Background: Snap Inc. is the parent company of Snapchat. It's the social media app which launched in 2011 and became famous for dog filters and disappearing image messages. Today, it has around 956 million monthly active users, mostly aged between 18 to 24. Snap has also been experimenting with hardware for years, including its first smart glasses, Spectacles, which launched in 2016.  

What happened: Nearly a decade after its first attempt flopped (costing the company around $40 million USD) it's launched a new version of its augmented reality glasses. The new Specs overlay digital information onto the real world. Think: navigation, AI assistance, and interactive experiences.

What else: The AR glasses come at a premium, priced around $2,200 USD. That's far more than Meta's, which sit closer to $200-$500 USD. But betting on AR hasn't always been the smartest business move for tech companies.

What's the key learning?

💡 AR glasses have been the 'next big thing' for over a decade... but they still haven't really taken off the way 80's sci-fi films promised. Google tried in 2013, Microsoft in 2016, and Meta and Snap have been dabbling in AR for over a decade.

💡 The AR glasses market has reached $1.6 billion in 2025 and is forecast to grow to $4 billion by 2030. And while AR glasses haven't succeeded in the past, they're now more subtle and more capable than ever beofre with AI.

💡 Snap's CEO believes AR could eventually replace the smartphone, and if that vision plays out, the winning smart glasses platform could become a highly valuable tech giant. But for now, investors don't seem convinced. Snap's stock fell around 9% after its latest launch, suggesting the market is still unsure whether this is the future... or another false dawn.