Snap to Make its New AR Smart Glasses Available to Consumers, Potentially Kicking the Tech into the Mainstream

Despite the hype tracking as far back as the mid-2010s, augmented reality hardware hasn’t exactly taken off in the mainstream. Virtual reality has gradually picked up steam, with tens of millions of more affordable headsets from the likes of Meta and Sony being sold. Yet, AR glasses and the like have struggled to connect to the wider consumer base despite the tech being embedded in some of the world’s most popular apps.

Now, Snap has announced that it will finally be putting one of its highly-rated creations out into the public sphere. With its new AR glasses, this might just be the step needed to make the innovative tech commonplace and showcase its uses beyond a few gimmicks. With the announcement and target date out in the world, we could see a rush of innovation that will add the software necessary to sell the product to the masses.

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AR Glasses Market Heating Up, Again…

Snap has been creating developer-facing smart glasses for a long time. Their Spectacles 5 are very well thought of, but are notably on the heavy side. So, in preparation for their new Specs coming to market in 2026, they’ve worked on making the frames much lighter and more innocuous. The see-through lenses will be able to display graphics as though projected out in front of them in the world and will feature Snap’s AI-powered assistant.

However, the Specs enter a market that even Apple seemingly failed to unlock. The Vision Pro received the same amount of hype and promotion as just about any Apple product, but that didn’t convert to many sales. Some reports see the units sold count as being as much as half of the expected 800,000 units shipped. A huge issue, it would seem, is the price tag. Vision Pro has an RRP of $3,499 without a clear, life-improving selling point.

As is covered by this Forbes report, Apple’s Vision Pro is certainly an innovative bit of tech and can certainly be a very useful device. Yet, the price tag is woefully inconvenient and without much dedicated software to empower the kit, the novelty can wear off quickly. There does seem to be a sense of opportunity even with Apple’s outing not making waves, with Google and Samsung working on smart glasses and Meta to reveal ‘Hypernova’ this year.

AR Entertainment Software’s the Way Forward

As Apple has experienced itself through its many groundbreaking creations, a great way to shift new tech to consumers is to showcase its convenient access to entertainment. AR is already embedded in entertainment, with two of the top ten highest-grossing games in the UK being the GO games. However, with smart glasses that leverage AR, much more can be done to expand the experience.

The Specs are looking to leverage projections in the AR, which could certainly enhance a usually 2D experience into a more immersive 3D one. As an example, you could look to the varied world of themes and features of Megaways casino games. With AR, the user could find themselves in a more immersive setting, from the outer space theme of Astro Newts Megaways to the studio of Wheel of Fortune Megaways.

The top games of the Megaways selection include fishing, ancient islands, the Wild West, Ancient Greek gods under the sea, and more. Not only could AR create a more immersive gaming space, but further overlays could provide timely information during play, such as stats and game guides. Looking further, films watched with the creator’s commentary on could also benefit from pop-ups and overlays that relay even more tidbits.

So, when Snap’s wearables arrive, they’ll need to be more cost-effective than Apple’s offering and come with features and entertainment apps that people want to engage with.