News in Short

• Snap has invested more than $3.5 billion in its Specs AR glasses programme, according to a report.
• CEO Evan Spiegel sees AR glasses as part of a possible post-smartphone computing era.
• The latest Specs cost $2,195 and are designed to work more like computers.
• Snap has partnered with Nvidia, Amazon Web Services and Salesforce for workplace use.
• Salesforce Agentforce will be integrated into the glasses software.

Snap is making a major bet on augmented reality glasses as it looks beyond smartphones.

The company has reportedly spent more than $3.5 billion on its Specs programme. CEO Evan Spiegel has positioned the technology as part of a possible post-smartphone era.

The latest generation of Specs costs $2,195. Unlike earlier Spectacles, Snap is positioning these glasses as a computing device rather than simply a camera product.

Spiegel has argued that AR could allow people to access information directly within their field of vision. That could reduce the need to pull out a smartphone for certain tasks.

Snap’s new Specs target businesses

Snap is now putting greater emphasis on enterprise applications.

Spiegel said the latest Specs have features that make them more suitable for businesses. The glasses include what Snap describes as a large private display.

The company says this display can stream content, cast a screen and open a digital whiteboard. It can also turn different locations into potential workspaces.

This approach marks a shift from Snap’s earlier Spectacles products. Those devices focused heavily on cameras and capturing content.

The new Specs instead aim to function more like a computer that happens to be worn on the face.

Nvidia, AWS and Salesforce join the push

Snap announced partnerships with Nvidia, Amazon Web Services and Salesforce to bring Specs into workplaces.

Salesforce’s Agentforce platform will be integrated into the glasses’ software. This could allow businesses to bring agentic AI capabilities into an AR environment.

Nvidia will provide AI technology designed to interpret visual environments. Amazon, meanwhile, will provide an AI assistant capable of responding to voice commands.

Snap says its open-source XR AI platform is already attracting businesses that are building on top of it.

Spiegel said the company’s goal is to make it easier for businesses to use agentic platforms through Specs.

Snap says interest in Specs is growing

Snap has indicated that early interest in the latest glasses has been strong.

During its second-quarter 2026 earnings call, Spiegel said there had been a “huge amount of interest” in preorders. However, the company did not disclose specific preorder numbers.

The glasses therefore represent a significant strategic bet for Snap. However, the company has already experienced challenges with wearable hardware.

Snap recorded $39.9 million in inventory-related charges in 2017 after writing down unsold inventory from its first-generation camera glasses.

AR glasses have a difficult track record

Snap is not alone in trying to make AR glasses a mainstream computing platform.

Meta has spent heavily on virtual, augmented and mixed-reality products through its Reality Labs division. According to SEC filings cited in the source, the division lost about $88.1 billion between 2019 and 2025.

During the same period, Reality Labs generated around $12.3 billion in revenue.

Google also experimented with consumer AR glasses through Google Glass. The company launched the product in 2014 for $1,500 before pulling it from shelves the following year.

Google later shifted Glass toward enterprise customers. That effort eventually ended when Glass Enterprise Edition was discontinued in 2023.

Can Snap make AR glasses mainstream?

Snap’s latest strategy reflects a broader shift in the AR market.

Instead of focusing only on consumer photography, the company is targeting workplace productivity, AI assistants and enterprise software.

The combination of visual AI, voice assistants and digital displays could give businesses new ways to interact with information. Yet the history of AR hardware also shows the difficulty of turning these products into mainstream computing platforms.

For Snap, the $3.5 billion-plus investment means Specs are now a much larger part of its long-term technology strategy. Whether that eventually translates into a genuine post-smartphone platform will depend on adoption, software and how useful the glasses become in everyday work.