“We’re building a computer that we hope you’ll use less.” Snap’s new camera glasses will launch in 2026 under the new Specs Inc.

Snap Inc. – the owner of Snapchat – has created a separate subsidiary to launch its new AR camera glasses in 2026. Specs Inc. is a new wholly-owned subsidiary of Snap Inc. with plans for new camera glasses to launch later this year.

The split enables new funding avenues for Snap’s smart glasses, but also highlights the brand’s approach to wearable technology. Specs Inc. calls its upcoming launch of Specs not only “a new era of computing” but suggests it's building tech designed to be used less, not more.

“We’re building a computer that we hope you’ll use less, because it does more for you,” the company writes.

Specs is betting on smart glasses as a sort of computer that’s designed to mesh with the real world. “Computers and smartphones feel like they are designed to capture our attention, block out the real world, and isolate us from our in-person relationships,” the company wrote. “Specs do the opposite, keeping you present in the moment, and bringing you together with friends, family, and coworkers through shared experiences like running around in the backyard playing capture the flag, learning about chemistry by simulating reactions, or reviewing virtual designs of a new product together as a team.”

Last year, the company said its newest camera glasses would launch in 2026, and the company’s latest update keeps that timeline intact.

The Spectacles currently listed on the company's website – launched in 2024 exclusively for developers – use two full-color cameras and two infrared cameras, along with six-axis IMUs for sensing inertia. Images of the upcoming glasses show larger sideframes that house the dual Snapdragon processors that allow the glasses to work “unteethered” or without a smartphone.

A key component of the smart glasses is the see-through display that uses liquid on silicon mini projectors in order to overlay digital data with the real world. The 2024 Specacles, which launched only for developers, have up to a 45-minute continuous battery runtime, the specs indicate.

The Snapchat parent company has already launched five generations of its Spectacles smart glasses, a name that has now been shortened to just Specs. The company’s original smart glasses launched in 2016 as a way to capture short videos for Snapchat, moving to augmented reality in 2021, but keeping its 2024 launch exclusive to developers.

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