Snap Spectacles 2 Official Unveiling Tipped For Next Week

Snap is expected to unveil the second-generation of its Snapchat Spectacles soon, an updated wearable featuring a camera built into a pair of sunglasses. Spectacles weren't a huge hit the first time around, but apparently were popular enough to justify launching an updated model. Spectacles 2 first appeared on April 11 in FCC documents, and now a report claims we'll be getting the official announcement very soon.

According to WIRED, Snap — the parent company behind the mobile app Snapchat — will be launching the updated Spectacles product some time next week. The wearable will join new Snapchat features that further expand what users can do with the app both in the near and distant future.

Snap has slowly shifted its attention toward hardware, Spectacles being its chief effort in that regard (never mind the lobster costume). The company hasn't tied the two products together in any significant way, but it envisions a future in which Snapchat and Spectacles (or something like them) are components that fit together nicely.

As far as the second-generation Spectacles go, no one is sure at this point what to expect. It's possible we'll see a boost in resolution or image quality, though wearable devices like camera glasses still suffer from power issues — namely that it's very difficult to sufficiently power these cameras for any reasonable period of time without making them excessively large and/or heavy.

Based on the FCC filing, we know the Spectacles 2 model will have a video camera (as does the original model). The documents also reveal Bluetooth and WiFi, but design and other details aren't available yet.

SOURCE: WIRED