Snap's £1,995 AR Glasses: A Bold Comeback with High-Tech Style

Snap, the company best known for Snapchat, has revealed a new pair of smart glasses called Specs. These glasses use augmented reality, or AR, which means they can show digital images and information on top of what you see in real life. The Specs will cost £1,995 in the UK and $2,195 in the US, with shipping starting this autumn. This price is lower than Apple’s Vision Pro headset, which starts at $3,499, but much higher than Meta’s smart glasses, which start at $224. Evan Spiegel, Snap’s co-founder and CEO, said that these glasses represent the beginning of a new era in computing. However, some experts, like Ben Hatton from FDM CCS Insight, believe the high price will make it hard for most people to buy them, especially since Snap’s main users are younger people who usually don’t have that much money to spend on a single gadget.

To pre-order the Specs, customers need to pay a $200 refundable deposit. The glasses will be available in the US, UK, and France. Snap says the Specs are designed to be worn every day, but the battery only lasts about four hours before needing to be recharged. The charging case can provide up to 20 hours of battery life. Unlike Meta’s Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses, the Specs do not need to be connected to a smartphone with a wire. They are also different from Apple’s Vision Pro, which is mainly used at home and requires a wire to a battery pack. While this makes the Specs more comfortable and mobile, it also means the battery doesn’t last as long. Ben Hatton pointed out that even though the Specs have impressive features, their short battery life and bulky design mean they won’t replace smartphones anytime soon.

The Specs come with an AI assistant that can help users with tasks like getting directions or answering questions about things they see. Users can also watch videos, browse the web, play AR games, and record what they see through the glasses. Some celebrities, like musician Jack Harlow, have modeled the Specs. However, smart glasses have faced criticism for privacy issues, as some people have used them to record others without permission. Snap says privacy is important, and the Specs have a light that glows when recording. Users can control what data is stored, shared, or deleted. Snap’s shares dropped by about 9 percent after the announcement. This isn’t Snap’s first attempt at smart glasses. In 2016, they released camera-equipped sunglasses called Spectacles, but they didn’t sell well and the company lost a lot of money. They tried again in 2018 and 2019 with improved versions, but those also didn’t become popular. Now, Snap is hoping that Specs will be more successful as technology and people’s habits change. Other companies like Meta and Apple are also competing in the smart glasses market, making it an exciting time for new tech gadgets.