Snap launches augmented reality glasses ahead of rivals

Snap has become the first leading US tech company to unveil augmented-reality (AR) glasses, beating rivals such as Facebook and Apple to what many see as the next big computing platform. 

Evan Spiegel, Snap’s chief executive, announced that his company had built a pair of smart glasses, called Spectacles, that allow wearers to overlay its playful augmented reality filters, known as Lenses, on to the real world.

The AR glasses, which have been made available initially only to a group of app developers and creators who use the Snapchat social media app, have two small cameras and four microphones embedded in them so that users can take short video clips of what they see to save or send to others, he said. 

The glasses are far smaller and lighter than the first “mixed reality” headsets such as Microsoft’s Hololens or Magic Leap. Social media rival Facebook has said it plans to launch its first “smart glasses” in partnership with Ray-Ban parent company Luxottica later this year, but that they will not have a display for viewing AR effects. Apple’s long-planned smart glasses are not expected to debut until next year at the earliest. 

“Tapping the vast potential of Snapchat’s AR platform, Spectacles understands what’s in their field of view and suggests relevant Lenses based on what’s around you,” Spiegel said, speaking via video link at the company’s annual summit with advertising and creator partners. “You can then Snap the scene and send it to your friends to share the full picture.” 

The headset, which weighs 134 grammes and has a battery life of around 30 minutes of continuous use, is the latest iteration of Snapchat Spectacles, sunglasses that until now had just video capturing and sharing capabilities.

For now, the glasses are only a limited-release preview, with no clear timetable for a consumer release, but they point to Snap’s long-term plans to build its own hardware, despite the potentially high costs.

Initially launched in 2016, the original version of Spectacles failed to gain traction among Snap’s teenage and millennial users for numerous reasons, including usability problems. In 2017, it wrote down nearly $40m in unsold Spectacles inventory and components. After that, the company appeared to focus more on monetising its core social media and messaging business by building out its advertising offering and enticing influencers and publishers to the Snapchat platform. 

Nevertheless, Snap has long been developing AR in anticipation of a future when smart glasses might supersede the smartphone as consumers’ dominant computing platform. Several months ago, Facebook revealed that it was working on a wristband that it hopes will control its smart glasses. By contrast, Snap’s glasses respond to voice commands or swiping gestures.

Snap, Facebook and Apple are all hoping to shake off the legacy of Google Glass, which was launched with great fanfare almost a decade ago but also suffered a backlash over privacy concerns.

Meanwhile, Snap made several other announcements on Thursday that reflected a recent push to facilitate more online shopping using augmented reality. This included the launch of tools that allow users to scan someone’s outfit and then find recommendations of similar clothes to buy, and tools that allow users to “try on” outfits in augmented reality on their phones.