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After losing $40 million on a failed attempt to launch a pair of video-recording sunglasses almost a decade ago, and several follow-up iterations failing to catch on either, Snapchat parent company Snap is doubling down with an extremely expensive pair of augmented reality glasses it’s calling Specs.
The glasses, which were unveiled during a presentation on Tuesday, come with a hefty price tag of $2,195 and happen to be unfathomably colossal as well, a questionable design choice that invited plenty of mockery online.
During a subsequent tech convention in California, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel sported a pair of the oversized goggles, which feature a cartoonishly large frame with reflective lenses that seemingly do little to obscure the fact that people wearing them are being bombarded with visual information.
“I can feel the headache and ear pain by just looking at these,” one user tweeted.
“Looks like 3D glasses at an IMAX theater,” another argued.
“Who the hell designed this monstrosity?” another wrote.
Investors were equally unimpressed, with Snap shares plunging nearly 30 percent following Tuesday’s announcement, a brutal reality check for the struggling social media platform.
Snap is advertising the goggles as a way to “help people connect more deeply with one another,” with Spiegel heralding the “beginning of a new era in computing.” The Specs can show directions or answer questions about what the wearer is looking at, an already-familiar playbook.
But given the gadget’s egregious price tag and awkward design, we have our doubts that the Specs will ever become a mainstream product.
“Despite the impressive features and experiences available through Specs, glasses with a 4-hour mixed-use battery life and bulky design are not going to replace the smartphone any time soon,” FDM CCS Insight market analyst Ben Hatton told the BBC.
Snap’s timing is far from great. The announcement comes as Meta is struggling to contain a major PR crisis over privacy concerns plaguing its smart glasses and its controversial efforts to integrate facial recognition tech.
Spiegel vowed that “privacy has to be built in from the very beginning” and that “Specs only work if people trust them,” though it’s unclear how any of that will work.
In short, after several failed attempts to launch smart glasses, Snap has an enormous uphill battle ahead of it. And given the brutal reactions online and investor dissatisfaction, the Specs are likely dead on arrival.
More on smart glasses: Meta Furious Over Bombshell Smart Glasses Revelation
