Snap has unveiled its SPECS AR glasses, which surprisingly have a stylish design and come with a high price tag.

      They are priced at $2,195 and will be available for shipping in the Fall season to customers in the US, UK, and France.

      Snap has unveiled SPECS, the company’s first widely available Augmented Reality smart glasses. These are set to compete directly with the Meta Ray-Ban Display and the forthcoming range of smart glasses featuring screens that utilize a specialized version of Google’s Android OS.

      So, what will the cost be?

      Snap

      The price tag for Snap’s AR glasses is $2,195, with a $200 refundable deposit required to secure a pair when they become available in the Fall. The availability is expected to be limited as they will only be sold in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, as stated by the company.

      For context, the Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses are priced at $799 in the US but offer only a single display unit. The X3 Pro smart glasses from RayNeo are a close competitor, yet they still retail for $1,299 each.

      What sets them apart?

      Snap

      The main appeal of these glasses, besides their sleek design, is their integrated display. According to Snap, it uses a proprietary liquid crystal on silicon display capable of rendering 16 million colors and provides a 51° field of view. The company describes the experience as comparable to viewing a 24-inch monitor or a 115-inch television from a distance of 10 feet.

      Snap asserts that the waveguide display units in the SPECS smart glasses will have minimal distortion and feature electrochromic lenses that change from clear to tinted in just 10 seconds. This technology is not entirely new; Xreal has incorporated it in its XR smart glasses since 2023, and similar technology was seen in OnePlus’ concept phones years ago.

      Internally, these smart glasses are powered by two Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. One handles computer vision, allowing the glasses to interpret the environment via the onboard camera, while the other supports hand tracking and various multi-modal AI interactions.

      Snap claims that these glasses can last up to four hours on a single charge, which covers:

      - Audio and video playback along with interactions with the onboard AI assistant

      - Notification viewing from connected devices via Bluetooth

      - Using the integrated Snap Lenses

      Snap

      The charging case can extend the battery life to a total of 20 hours. These glasses run on the company’s own Snap OS, featuring a variety of Snap Lenses that provide exclusive user experiences. CEO Evan Spiegel claims that "SPECS are the most capable and most wearable AR glasses ever built." It will be intriguing to see how they perform against the forthcoming smart glasses that run Android apps.

      Nadeem serves as the Managing Editor at Digital Trends.

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