Snap’s new Spectacles inch closer to compelling AR

Snap's fifth-generation Spectacles have a richer, more immersive display. Using them feels snappier. They weigh less than their predecessor and last longer on a charge.

Those are exactly the kinds of upgrades you'd expect from a product line that's technically eight years old. But the market for Spectacles - and AR glasses in general - still feels as nascent as ever.

Snap has an idea for what could change that: developers. These new Spectacles, announced Tuesday at Snap's annual Partner Summit in Los Angeles, aren't being sold. Instead, Snap is repeating its playbook for the last version of Spectacles in 2021 and distributing them to the people who make AR lenses for Snapchat. This time around, though, there's an extra hurdle: you have to apply for access through Lens Studio, the company's desktop tool for creating AR software, and pay $1,188 to lease a pair for at least one year. (After a year, the subscription becomes $99 a month.)

Yes, Snap is asking developers to pay $1,188 to build software for hardware with no user base. Even still, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel believes the interest will be there.

"Our goal is really to empower and inspire the developer and AR enthusiast communities," he tells me. "This really is an invitation, and hopefully an inspiration, to create."

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Without the vibrant developer ecosystem that Snap wants to create, my demo of the new Spectacles felt a lot like my demo of the last Spectacles in 2021. One lens showed flowers that grow where you point your hands, while another displayed the anatomy of a human body in 3D space. I could open a browser and load this very website in a floating window.