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Snap gets closer to releasing new AI glasses after years-long hiatus

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Snap has announced a new partnership between its AR-glasses focused subsidiary, Specs, and chipmaker Qualcomm, as the company revs up for the release of its wearable later this year.

The Snapchat creator has been teasing the release of the glassesโ€”dubbed Spectacles, or merely Specsโ€”for a long time and, earlier this year, it spun off a new company to specifically focus on the business venture. In February, the company abruptly parted ways with Scott Myers, its SVP of Specs, over a reported โ€œblow-upโ€ between himself and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.

The newly announced partnership with Qualcomm shows signs of life for the project. Specs will beย powered byย Qualcommโ€™s Snapdragon XR platforms, which are its systems-on-a-chip designed to power augmented and virtual reality devices, a press release states.

The two companies will developย โ€œon-device AI, cutting-edge graphics, and advanced multiuser digital experiencesโ€ as part of a multi-year strategic agreement, a press release claims.

โ€œOur work with Qualcomm provides a strong foundation for the future of Specs, bringing developers and consumers advanced technology and performance that pushes the boundaries of whatโ€™s possible,โ€ Spiegel said.

The saga of Specs has been a long one. Snap originally began developing the product over a decade ago. The last consumer-facing version of the glasses was released in 2019. Since 2024, the glasses have beenย a developer-only productโ€”giving Snap the opportunity to work on seeding new kinds of programs that the company hopes will draw users to it upon launch.



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