It’s no secret that Snap has been working on a pair of AR-powered smart glasses for quite some time now – the dev kits for the hardware have been available for the past few years, and CEO Evan Spiegel always claimed that they’d be available by the end of 2026.
Well, we’ve just had our first official look at the super high-tech Specs – specs that Snap spent literally billions of dollars on over years of R&D – ahead of release later this year and, let’s just say, reactions are… mixed.
There’s no getting around it; the glasses don’t look as sleek or as stylish as many were expecting, especially with companies like Meta and Ray-Ban coming out with some pretty slick-looking (albeit comparatively basic) smart specs. It’s actually the opposite; the glasses are massive, chunky and look overly large on the head – even when modelled by Spiegel on stage at the announcement.
As you’d expect, the reaction memes are strong, and opinions are divided online. Even Snap’s stock dropped by 5% after the announcement, suggesting that Snap might’ve been drinking its own kool-aid for a little too long, focusing too much on the smarts and not the fact that, y’know, these actually need to be worn, in public, where people can actually see them on your face.
The problem is that I know the software experience on the Specs is fantastic, unlike anything else I’ve ever seen or used – but will people actually give it a go when they look like that? I think we all know the answer to that question.
Snap’s software is leagues ahead of the competition
Back in September 2025, I got to try the Spects dev kit at Snap’s London HQ, and Snap OS 2.0 feels closer to the sci-fi AR we were promised a decade ago than anything I’ve used since. While most rivals are serving up green, single‑colour overlays and static notification panels, Snap is running a full operating system that understands the world around you.
Full‑colour graphics aren’t just floating in your periphery; they’re anchored to real objects and surfaces. Pin a window next to your desk or drop a widget onto a coffee table and it stays there, even as you look or walk away. It sounds like a small thing, but that persistence makes the specs feel like genuine mixed‑reality interfaces rather than glorified heads‑up displays.
Then there’s the built-in AI, which, believe it or not, is actually quite good. Much like Google Gemini’s Live Mode on mobile, Snap’s Spatial Tips feature doesn’t just answer questions in a floating chat box; it understands what you’re looking at and overlays help directly onto it.
When I asked how to do an ollie on a skateboard, it didn’t spit out a wall of text – it drew the steps onto the board itself, showing where my feet should go at each stage. The same approach applies to things like flat‑pack furniture, car engines or household repairs: you look at the thing you’re stuck on, and the instructions appear right where you need them.
On top of that, real‑time translation features can caption conversations and translate signs or menus with real-world overlays, with text that sticks to people and objects as they move. Compared to the mostly static, widget‑driven software on Even Realities’ G2 or Rokid’s AR specs, Snap OS 2.0 feels way more polished, mature and genuinely useful.
So when I say Snap’s software is leagues ahead of the competition, I really do mean it.
Comparing the Snap Specs to existing smart glasses like the Meta Display specs and Even Realities G2 is like comparing an iPhone 17 Pro to a Nokia 3410; they’re in totally different leagues.
In fact, in terms of the tech and mixed-reality experience on offer, they’re closer to the likes of the Apple Vision Pro and Samsung Galaxy XR – relatively large VR-style headsets that you certainly couldn’t wear on a night out or a trip – than existing smart glasses.
Like the proper headsets, Snap’s specs have high-end full-colour screens rather than the single-colour panels used by most existing manufacturers, and like those headsets, it can run a plethora of first- and third-party apps – there’s a reason why Snap got those dev kits out so early, after all.
It actually goes a step further with its semi-transparent lenses, rather than using passthrough camera feeds and regular screens like the existing ultra-premium headsets. With electrochromic dimming on the lenses, it’s not hard to imagine they could offer a more immersive mode for watching movies and the like.
When you look at the Specs through that lens (pun intended), they look more like a phenomenal feat of engineering than a bulky pair of smart glasses.
… but there’s no argument, they’re ugly and expensive
Snap has tried its best to frame these as fashionable, collaborating with the likes of Kaia Gerber, Jimmy Butler, Imogen Heap, Jack Harlow, and Hoyeon to model the Specs in marketing images – but, let’s be honest, they’re still some pretty ugly.
Compared to regular glasses that most people currently wear, these are much thicker – not just in the frame housing the screens but also in the arms of the glasses. The arms also look way longer than they should – on Spiegel’s head at the reveal, anyway – with very little in terms of a hook at the end to wrap around your ear for extra stability.
The slightly rounded, curved shape of the specs is quite nice in my eyes, but they’re just too big, chunky and obviously-smart to be worn by the average Joe. And with an eye-watering price tag of £1,995/$2,195, they’re not attainable for the average consumer either.
Of course, these are first-gen specs, and if Snap does power through and keep iterating on the design and hardware, this is the worst the Specs will ever be.
Just think about how much better the Apple Watch Series 11 is compared to the Apple Watch – it’s the same here. The core concept is there, and Snap’s software is a shining beacon in a sea of lazy AR concepts; it just needs the time to properly cook.
That said, I reckon the Snap Specs will be a big hit with die-hard techies with money to burn, and I imagine I’ll be seeing execs from companies sporting the Specs at events like MWC in 2027 – but will I see anyone actually wearing them in day-to-day life? I doubt it, and that’s a shame.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
