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Snap Launches $2,195 SPECS AR Glasses and New Anticipatory AI

The company is pitching the standalone headset and Specs Intelligence to developers and businesses as a new way to work and play despite questions over price, fit and camera privacy.

Overview

  • The product, which launched on Wednesday, is available for pre-order with a $200 refundable deposit and Snap says it will ship to the US, UK and France this fall.
  • Specs are a fully standalone wearable computer that houses two Snapdragon processors, a display in each lens with a 51-degree field of view, electrochromic (tinting) lenses and about four hours of battery life per charge or up to 20 hours with the charging case.
  • Snap introduced Specs Intelligence, an anticipatory AI service that builds a contextual model from apps you connect and surfaces timely actions across the glasses, iPhone and Mac without requiring the glasses to run.
  • Snap is selling a Verizon-connected charging case that enables cellular use for an extra monthly fee and is pitching a ‘Specs for Enterprise’ push with partners including Salesforce, NVIDIA and AWS to target field work and developer use cases.
  • Early coverage praised the technical capabilities but raised doubts about the $2,195 price, chunky fit and camera safety; SNAP shares dipped about 1.9% after the unveiling and a single-source report said the first run may be capped near 100,000 units.