Snap CEO Avoids Specs Preorder Questions as Smart Glasses Launch Nears

Snap Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel declined to provide details about preorder demand for the company’s upcoming Specs smart glasses during Monday’s second-quarter earnings call, instead emphasising that prospective buyers will need to experience the device firsthand after its official launch.

Asked by investors about customer interest ahead of the September launch event, Spiegel said Specs is a high-consideration purchase because of its $2,195 price. He said developers and users already familiar with the platform understand the technical progress made in the latest generation. Still, broader consumer adoption will depend on people trying the product themselves.

“What we’re hearing from folks is really that they want to try Specs,” Spiegel said, adding that the September launch event will mark the beginning of the company’s consumer-focused rollout.

Snap unveiled Specs in June after more than a decade of development. The augmented reality glasses are priced well above Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, which start at about $350, but below Apple’s Vision Pro headset, which starts at $3,500.

Investors question Snap’s long-term strategy

During the earnings call, investors also pressed Spiegel on whetherSnap’ss hardware strategy is financially sustainable for a company of its size, why it chose to develop the product independently rather than partnering with another technology company, and how it plans to compete with larger rivals including Apple, Meta and Alphabet.

Spiegel responded that Snap sees a significant long-term opportunity in helping define the next generation of computing platforms. He argued that the technical challenges involved in developing augmented reality glasses are not yet widely understood and said being an early entrant gives Snap an advantage.

According to Spiegel, unlike Snap’s entry into social media, where it had to compete with already established platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, the company is entering a category where it believes it has first-mover advantages through years of product development.

Mass adoption expected later this decade

When asked about product-market fit, Spiegel said widespread consumer adoption is unlikely to occur until closer to the end of the decade. He noted that both the weight and price of smart glasses will need to decline before sales volumes increase significantly.

At the same time, he said Snap benefits from having developers build applications for the Specs platform over several years, giving the company an ecosystem it believes will support the product as the market for augmented reality devices continues to mature.