Snap Inc. created a standalone subsidiary within the company dedicated to Specs, its first consumer pair of augmented reality glasses slated for launch later this year.
The Specs Inc. subsidiary announced Wednesday is intended to give the company’s smart eyewear team more independence — similar to the way robotaxi unit Waymo LLC operates as its own company under Alphabet Inc., a Snap spokesperson said. The new Specs subsidiary could raise money from outside investors, but Snap will launch the AR glasses regardless of external investment, the spokesperson confirmed.
“This structure provides greater operational focus and alignment, enables new partnerships and capital flexibility, allows us to grow a distinct brand, and supports clearer valuation of the business as we work towards the public launch of Specs later this year,” the Santa Monica-based Snap said in a statement.
Specs Inc. was created in part to make it clear that the upcoming glasses will be separate from Snap’s other products. Specs users don’t need a Snapchat account, for example, the spokesperson said. The new subsidiary is actively hiring for nearly 100 open roles worldwide.
Snap Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel has spent years building and prototyping smart glasses with the ultimate goal of creating lenses that can enhance the world in a way that feels natural. Spiegel has suggested that wearing an augmented reality display, which can overlay digital objects onto the real world, can liberate users from their phones and computer screens. Snap said that Specs will feature an intelligence system that has contextual awareness capabilities to detect physical objects around the user in real time.
Specs are intended to be a smaller and lighter version of a previous device, called Spectacles, that Snap made available to software developers in 2024. Those glasses, which cost developers $99 per month, run the company’s Snap OS operating system and are controlled using hand gestures; both features will also be included in the consumer version. Developers are already building games and other applications for Specs, the company said.
While Snap has been working on smart glasses for years, earlier iterations focused on image and video capture rather than augmented reality. Given Meta Platforms Inc.’s growing success with its AI-enabled Ray-Ban glasses line, and its planned move to launch AR glasses in 2027, Snap’s decision to move forward with consumer-focused hardware is taking on added urgency.
The move to distance Specs from Snap comes as the latter faces heightened scrutiny over children’s safety on its flagship app. Last week, Snap settled claims with a key plaintiff in a closely watched national trial that accuses top social media platforms, including Snapchat, of addicting kids and harming their mental health. (Spiegel had been expected to testify before the settlement was reached.)
Snapchat was also among a number of apps recently banned for those younger than 16 in Australia. Other countries are pursuing similar bans, and Snap has warned shareholders that user engagement could take a hit as it purges underage users from the platform.
Kelly and Levine write for Bloomberg.
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