Snap Unveils Spectacles 3 With HD 3D Camera for Augmented Reality

The niche product will cost $380, over twice as much as its previous iteration

Snap Inc. isn’t giving up on Spectacles, with the Snapchat parent company unveiling its third edition of the camera-sunglasses on Tuesday morning.

The new pair, set to officially release this fall, will run $380 — or more than twice the price of the 2.0 glasses released last year. The key addition to this year’s model is a second HD camera along the front of the glasses, allowing Spectacles to capture depth. The person wearing the glasses can then tap into a new set of 3D effects and augmented reality tools to add to their pictures or video.

Spectacles have been part of Snap’s push to become the preeminent AR company in the world, but to this point they’ve been a niche product. The first pair launched to great fanfare in late 2016, with long lines of Snapchatters queued up at vending machines, waiting to get a pair. The initial excitement quickly faded, though, with Snap later taking a $40 million loss on Spectacles. CEO Evan Spiegel later said Snap made the “wrong decision” in making too many pairs after its strong initial reception dried up.

The newest Spectacles will go on sale later this year at Spectacles.com.

Snap’s stock, which has nearly increased 200% since the beginning of the year, increased about 0.75% in early-morning trading to $16.94 per share.

Comments