Snap Spectacles 3
The Snap Specs have been announced as the latest member of the Snap smart glasses family. It’s one of the longest-running modern smart glass dynasties of them all.
But in recent times Snap has not achieved the attention or popularity of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which have sold more than two million pairs to date.
Can these sixth generation Snap smart glasses change all that? That’s unclear, and Snap will have even more competition by the time the pair actually arrives, and Apple smart glasses are on the horizon. But here’s what is known so far about the latest Snap pair.
Name Shift: Snap Specs
The official naming of this series has changed. Since 2016, the Snap smart glasses have been called Spectacles.
Snap’s next pair will simply be called the Snap Specs. It’s a bit snappier, don’t you think?
Snap Specs Design: Smaller and lighter
A core design aim of the Snap Specs is to make them smaller and lighter than the current Snap Spectacles.
While the Snap Spectacles 5 aren’t exactly VR-headset-style heavyweights at 226g, this is still radically higher than the 49g Ray-Ban Meta pair. This may explain why the latest Spectacles were never actually marketed to the public. They were released to developers, presumably so they can start working on software for the very Snap Specs pair the public will soon get to try.
Will they look good enough to be worn as regular glasses or sunglasses? That part is TBC.
Snap Specs: They are Snap’s 6th generation smart glasses
The Snap Specs will be the sixth in pair in this family. And the hope is they will combine the cute, approachable appearance of the first three generations with the technology of the last two generations.
Snap’s Spectacles 4 saw a major break in both tech and design, adopting an in-vision screen that allowed for proper AR, augmented reality, experiences. The first three generations were closer to the Ray-Ban Meta pair, the most advanced tech inside being the stereo cameras of the Spectacles 3.
Most would rather wear one of the first the generations when out and about. But to push smart glasses forwards, the proper AR tech of the Spectacles 4 and 5 is a must.
Snap Specs: Now opened up to Google Gemini
In September 2024 Snap announced the Spectacles 5, with which came a partnership with OpenAI. Rather than being the usual lazy collab with ChatGPT, the idea was to give developers access to OpenAI software, machine learning tools that would let apps interpret what the wearer is seeing.
The Snap Specs will be able to use both OpenAI and Google Gemini intelligence.
It sounds like this new Google Gemini partnership, new for the Snap Specs, will include more familiar uses for the AI. That includes translation, providing recipe ideas and converting currencies on-the-fly.
Snap Specs: They are full AR glasses, with a display
Snap has confirmed that, just like the Spectacles 5 the average tech fan cannot actually buy, the Snap Specs will be proper AR glasses.
This means they will need in-vision displays. And that makes producing a light and petite pair all the more difficult.
Snap’s current Spectacles use a pair of tiny Liquid Crystal on Silicon mini projectors, providing a 46-degree field of view. Improving upon that while reducing overall bulk is perhaps the biggest technical challenge for the Snap Specs.
Snap Specs: Release date 2026, and to the public
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel says the Specs will launch in 2026, and this time they will be marketed to the public, unlike the Spectacles 5.
He describes the Snap Specs as a “wearable computer integrated into a light weight pair of glasses,” proving the value of having been in this area of tech for — by the time the Specs come out — more than a decade.
