Snap releases latest AR glasses, Spectacles, targeted at developers

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) revealed its fifth generation of Spectacles, an augmented reality headset, powered by Snap OS, the social media company’s new operating system, on Tuesday.

The glasses operate independently or with a smartphone. The glasses overlay digital graphics on the physical world.

They are available today for subscribers of the Spectacles Developer Program, which is $99 per month, as these are being targeted to app developers. Developers can publish apps through Lens Studio 5.0.

Spectacles are powered by Qualcomm’s (QCOM) Snapdragon processors. They have a battery life of 45 minutes on a full charge.

Snap also has a new partnership with Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI.

“We’re also excited to bring the power of cloud-hosted multimodal AI models to Spectacles through a new partnership with OpenAI,” Snap said. “Soon, this will help developers bring new models to their Spectacles experiences to provide more context about what you see, say, or hear.”

Meanwhile, social media giant and competitor Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) also announced today it has extended its partnership with EssilorLuxottica to continue developing smart eyewear.

Shares of Snap are down 43% year to date, with the most recent plunge occurring after its second-quarter financial results on Aug. 1.

“Snap’s advertising business continues to struggle, which stands in stark contrast to the relatively strong performance of companies like Meta,” said Seeking Alpha analyst Richard Durant, following it last earnings report.