Snap unveils $2,195 AR glasses, Spiegel bets on post-smartphones

snap CEO Evan Spiegel is betting that because consumers are tired of looking at smartphone screens, they will pay upwards of $2,000 for augmented reality glasses that bring digital visuals into the user’s field of vision.

“Almost 20 years after the launch of the iPhone, people are ready to think differently about computing,” Spiegel said in an interview with CNBC.

On Tuesday, Snap’s co-founders debuted Specs, the company’s first AR device aimed at the general public rather than developers. At $2,195 with a $200 refundable deposit, it’s more than 15 times the $130 price tag of Snap’s camera-specific glasses, which were introduced in 2016 but weren’t a hit.

“The spec really represents how we can use computing together in a shared experience in the real world, looking through a see-through lens rather than an opaque screen,” Spiegel said. The device is expected to ship in the US, UK, and France later this year.

Although this is a nascent market, there are already well-capitalized competitors. meta Reality Labs has had some success with Ray-Ban Meta glasses in partnership with: Essilor Luxotticaafter the company struggled to find a mass audience for its Quest-branded virtual reality headsets. And in May, google has unveiled its upcoming audio-focused AI-powered glasses, developed in collaboration with Samsung and glasses manufacturers Warby Parker and Gentle Monster.

Spiegel dismissed audio-only smart glasses, characterizing them as “very lightweight glasses that don’t really do much.”

“It’s like a phone accessory or open-ear headphones,” Spiegel said.

But Meta and Google have built a dominant digital advertising business that generates enough cash for companies to experiment with expensive hardware initiatives. In contrast, Snap has struggled to impress Wall Street and, as a publicly traded company, loses money every year.

In January, Snap established a subsidiary called Specs Inc. to develop AR glasses.

“Since we founded the company, we have made it clear to our investors that we intend to operate for the long term and truly serve our communities and customers,” Spiegel said. “I think this is an important step for investors in the sense that we’re seeing a lot of progress that we haven’t seen before, but it’s really just another step.”

Snap stock fell about 4% in intraday trading after the company announced the specifications.

Much of Mr. Spiegel’s confidence is based on his view that there is life after the smartphone.

Spiegel said more people are “actually questioning their relationship with screens,” citing factors such as “neck pain from staring at tiny mobile phone screens” and feeling like they’re missing out on everyday moments.

Although early smart glasses show promise, VR remains a niche category. apple’s Starting at $3,500, the Vision Pro hasn’t become the iPhone maker’s next killer product, despite heavy investment and a major marketing effort. And Meta has scaled back its VR ambitions this year, converting its Horizon Worlds VR platform into a Roblox-like mobile app.

“There are certainly a lot of developers coming from the VR space and looking for more opportunities in augmented reality,” Spiegel said.

Spiegel called Specs the most powerful, most perceptive and most accessible spatial computer available today compared to those on the market. ”

But selling big-ticket electronics may be difficult for now as rising inflation erodes consumer confidence.

“This seems like the worst time for any company to launch a premium product,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager at IDC. Regarding Snap, he added, “There’s also the fact that its core audience has always skewed younger, and that audience generally can’t afford to spend a lot of money.”

The new Specs AR glasses are lighter and have larger displays than the previous developer version of Spectacles. It offers approximately 4 hours of battery life and Bluetooth connectivity. Developers can also create AI agent-like experiences for devices using preview features integrated with Anthropic’s Claude Code, OpenAI’s Codex, and Cursor’s coding tools.

As for potential child safety concerns with Specs, Spiegel said the company plans to release later this year “a tool to easily share Specs with teenagers using a more limited set of lenses” for parents, with AR effects and certain features on the “operating system side.”

Spiegel, a father of four boys, said he and his family are testing specs at home.

“Rather than staring at a single player on a small screen, kids can run around and play laser tag, learn about dinosaurs, or build Legos,” Spiegel said. “It’s really, really fun to play with see-through computing because it’s something that can be shared.”

WATCH: Tech company profits drive stock prices higher