---
title: "Gadzooks! Snap Inc. Is Making a New Pair of Doomed AR Glasses"
description: "Snap, Inc is about to release the third iteration of its AR glasses, Spectacles 3. It's extremely unclear who they're for."
date: "2019-08-13"
modified: "2019-08-13"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/snap-ar-glasses"
categories:
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "AR"
  - "snap"
  - "the digest"
  - "wearables"
---

# Gadzooks! Snap Inc. Is Making a New Pair of Doomed AR Glasses

![Snap, Inc is about to release the third iteration of its AR glasses, Spectacles 3. It's extremely unclear who they're for.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/snap-ar-glasses.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Snapchat\</em\>*

## Why Tho

Snap Inc, the company behind the has-been photo-sharing app Snapchat, just announced the third iteration of its camera-equipped AR glasses, Spectacles 3.

At $380, the glasses will be double the cost of Spectacles 2 when they launch in November, [according to *The Verge*](<https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/13/20802239/snapchat-spectacles-3-pricing-release-date-snap>). Perhaps that's because they come with a second HD camera — one rests over each eye, like those [old school flip-up sunglasses](<https://www.pinterest.com/pin/508484614150797802/>). But, as *The Verge* points out, Spectacles 3 has just as short a battery life as the last version, and makes it just as annoying to transfer pictures and video to a bespectacled person's phone.

It all raises the question of why, exactly, these trendy-looking glasses exist.

## Spy Glasses

When Google unveiled its AR spectacles, Google Glass, there was [immediate blowback](<https://futurism.com/companies-smart-glasses-snapchat>) against the "glassholes" who started wearing them around town. Now Glass is back, but largely [used for industrial purposes](<https://futurism.com/google-glass-back-factories>).

Snap's AR glasses, even the shiny new Spectacles 3, still seem like a Google Glass imitator — with all the public unease of people unsure whether they're being filmed, but with fewer functions for the wearer.

In order to send out a picture recorded on Spectacles, users will have to connect their phone via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, download them their phone, and then edit them and send them out to their friends, according to *The Verge*. It all seems like a bit too much of a hassle when someone could just hold their phone up to get a point-of-view-angled shot.

**READ MORE:** [Snap announces Spectacles 3 with an updated design and a second HD camera](<https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/13/20802239/snapchat-spectacles-3-pricing-release-date-snap>) \[*The Verge*\]

**More on AR glasses:** *[Hey, Companies: Stop Trying to Make Face Cameras Happen](<https://futurism.com/companies-smart-glasses-snapchat>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)