Snap threw shade at Apple and Meta's bulky headsets, but its new Spectacles are cartoonish

• Snap unveiled its new Spectacles AR glasses at the Snap Partner Summit on Tuesday.
• CEO Evan Spiegel highlighted Spectacles' portability and lighter weight compared to competitors
• New Spectacles feature see-through lenses, an AI-powered 3D image generator, and a cordless design.

They may not hide your eyes, but Snap's new Spectacles won't pass as regular glasses.

At the end of Tuesday's Snap Partner Summit keynote, CEO Evan Spiegel introduced a major upgrade to the company's augmented reality glasses.

He also didn't miss the opportunity to point out how much more portable and lighter the Spectacles are than the headsets offered by competitors.

"VR headsets, they feel like you've got a laptop taped to your face, and they're isolating," Spiegel said.

He added, "AR glasses have see-through lenses. They allow you to share experiences together with your friends in the real world, and they're lightweight and wearable."

That may be true, but Spotify's Spectacles still look like a tech gadget straight out of a 1980s futuristic science-fiction movie.

Spiegel said Snap worked to fit about 150 pounds worth of tech into a pair of AR glasses that weigh 226 grams — less than some iPhone models.

For comparison, Apple's Vision Pro headset weighs between 600 and 650 grams, and Meta's Quest 3 is about 515 grams.

Although Spiegel threw shade at headset rivals, Snap will have a lot to prove in the smart glasses space. Even a high-powered company like Meta is still finding its footing in the AR market, as demonstrated by results at its Reality Labs unit.

"We have seen the losses on Reality Labs grow quarter by quarter, and investors have indulged this because Meta is making enough profit from its advertising business," Leo Gebbie, a principal analyst and director at CCS Insight, told CNBC.

He added, "Snap is hugely more constrained. It's in a position where to meaningfully compete on hardware is going to be incredibly challenging."

The glasses Snap unveiled are cordless, unlike the Vision Pro headset. The Quest 3 completely covers the eyes, but Spiegel said Spectacles have see-through lenses that become tinted in sunlight.

Still, the new Spectacles look bulky enough to prompt some double-takes in public at least, but that didn't stop Snap from taking one last jab at competitors with a skit.

In the video, people walked around wildly gesturing while wearing cartoonishly big headsets. The scene wasn't too far from the reality of the clickbait that came after the Vision Pro launch in February.

Spectacles users in the video wore sleeker black glasses that looked more like sunglasses than science fiction gadgets, but that doesn't mean they won't stand out in real life.

In the demonstrations, users could draw, play games, and use an AI-powered 3D image generator with the new glasses. They could even connect with other Spectacles owners to share their AR experiences.

The fifth-generation Spectacles are available to developers for $99 a month with a 12-month commitment. And while Snap is starting with developers, anyone can apply to join the Spectacles Developer Program, a spokesperson said.

The first pair of Spectacles was launched in 2016. Although they looked more like sunglasses than their successors, the original pair came with a fraction of the tech capabilities.

Snap may have successfully made a pair of AR glasses that weigh less than an iPhone, but it still needs to convince investors that the public will line up for AR glasses in the future.

September 23, 2024: This story was updated to reflect the details of who can join the Spectacles Developer Program.