Snap’s AR Glasses Relaunch: Why the CEO Believes It’s Different

Snapchat is preparing to ship and release its long-awaited augmented reality glasses, Specs, in 2026.

Though technically in its sixth generation, according to Chief Executive Evan Speigel, the new iteration of Snapchat Specs will technically count as the first time the product will have widespread commercial availability to the public. Snapchat describes the goggles as a “standalone wearable computer that blend the digital and physical worlds, helping you discover, create, and connect more naturally.” The Spectacle glasses allow users to run applications and let users build their own software for AR usage.

“The promise of see-through glasses is like, you and I can sit across from each other, play a game of chess, design somethingbuild something, watch something together,” Spiegel said. “That’s totally unlike any computing experience that exists today.”

Eyes Wide Open

Spectacles were originally launched in 2016 and sold through specific Snapchat-themed vending machines; their only function was to allow users to record up to 10 seconds of circular video to share. During the device’s heyday, influencers and popular shows, like Big Brotherwould showcase their usage of Snapchat’s Spectacles, driving a market for the limited product.

Recognition quickly wore down due to its limited availability; the public ultimately viewed it as a passing trend rather than a household consumer product. Competitors like Meta’s Ray-Bans swooped in and have been able to corner the market with far greater capabilities, like live streaming. The product was a financial failure, costing the company a reported $40 million.

Snapchat’s AR glasses are looking to dominate the market again when released. After multiple iterations, its upcoming model will contain artificial intelligence. Spiegel stated that more than two-thirds of new code at Snapchat is written by AI, primarily with tools from Claude Code and Codex. For its glasses, Snapchat’s developer platform “Lens Studio” is becoming “more and more agentic,” according to the CEO.

The upcoming product has no formal release date, but can be expected to be lightweight, less “bloated”, and more mature after years of trial and error. “What’s so different about Specs, is that people are going to build software that’s best for them, and maybe they’ll share it with friends or the world,” Speigel said. “But because building software is so easy now, it’s a fundamental paradigm shift.”

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