Snap?s powerful Specs smart glasses make the case for AR going mainstream

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TL;DR

• Snap is launching Specs, a $2,195 pair of AR smart glasses.
• The glasses will be able to tap into Specs Intelligence, the company’s own new AI platform.
• Shoppers will also be able to pick up a Connected Case with built-in cellular hotspot.

Considering we didn’t have smartphones at all twenty years ago, it’s a little crazy to think about just how quickly the market established itself, zeroing in on the designs and features that shoppers most responded to. Even smartwatches have found their groove, but the same can’t quite be said yet about the latest big trend in wearables: smart glasses. As companies rush to balance consumer demands with privacy concerns, a lot are still feeling out just what kind of hardware they want to build, from basic audio glasses to full augmented reality (AR) setups. For Snap, the company’s going as big as possible for its next pair, and now it’s showing us just what we can do with its Specs AR glasses.

Snap’s no stranger to wearables, and we’re quickly coming up on the 10-year anniversary of the original Spectacles. Earlier this year, the company started teasing its most capable pair of consumer-oriented smart glasses to date, with the introduction of the $2,195 Specs. We were promised an in-depth look at what that hardware can actually do this month, and that’s just what Snap is now giving us.




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