Snap first showed its latest Specs at the Augmented World Expo in June 2026, but it gave few details about what the glasses would actually do. That changed on September 16, 2026, at a launch event in Los Angeles. CEO Evan Spiegel showed the apps and services behind the $2,195 augmented-reality glasses. He also announced an AI assistant that also works without the glasses.
Snap’s pitch is that Specs make “computing more human.” The hardware is a self-contained wearable computer that runs apps without being tethered to a phone, and each lens has its own built-in display. What wearers can do with them is more concrete:
- Everyday basics: Bluetooth calls, Spotify playback, and photo and video capture.
- Entertainment: video streaming from services like YouTube and HBO Max on the built-in displays, plus a Harry Potter experience built with HBO Max that fills the room with virtual wizarding props, including a Hogwarts acceptance letter.
- Shopping: Shopify integration lets you view 3D product models, place them in your room and pay without taking the glasses off.
- Live translation: Specs listen to someone speaking another language and deliver the translation through the speakers and as on-screen text. A Tripadvisor partnership adds translation of reviews, local phrases and currency.
- Sports coaching: with the NBA and WNBA, Snap is building a basketball experience that overlays visual guides and drill cues on real hoops and balls. Similar experiences exist for soccer and golf.
- Shared play: two people wearing Specs can play chess, ping pong, battleship or dominoes.
- The rest: a shared digital whiteboard, highlighting, saving and bookmarking passages in paper books, meditation and a virtual DJ mode.
Enterprise ambitions
Snap is also pitching Specs to businesses. Partnerships with Salesforce, Amazon and Nvidia focus on showing codes or specs in the wearer’s field of view, locating parts on a product and checking backstock. Google tried a similar enterprise route with Glass and shut that project down in 2023.
Privacy, on the record
Snap is trying to keep Specs out of the privacy criticism aimed at camera-equipped smart glasses such as the Ray-Ban Meta models. An LED lights up whenever the cameras are taking a photo or recording video. The company also says Specs “do not record the world to understand it” and do not use facial recognition to identify people.
Specs Intelligence
The other big announcement was Specs Intelligence, which Snap calls an “anticipatory AI.” It is designed for iPhone, Mac and the Specs glasses, and it does not require the glasses. The assistant draws on the apps and tools you choose to connect to learn your goals, priorities, relationships and routines. It sorts information into “corners” such as work, family and goals, and it can find a hotel, book travel or answer questions. The trade-off is clear: the better it gets to know you, the more personal data it needs.
Availability
Snap says Specs will start shipping to buyers in fall 2026, and pre-orders are open on the Specs website. Starting on October 1, 2026, a Specs First Look demo at the Westfield Century City shopping center in Los Angeles will let people try the glasses before buying.
Some big questions remain. The frames look chunky, and Spiegel was widely mocked online for how they sat on his ears at the June reveal. For a device meant for basketball drills and shared games, comfort could matter as much as the app lineup. The price is another hurdle, since a single pair costs more than three PlayStation 5 consoles.
