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Earlier this year, I went to a play in New York where all the actors were pre-recorded 3D ghosts. Experiment – called coffin – He ran for years Magic Leap 2 glasses Tied to my seat, and doesn’t work with my eye prescription.
It doesn’t have to be that difficult. A new generation of smart glasses is on the way that may help.
Case in point: Snap Specs, arriving this fall for $2,195. They’re big, chunky glasses that promise to integrate virtual content into the real world without the need for a phone, with good battery life and a design that may work better with prescriptions.
You probably wouldn’t buy a pair of AR glasses worth more than $2,000 for everyday life. However, I have a strange feeling that Snap’s Specs might end up in art museums, theme parks, and pop-up experiences where people can try them out. Snap could end up outperforming companies including… deadAnd Samsung and Even AppleThey all have ambitions in this field as well.
“For the first time in a pair of wearable glasses, computing is leaving these little rectangles (phones) and will be in the world with you,” Snap CEO Evan Spiegel told me in a conversation about Snap’s announcement Tuesday at a news conference. Enhanced World Expo In Long Beach, California.
A lot of big tech companies are selling Smart glassesincluding meta, and starting this year, Samsung and Google. But most either have simple displays for phone notifications or no displays at all. I haven’t tried the latest Snap specs yet — according to Spiegel, demos will be available later this year.
But I’ve tried the developer-focused AR Spectacles several times over the past few years, and they bring 3D experiences into a room that looks a lot like… Magic jump and Microsoft HoloLens Headphones have done in years past, with hand tracking to control experiences as with Apple Vision Pro, Samsung Galaxy XR or Meta Quest Headphones.
While these look large, they don’t feel as outlandish as the Snap Spectacles I’ve worn before.
How big are the Snap specifications?
You might think $2,000 is a ridiculous price for glasses, which cost anywhere from $300 to $800. But it’s found in high-end mixed reality headsets like the Samsung Galaxy XR ($1,900) and Apple Vision Pro ($3,500). Unlike those headsets — or Google and Meta’s smart glasses — Spiegel thinks Snap’s Specs can do it on their own, with a custom operating system and no need for a phone.
Snap has been working toward this goal for years, but Spiegel sees recent developments helping make it possible now: battery life, for example. And the size. The new specs are still relatively large and heavy. They come in 47mm and 52mm sizes and weigh 132g and 136g (4.6 and 4.7oz) respectively – nearly double the weight of Ray-Ban’s already chunky displays at 70g. But they weigh much less than their own Developer version 2024which is a whopping 226 grams (nearly half a pound). Additionally, they are designed to be worn outdoors, with electrochromic lenses that darken to adapt to bright sunlight.
“I thought it would take longer to get to this form factor,” Spiegel told me. “I actually didn’t think that would be possible in 2026.”
The specifications are in the included charging case, which gives them an additional battery life of up to 16 hours.
Snap Specs battery life
Spiegel credits advances in waveguides and the LCOS projector. The new specifications return to the weight of the 2021 Developer Edition I tried it briefly during the pandemic In my backyard, where the battery life was only 30 minutes.
Snap says the new specs will last for four hours on a charge. That’s significantly less than something like a smartwatch, but it’s also – on paper – about twice what the Apple Vision Pro, Samsung Galaxy XR, or Meta Quest can do. They’re also much longer than Snap’s Spectacles, which only last about 45 minutes on a charge.
Spiegel says he’s confident the battery life will hold up, but it will vary depending on whether you’re playing audio, using graphics, or getting notifications. The included carrying case can recharge the glasses four times for an additional 16 hours on the go.
For those with eyeglass prescriptions, the specs fit a set of lenses that are fitted. I hope it works for my highly myopic vision — something Snap has yet to confirm.
Snap details the waveguide construction in the new specification. Glasses also need separate lenses if you want to use them with a prescription.
Snap Specs vs. Xreal Aura
While a lot of companies, including Meta and Apple, have aspirations of making AR glasses, few 3D AR glasses for full room tracking actually exist. Meta showed off an initial pair of AR glasses, Orion, in late 2024. Google and Xreal’s Hala Projectalso coming later this year, is a set of augmented reality glasses that plug into the processor disk and run Android apps.
The aura and specifications couldn’t be more different. Aura is a pair of tethered glasses that can run an entire Android app ecosystem optimized for mixed reality, and isn’t meant to be worn all the time like everyday glasses. It’s like a shrunken mixed reality computer.
The spec has manual tracking for interface control, just like the Aura, but it has fully transparent lenses that use waveguides to float the 51-degree field of view projected from its LCOS projectors. (The Aura’s 70-degree field of view is larger, but it’s not quite a clear lens system: it uses a birdbath projector with small OLED screens.) Snap hasn’t done any demos of the new glasses’ hardware yet, but the virtual display should be wider and larger than the very phone-like vertical aspect ratio of the latest Spec.
The Snap Imogen Heap model looks good in these specifications. Can I withdraw them?
Artificial intelligence elements in the specifications
Additionally, the spec runs a custom operating system, as previously Developer-focused releaseswith all processes handled within the thick glasses design. Spiegel plans to leverage AI platforms to enhance experiences in glasses and to help program applications in Snap’s PC-based studio tools.
Currently, the AI-related parts of the spec will need cloud connectivity, and the glasses are equipped with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to connect to phones or hotspots.
“I think slightly longer vision will manage this process in the glasses themselves,” said Spiegel, who sees similar opportunities for glasses and experience building with artificial intelligence.
Spiegel noted that artificial intelligence is accelerating the development of augmented reality “lens” applications for glasses. “One of the most profound changes is the way (AI) helps people write software to specification much faster and easier than ever before.”
Snap’s AI development tools can now work with Claude Code or OpenAI Codex and handle all build, testing, and deployment. “Even simple things like building 3D assets, just a year or two ago, that was very difficult manual work. Now it can happen very quickly,” Spiegel said.
The Cooking Lens at Snap’s Specs can cover the instructions. Snap apps can use AI to recognize what’s in space and display 3D interfaces on top of it.
I’m curious to see how good the processors in these new specs are compared to the developer versions I’ve tried before. They have dual Snapdragon processors in the arms, but Snap has not confirmed the specifications or chip type. Previous Snap AR demos I tried included some ambitious ideas, like Niantic’s virtual pet Peridot, which roamed the space around me and could recognize real landmarks and art galleries.
At SXSW in Austin, I tried Art gallery works with snap glasses Written by Jonathan Yeo, which first appeared in Paris. I’m curious to see if these new specs will feel more reliable, comfortable and smooth, and if they’ll be used in more exhibition spaces, parks and events.
A music education lens, showing how augmented reality can communicate with an actual drum set and an educational toy.
Spiegel also says that the types of experiences these specs provide on glasses could be longer due to improved comfort and battery life. The spec experiments I’ve tried in the past with previous designs have been shorter by necessity. Could these elements carry over into a full concert, immersive play, or outdoor augmented reality game? The specs can co-exist with other wearers outdoors, and this kind of collaborative AR experience could be well-suited for art galleries, theater, or location-based immersive gaming.
I don’t know if I want to buy Specs, but I would like to visit one of the theme parks or try out a theater that uses them. If Snap can achieve this faster than anyone else, it could be a compelling demonstration of what’s possible — and a glimpse of where Meta, Apple and others might eventually follow. At this point, I just finally want to try out the new specs for myself.
Editors’ note: Snap covered Scott Stein’s travel costs to attend the AWE conference. CNET’s judgments and opinions are our own.
