Snapchat Is Quietly Developing Augmented Reality Glasses

In the wake of Google Glass' failure, we can expect other companies to fill the void in due time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Snapchat may be one of the first.

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel wearing his company's supposed AR eyewear prototype.

Business Insider recently caught Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel out and about with a pair of stealthy sunglasses bearing a couple of surprising bumps. It's likely safe to assume those bumps are cameras and not a strange design choice given that Snapchat has demonstrated their hardware ambitions earlier this year.

Furthermore, Business Insider points to some additional, solid evidence:

Compared with Spiegel's normal aviator style, the sunglasses photographed in August appear to have thicker frames and the attached cameras. They're similar to but aren't exactly clones of the glasses made by Vergence Labs, a company Snapchat acquired in 2014.

With GoPro and low-powered electronic hardware specialists working at the company, it's likely Snapchat plans to introduce their wearable tech sooner than later. While no one knows exactly what this new eyewear will amount to or how much it will cost, the stealthier look of the prototype certainly gives it a leg up over Google Glass' cyborg aesthetic.

That said, if people see a camera anywhere there's still plenty of room for public distrust just like we saw with Glass. Whether or not photo-centric smart eyewear will entice consumers remains to be seen, but we have enough evidence from Google's missteps that you should definitely never wear them in the bathroom.

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Cover image remixed by Adam Dachis/NextReality; originals by Snapchat and PSDGraphics