Snap is making its biggest bet yet on augmented reality. The social media giant just spun off its AR glasses division into a standalone company called Specs Inc., signaling it's ready to take on Meta and Apple in the wearables race. The move comes as Snap prepares to launch its fifth-generation Spectacles to consumers later this year, ending a nearly eight-year hiatus from the public market. It's a bold pivot for a company that's spent over a decade refining the technology while competitors grabbed market share.
Snap just restructured its entire AR strategy, and the timing couldn't be more critical. The company announced Tuesday it's spinning off its Spectacles division into a separate entity, Specs Inc., as it gears up to finally release its long-awaited AR glasses to the public later this year. The move allows for "greater operational focus and alignment," according to Snap's announcement, but it also signals something bigger - Snap is going all-in on hardware at a moment when the AR glasses market is heating up fast.
The decision comes after more than a decade of development. Snap first started working on the technology behind Specs way back in the early 2010s, but the company hasn't offered a consumer version since 2018's ill-fated release. Since then, the fifth-generation model has been locked behind a developer program, available only to creators and programmers willing to pay a monthly subscription to build apps for the platform. That strategy gave Snap time to populate its wearable ecosystem with the kinds of apps and experiences that could make or break a consumer launch.
But while Snap refined its product in relative privacy, Meta charged ahead. The Facebook parent company struck partnerships with major eyewear brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley through EssilorLuxottica, and its smart glasses have seen growing demand across the U.S. according to recent reports. also entered the spatial computing arena with its Vision Pro headset, though at a much higher price point and with a different form factor. Snap's challenge now is breaking into a market where competitors have already established beachheads.
