However, they were intended only for developers who committed to paying $99 a month for a year.

Snap is among several companies developing high-tech smart glasses and is working to get them on people’s faces as quickly as possible, with the ultimate goal of replacing smartphones. Meta is another major player betting on smart glasses as the foundation of the next-generation computing platform.

Meta already sells its popular Ray-Ban smart glasses equipped with cameras and speakers, but although they currently lack augmented reality capabilities. Last year, the company unveiled Orion—a pair of smart glasses that resemble thick, black reading glasses but feature lenses capable of displaying text messages, video calls, and even YouTube videos within the user’s field of vision.

Augmented reality, however, is already present in both Snap’s fifth-generation Spectacles and Meta’s Orion prototype. Both companies aim to shift AR from a niche, experimental technology to a mainstream phenomenon.

Earlier this year, Google joined the fray by announcing its own entry into the space through a $150 million partnership with Warby Parker, which plans to release its own smart glasses sometime next year.  Apple, too, has dabbled in the AR space in recent years with its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, but the company has yet to launch sleek smart glasses.

Tech companies have been trying for years to develop AR wearables, but they have failed to excite consumers. However, they hope that AR glasses will eventually become a mobile, hands-free computer that could rival the smartphone and become the default way to communicate and interact online. If smart glasses do become mainstream, companies like Snap hope to be major players in this emerging industry, which would also help reduce their dependency on competitors like Apple and Google.