Apparently, Snapchat is working on a fresh, fully AR-enabled version of Spectacles smart glasses, which would be a significant step forward for the product, as well as for Snapchat's more extensive plans with augmented reality.

According to The Information, Snap is currently working on an advanced version of Spectacles, equipped with in-lens AR displays.

The Information writes:

"Unlike past models of Snap's smart glasses though, this version of the product is not meant for the consumer market but is instead aimed at developers and creators. Those groups are already the creative force behind many of the wildly popular AR effects on the Snapchat app for mobile phones, known as lenses.". Snap probably hopes that developers will come up with software experiences that can work on the new device, which would then be offered to a wider group of customers at some later time.

Thus, rather than having to do the complete development of AR-enabled glasses and their various offerings alone, Snap seems to be trying to tap this pool of development resources from outside to possibly help it make that next move.

Given its past development of AR tools and camera-enabled glasses, this probably came as a little surprise. Still, Snapchat has faced numerous delays in the progress of AR-enabled glasses, and we hadn't heard an official confirmation of future developments of the product until now.

Technically, this isn't even official confirmation with a report coming via inside sources. However, the information is the most reliable that we have to date regarding Snapchat's AR plans and falls in line with industry-wide development regarding new, advanced AR tools.

In its endeavor, Facebook, just like Apple, has publicly stated its intentions over AR, both being well on their way to launching AR-enabled glasses in the next few years. Facebook said that its first iteration of smart glasses will be accessible to the public in 2021, though not quite fully AR-enabled as yet, with camera-equipped smart glasses and building from there.

Which is what Snapchat has already done - but the cost of development of a full AR device has seemingly proven problematic, with Snap's Spectacles project slowing significantly since the launch of the product back in 2016.

But Snapchat has continued to evolve Spectacles, with a view to the next stage. Snapchat's 'Spectacles 3', for example, added new camera capacity, and 3D capture tools, providing more capacity for the device.
But all along, it has seemed like AR is the end goal here.

In fact, Snapchat has filed various patents around such, and has clearly gone some way towards building a fully AR-enabled device.
With AR set to evolve to the next phase, Snapchat needs to stay in touch with that shift, and Spectacles provide the perfect vehicle for such.

Whether it can beat out Facebook and Apple to market is probably less of an issue in this regard, but with a firm process in place for the delivery of hardware, and experience in the DTC market for that, Snap could still ultimately triumph as AR glasses become more common going forward.