Snap unveils new features to justify its $2,200 Specs glasses

When Snap debuted its long-awaited smart glasses, Specs, earlier this year, the reveal was widely panned: the $2,200 device drew online jeers, calls for CEO Evan Spiegel to resign, and a subsequent drop in the company’s stock. Since then, Snap has been looking for a chance to explain why the heavy, expensive hardware deserves to exist, and this week, at an event in Los Angeles, Spiegel and other executives unveiled a range of new features and services meant to integrate Specs into a broader set of digital activities.

New entertainment options let Specs connect with HBO Max and Spotify. But the biggest announcement was Specs Intelligence, which Snap calls an “anticipatory AI” system designed to pair with both the glasses and user devices, including iPhones and Macs. Snap says the system “builds an understanding of your goals, priorities, relationships, and routines from the apps and tools you choose to connect.” Spiegel described it as an “AI native operating system with intelligence designed around your projects” that helps users “connect the dots” across Lenses, Snap’s AR camera-effects platform available on both phones and Specs.

Snap also announced Specs for Enterprise, a program integrating the device into corporate workflows, with partnerships including Amazon, Salesforce, and Nvidia. The clearest use case shown was IT support: a demo video showed a technician repairing hardware with the glasses’ help, and Spiegel said the company is “building out mobile device management, security controls, and ways to deploy and manage stacks across teams.” Other features included an NBA/WNBA-branded basketball training app using the glasses’ AR capabilities, and a separate connectivity package — a charging case with built-in cellular service via Verizon, priced at $10 a month for Verizon customers and $20 a month for others.

Spiegel framed Specs as a more human-centric way to engage with computing. “We’re being told that AI will take our jobs, that virtual worlds will replace the real one. Well, no, thank you. We do not accept that future. Making people irrelevant is not progress, and computers should make us more important, not less,” he said. Snap is hosting a Specs pop-up in Los Angeles in October before the glasses ship later this fall.

Why it matters

Snap’s pivot from hardware specs to an AI layer spanning phones, Macs, and enterprise IT suggests the company sees software utility, not the glasses themselves, as the product’s real justification — a bet it needs consumers and businesses to accept before Specs ships this fall.