AWE 2026: Live updates from the Snap Specs launch by Evan Spiegel, and later XR keynotes at the show

Thanks so much to Karissa for all that hard work today! There were so many moving parts to this event, and you handled it all like a champ!

Payne ends with a pitch to developers to reserve an Xreal Aura so they can start experimenting with Android XR apps. And that's a wrap on AWE keynotes!

Another look at those upcoming AI glasses from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Payne says that "all of the pieces for a thriving" Android XR ecosystem are coming into place even though it's still early days.

Payne is now talking about how Gemini can deliver extremely personalized experiences. He uses the example of it placing grocery orders for users based on what they see when they look in their fridge. 

Payne says that display glasses, like the prototypes the company has showed off, are the next major milestone for the category. And — a bit of news — he says that Google will expand its "trusted tester" program for display glasses later this year, so there is some real momentum there.

Juston Payne, Senior Director of Product Management for XR at Google, is now up to talk about "intelligent eyewear." I assume this is talking about the company's upcoming collabs with Gentle Monsters and Warby Parker. 

Here's a look at the kind of split screen view you can see in Aura, with sports streaming in between other windows. This is actually a pretty good representation of what I saw in my demo.

Aura has a lot of features geared toward real work. You can pair it with a foldable keyboard and use the virtual displays to work. I got a brief look at Aura's capabilities last month at IO, but I didn't get to try out that particular use case.

He says Google is working with Qualcomm on a reference design for pucks that power tethered glasses like Xreal's Aura. And we're now getting more info on how the compute puck with Aura works, for example it can be used as a trackpad for input.

I'm back at the Google portion of the keynote! We're getting a look at how Google is thinking about Android XR. "We at Google are all in to scale this category," the compoany says regarding immersive glasses.

I believe Karissa is back and will be giving you the deets shortly!

We've already pointed this out in our article about the Xreal Aura glasses, but it bears repeating. Reservations for the Aura smartglasses will cost $99 (which will buy you a $199 "launch credit" towards the price of the device). Or you can pay $299 for a "founder priority pass" which will guarantee "launch-day delivery."

All that for something that doesn't yet have an official price. Is it just us or is that not something you'd expect of a proper product launch too? It all feels a bit like Kickstarter launches to me. (And if you disagree, that's fine!)

To be transparent, because Karissa had to be pulled into her meeting somewhat unexpectedly and there isn't a livestream of this particular session (despite us having reached out to AWE and Google contacts), we're not currently liveblogging the Google presentation there. I like to be honest, and thought I'd let you know. 

However, I can still catch you up on what Google has planned for AWE until Karissa can get back to the stage. In addition to announcing alongside Xreal that reservations for the Aura are now open, Google said in a blog post that

"Beyond the main stage, we kicked off the week with a developer hackathon and hands-on technical workshops. You can visit the Qualcomm booth on the show floor during the show for live demonstrations of Samsung Galaxy XR, XREAL AURA and intelligent eyewear. And don't miss our developer keynote, the Android Enterprise panel or the Auggie Awards, where we'll celebrate breakthroughs in our community."

We're now about... 8 minutes into Google's presentation at AWE 2026 and I just would like to take a moment to inform you all that the description for this session on the AWE website still says "Coming soon!" 

Google's senior director of the Android XR ecosystem Hugo Swart, standing on stage with Chi Xu, the founder and CEO of Xreal. Qualcomm's Ziad Asghar is in the middle with them, too.

Karissa has to head off to a special meeting, so she won't be able to liveblog for a bit. The good news is, we already kind of know what's coming. Google's Hugo Swart is taking the stage with Xreal's founder and CEO to talk more about Android XR.

That Snapdragon Reality Elite chip, by the way, powers the Xreal Aura smartglasses which are now formally launched (albeit with no price). Xreal has dropped "Project" from its product's name, too. More details from Karissa in our news post here: Xreal officially reveals its Android XR Aura glasses — without a pricetag

Qualcomm just revealed its new Snapdragon Reality Elite chip, which is made for the most powerful AR/VR/MR devices. Asghar says it's designed for Gen AI and can run more powerful experiences more efficiently. (Also, sorry, Ziad for catching you with your eyes closed, I need that Google AI tool for opening eyes in pics.)

Qualcomm is also powering a new smart ring from a company called KiWear that allows the ring to act as a controller. I have a demo with this later today, so stay tuned for my first impressions.

The first big partner for Qualcomm on START is Inspecs, which licenses a ton of eyewear brands. Inspecs says this partnership allows them to create distinct products between brands and move a lot faster (no specific new glasses being announced here, but it sounds like there could be some interesting collabs coming.) Their CEO says there will be new products entering the market "later this year."

I need to know more about spider-lens-on-face-guy. Is that some kind of subtle marketing for the new Spider-Man movie?

Okay back to Qualcomm, Asghar reveals Qualcomm's START program. It stands for Scalable Turnkey AI Solutions). The company is trying to enable more brands and companies to start building AI glasses and display-enabled smartglasses by offering an all-in one platform that combines modules and dedicated software so it's easier for companies to bring their vision to hardware. Qualcomm is also working with other hardware companies to create white label hardware for the program.

As you can see, this guy is back onstage too. I'll have to find out more about him after the keynotes. 

And Qualcomm's Ziad Asghar is onstage. He says the advent of AI agents has completely changes how we use our devices. And that advancements in sensors have enabled more personalized AI agents.

Evan Spiegel just before he waved goodbye at the audience at AWE.

And that's it for Snap! Lots to digest there, but stay tuned for updates from Qualcomm.

Spiegel did a "one more thing" and is showing off photos from a campaign with photographer Steven Meisel who shot photos of Jimmy Butler, Imogen Heap, Hoyeon, Jack Harlow, and Kaia Gerber wearing the new Specs.

Specs are available now for pre-order and will ship "this fall." 

Now we're onto price, Spiegel points out that the first Mac, when adjusted for inflation, would cost over $8,000 today. He says Snap wanted Specs to be more accessible, they will cost $2,195.

We're getting a closer look at Specs in this pre-recorded video. I can see that the arms, and particularly the tips of the arms, are still quite thick compared to a lot of other glasses.

Likely not by accident, he immediately starts talking about Specs' privacy features, saying that people will always have control over what they share. 

"Those copycats up north aren't going to be stealing this one," Spiegel says, an obvious reference to Meta. He says Snap has filed more than 7,000 patents related to Specs. (Fun fact, Spiegel used to have "Chief Product Officer of Meta" on his LinkedIn profile.)

Specs have "up to four hours of mixed use battery life." That's another big jump for Snap. People will also have the otpion to wear them with a power cable connected for "extended use." That cable also powers streaming from devices so you can sue Specs as a laptop display. The charging case delivers about another 20 hours of charge.

Spiegel says the most important thing about Specs is "how naturally they fit into the flow of your day" and he's showing off some of those AI-powered experiences like real-time translation and instructions.

Specs are powered by two different Snapdragon processors, one powers Lenses and one handles computer vision. Spiegel didn't specify a chipset, but Qualcomm has a keynote immediately after this so we might hear more soon.

Spiegel says Specs use the same tech that's in the windows of Boeing Dreamliners for its electrochromatic dimming. 

Specs has a new waveguide that "guide light exactly where it needs to go" enabling a 51-degree field of view (another spec bump for Snap). 

Evan Spiegel standing in front of a screen showing the two sizes of the new Specs.

There are two sizes 47mm and 52 mm, which weigh 132 grams and 136 grams, respectively. That's a whole lot lighter than the previous AR glasses that were 226 grams.

And there it is, our first look at the new Specs. I can already see they are sleeker than the previous versions, Spiegel says they are "gorgeous," made out of something he calls "plastic titanium." 

The wearable vs capable matrix that Spiegel is placing modern devices (and a potato) on.

Okay, now he's starting to tee up the Specs reveal. He's talking about the "tradeoffs" between AI glasses (without displays) and headsets. Up to now, people have hasd to choose between whether they want more "wearable" or more "capable" products.

Spiegel is showing off something called a "migration agent" that will help developers port their existing experiences into its platform. This is all a bit technical, but he's laying out all the ways Snap is making sure its Specs won't have a content problem.  

So far we've seen a lot of games and entertainment, but Spiegel just mentioned the company's partnership with Google so that developers can use Gemini to give their Lenses AI powers. Snap is also adding agentic coding to Lens Studio so AR makers can use Claude Code and Codex in their workflows (big cheers in the room for that news).

Lens Studio has become even more important to Snap now that the company has proper AR glasses, and Spiegel says app's logo is getting a bit of a makeover. (So far videos onscreen are showing the older, developer version of Specs, by the way). 

Evan Spiegel standing in front of a screen that says Specs.

We're seeing a video with some examples of AR apps developers have created for Specs, including multiplayer games and other collaborative experiences. The room is hyped for these. Spiegel says these are "totally new" and respond to your space.

Snap has 450,000 developers building AR lenses with its Lens Studio software. That's the company's platform for creating AR lenses for Snapchat, as well as AR experiences for Specs. 

Evan Spiegel talking about the developers who worked with Specs to build Lenses.

Spiegel says Specs is a "computer that understands the world around you." (Interestingly, I don't think he's used the word "glasses" at all.)

Spiegel is talking about his admiration for Steve Jobs and reminiscing about the original iPhone reveal. But he says that now phones are something that take people out of the real world, while AR can put people back. (This has been his pitch for AR glasses for years.)

Eavn Spiegel is opening by thanking the creators in the room for "believing in the future before it was obvious" ... the company has for years fostered a community of AR creators and developers in preparation for this moment

Looks like you've scored some nice seats for this, Karissa!

Okay that talk has wrapped and the weird head with a barnacle-looking thing on its face has exited while we wait for Snap's portion to officially start.

Okay, now we're onto more smartglasses talk. Inbar shows this slide, showing the current ecosystem which has a nice tease for Snap's upcoming keynote.

Meanwhile, here at AWE, the main programming has kicked off with some welcome remarks from the head of AWE Ori Inbar. The room is quite packed. I missed the very start of his talk, which is called "I, Spatial," but we're hearing a lot about the convergence of sptial computing, AI, wearables and robotics.

On the YouTube stream of Snap's upcoming keynote, there are already almost 200 viewers with the live chat popping off. It's certainly a bigger and more active audience than I was expecting. I guess 2026 is truly the year of the smartglasses? Or XR?

I'm not quite sure what that all means, but here's some words straight from the press release: "Designed for industrial, scientific, and clinical workflows, Helix streams a wearer's first-person perspective to a multimodal AI in real time, enabling AI-assisted coaching, compliance, and full-provenance capture of every shift worn."

In the land of AWE news that's just been announced, Viture has just announced the Helix, which it's calling "the first AI Safety glasses built on NVIDIA's XR AI solution."

Commenter iDubno also thinks Qualcomm might announce an XR chip today and frankly that would be a very Qualcomm move.

Meanwhile I feel like we have some industry insiders or experts in our comments? iDubno is out here speculating very astutely about the prices of the upcoming Xreal glasses while lumivole is reiterating what I think most people feel, which is "I don't need those AI things." 

Karissa what does the place look like. It certainly seems a bit.. dreary-convention-like from that picture. 

Good morning from Long Beach! I've arrived at the convention center and collected my badge. The place is starting to fill up and I've already seen more than a few pairs of smartglasses.

I know Karissa is making her way over to the convention center as we speak, and we should get more details on what it's like over there soon. I will tell you that I certainly wasn't expecting a lot of people to be attending AWE, but some of the pictures I've seen definitely proved me wrong. If they're to be believed, that is.

Meanwhile, we've got lumivole over here as a Snap user wanting new glasses alongside "the one XR one." I remember waiting in line when Snap (back then known as Snapchat lol) actually had these pop-up sales locations for the original Spectacles! Is that what you're talking about? The video-recording glasses? If so, I'm not sure that's on the agenda today though I do think Snap should really take back the lead there from Meta. All these Ray Ban video-recording glasses have really dominated the (very small) space lately!

Okay! I see you all! iDubno you're excited to learn more about Android XR and see if we get any Project Aura demos... It sounds like you're an XR enthusiast and I'm curious how much you'd pay for these smart glasses!

Folks, don't be shy. If you have thoughts, feel free to leave a comment down below! And tell us what you really think about smart glasses, XR, or anything in tech at all. 

I don't know about you all, but I'm personally keen to see the Warby Parker and Gentle Monster versions of Samsung and Google's upcoming Android XR glasses. Whew, that's a lot of brands to name in one breath. I'm pretty sure they won't be at AWE 2026, but I could always be wrong.

Just last month at Google I/O, there was also plenty of talk about XR. Karissa tried on a pair of concept glasses that Google said were its reference hardware, which demonstrated some Android XR capabilities. She also checked out Xreal's Project Aura smartglasses there, ahead of their official launch, and found them "maximalist." Given Google's XR leads will be making a presentation later today, it's highly likely Android XR is brought up again this afternoon.

While we wait, I'm going to take this opportunity to plug an article we published at the end of 2025 looking back at the state (and rise) of smart glasses last year. Probably a good primer for today!

I see we already have a commenter down below saying good morning! GM to you too, dwayno! What are we all expecting or hoping to see today? I am almost certain we will be seeing either updates to smart glasses or actual new hardware.

Good morning everyone! Welcome to our liveblog of AWE 2026. Or, more specifically, AWE XR 2026 (USA). Or, even more specifically, three keynotes on the agenda for today at AWE XR 2026 (USA). Anyway, our senior reporter is at the event in Long Beach, California and already has some photos to share. I can't wait for you all to see them!