I tried out Snap Specs, the social platform's chunky AR smart glasses — and they delivered in more ways than I expected
Snap’s next big leap into unreal space
by https://www.techradar.com/author/cesar-cadenas · TechRadarNews By Cesar Cadenas Published 17 September 2026
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- Snap’s Specs are its sixth-generation AR glasses
- They may be hefty devices, but they’re surprisingly comfortable to wear and easy to use
- The Specs come packed with engaging features, including a new AI assistant
It’s been almost a decade since Snap Inc. released its first Spectacles smart glasses back in 2016, and the series has grown a lot since then. The original pair was essentially an extension of Snapchat, designed to record short 10-second clips for the social platform.
Since then, Snap’s tech has grown into a robust augmented reality platform, improving both the hardware and software along the way.
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For Fall 2026, Snap Inc. will soon launch what is technically its sixth generation of Spectacles. However, it seems that the company is looking for a fresh start, as these smart glasses will simply be known as the Snap Specs.
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The Specs were initially unveiled at the Augmented World Expo 2026 in June, and it was revealed then that the company was placing greater emphasis on regular consumers rather than strictly an enterprise audience.
I had the opportunity to try out the Specs myself at Snap Inc.’s headquarters in Santa Monica, California. And it was instantly clear to me that the glasses are meant to be the entry point to a vast AR ecosystem. While I had a lot of fun using them in an early demo, the experience wasn’t without its quirks.
Big frames, vibrant screen
While these 6th-gen Specs are much slimmer than the previous generation, they are still quite chunky, sporting thick black frames made out of a Swiss TR90 polymer.
Snap offers two sizes: a 47mm model weighing 132 grams and a 52mm model weighing 136 grams. For anyone keeping score, that's significantly heavier than a pair of Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, which weigh just 50 grams. But Snap did a good job of distributing weight. The 52mm devices felt quite comfortable on my head. The smaller 47mm glasses, on the other hand, pinched my temples.
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