Snap is turning its smart glasses team into its own company

Snap is launching a separate business for its upcoming Specs augmented reality glasses in a bid to lure new investors to the project. The new company, aptly named “Specs,” will operate under Snap as a distinct subsidiary ahead of the long-awaited public launch of Specs glasses later this year.

“Establishing Specs Inc. as a wholly-owned subsidiary provides greater operational focus and alignment, enables new partnerships and capital flexibility including the potential for minority investment, allows us to grow a distinct brand, and supports clearer valuation of the business,” reads Snap’s announcement.

The announcement reaffirms existing plans to release the first consumer pair of Specs smart glasses in 2026, but doesn’t outline a specific launch date or price. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has previously said that Specs will be priced less than the $3,499 Vision Pro. Snap says that it, not Apple, will introduce “a new computing paradigm” to succeed the 1984 Macintosh.

“Specs are launching at an important time, as artificial intelligence transforms the way that we use our computers,” Snap says. “Instead of an operating system that expects us to do all of the work, Specs feature a first-of-its-kind Intelligence System that uses its understanding of you and your world to help get things done on your behalf while protecting and respecting your privacy.”

Snap gave us a glimpse of this in the Snap OS 2.0 update it pushed to the fifth-generation developer Spectacles last year. At the time, Spiegel described the glasses as “a new kind of computer” that’s AI-first, with Snap later forging a $400 million partnership with Perplexity in November. The decision to launch Specs under a new company could be Snap’s attempt to distance the hardware from its Snapchat service, which has been criticized over child safety and social media addiction.