Snap unveils $2,195 AR glasses as CEO Evan Spiegel bets on a post-smartphone future

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel is betting that consumers are so tired of looking at smartphone screens that they’ll be willing to pay more than $2,000 for augmented reality glasses that bring digital scenes into the user’s field of vision.

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

On Tuesday, the Snap co-founder introduced Specs, his company’s first AR device aimed at the general public instead of developers. At $2,195 with a $200 refundable deposit, the specs are 15 times the price of Snap’s $130 camera-only glasses that debuted in 2016.

“Specs really represents a way to bring computing together in shared experiences in the real world, looking through see-through lenses rather than through an opaque screen,” Spiegel said. The device is expected to ship in the US, UK and France later this year.

It’s a new market, but already has heavily invested competitors. of Meta Reality Labs has seen some success with its Ray-Ban Meta glasses Aeschylus luxoticaAfter the company struggled to find a mass audience for its Quest-branded virtual reality headsets. and in May, Google Samsung showed off its upcoming AI-powered glasses, which are being developed in collaboration with glasses makers Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, with an emphasis on audio.

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

“They’re kind of like a phone accessory or open-ear headphones,” Spiegel said.

But Meta and Google have built dominant digital ad businesses that generate enough cash to allow companies to experiment with expensive hardware ventures. Snap, by contrast, has struggled to impress Wall Street and lost money every year it was a public company.

In January, Snap created a subsidiary called Specs Inc. to make its AR glasses.

“We’ve been very clear with investors since we founded the company that we’re going to manage the business for the long term and really serve our community and our customers,” Spiegel said. “I think it’s an important step for investors, they’re going to see a lot of developments that they haven’t seen before, but it’s really just another step.”

Snap shares fell about 4% in midday trading after the company announced the specifications.

Much of Spiegel’s optimism rests on his view that there is life after smartphones.

More people are “really questioning their relationships with screens,” Spiegel said, citing factors such as “neck pain from staring at a tiny phone screen” or the feeling that they’re missing out on everyday moments.

VR was a niche category in the early days of smart glasses. Apple’s The Vision Pro, which starts at $3,500, hasn’t become the iPhone maker’s next killer product despite heavy investment and a big marketing push, and Meta has scaled back its VR ambitions this year, turning its Horizon Worlds VR platform into a Roblox-like mobile app.

Spiegel said “there are definitely a lot of developers coming from the VR space or looking for more opportunity in augmented reality.”

Compared to what’s on the market, Spiegel called Specs the most capable, most knowledgeable and accessible spatial computer.

But with rising inflation eroding consumer confidence, high-priced electronics may be a tougher sell at the moment.

“It’s like a bad time for any company to launch any kind of premium product,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager at IDC. As for Snap, “their core audience has always been young, an audience that generally can’t afford to spend a lot,” he added.

The new Specs AR glasses are lighter and have a larger display than the previous developer-focused Spectacles version. They offer nearly four hours of battery life and Bluetooth connectivity. Developers can create AI agent-like experiences for the device using the preview feature that integrates with Anthropic’s Cloud Code, OpenAI’s Codex, and Cursor’s coding tools.

Regarding potential child-safety concerns with the specs, Spiegel said the company plans to release “tools to make it easier for parents to share with your teenager through more limited lenses” later this year.

Spiegel, a father of four boys, said he’s been testing Specs at home with his family.

“Instead of kids watching a player on a small screen, you can run around and play laser tag, you can learn about dinosaurs, you can build Legos,” Spiegel said. “Actually, it’s more fun to play with a visible computer because it’s something you can share.”

See: Watch CNBC’s full interview with Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.