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Snap Launches $2,195 SPECS AR Glasses, Shares Slip 4%

6/19/2026

Summary

Snap Unveils AR

Snap Inc. unveiled SPECS, a $2,195 standalone AR glasses product, and opened pre-orders in the United States.
The frames weigh 132-136 g, are made of Swiss TR90 polymer, and can accommodate prescription inserts.
SPECS use dual Snapdragon chips, a 51-degree liquid-crystal-on-silicon display with 16 million colors, and deliver 7 ms latency.
The battery lasts four hours, extendable to about 20 hours with the charging case, while Snap shares dropped about 4% after the news.

Summary

Snap Launches AR

Snap launched Specs AR glasses, competing with Apple’s 2027 AR glasses and Meta’s non-AR Ray-Ban models.
Specs feature a privacy light, on-device processing, and a Lens Studio tool that writes code from natural-language prompts; OS adds 40 APIs.
Snap filed over 7,000 patents, invested $3 billion in AR research, and the wave ships only to the US, UK and France; Indian buyers choose Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses starting at Rs 29,990 on Amazon.in.

History

Historical Context

Google launched the Glass Explorer Edition in 2013, selling 8,000 units at $1,500 each after a June 2012 pre-order program. Privacy concerns and a 2015 shutdown shifted focus to enterprise models. Building on that legacy, Snap’s 2024 SPECS smart glasses pursue on-device processing and visible privacy cues, mirroring the market’s move toward stricter data standards.

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Snap Unveils AR

Snap Inc. unveiled SPECS, a $2,195 standalone AR glasses product, and opened pre-orders in the United States.
The frames weigh 132-136 g, are made of Swiss TR90 polymer, and can accommodate prescription inserts.
SPECS use dual Snapdragon chips, a 51-degree liquid-crystal-on-silicon display with 16 million colors, and deliver 7 ms latency.
The battery lasts four hours, extendable to about 20 hours with the charging case, while Snap shares dropped about 4% after the news.

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