8 Jan 2026
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Mike Boland
AWE Talks: Picking Points on the Spatial Spectrum
Welcome back to AWE Talks, our series that revisits the best AWE conference sessions. With AWE EU 2025 concluded, we have a fresh batch of session footage to sink our teeth into for weeks to come.
We continue the action this week with a look at consumer AR's leader: Snap. Daniel Wagner takes us inside the company's philosophies, strategies and trajectory for AR glasses. Where is it going next?
See the summarized takeaways below, along with the full session video. Stay tuned for more video highlights each week and check out the full library of conference sessions on AWE’s YouTube Channel.
Speakers
Daniel Wagner, Snap
Key Takeaways & Analysis
– Snap has gone further than any other AR company in consumer penetration.
– But most of its success, and what it's known for, is mobile AR lenses.
– These will continue to be a driving force, but Snap's future is also headworn.
– We can already see this developing in the evolution of Spectacles.
– The device has slowly graduated from camera glasses to full-blown AR.
– And Snap is at a key inflection, given the 2026 launch of consumer Specs.
– But what's the strategy behind this years-long headworn AR evolution?
– Snap's latest innovation in its 5th-generation Spectacles is its dual SOC.
– By splitting the processing, it creates a more distributed and efficient system.
– For example, heat dissipation is distributed across both arms of the glasses.
– Another key design principle is to occupy a sweet spot in the spatial spectrum.
– At one end of the spectrum is lite-AR devices such as non-display AI glasses.
– At the other end is highly-dimensional AR in "heavy" packages such as Quest 3.
– Snap will achieve the best of both worlds in the middle with lightweight full-AR.
– That was the baseline for its latest generation spectacles, which continue to evolve.
– Though the hardware is set, Snap has evolved the software since launch.
– This includes a vast array of OS updates, as well as AI-infusions and dev tools.
– Altogether, these moves prime the 2026 launch of consumer spectacles.
– In that way, the device will be uncontested for consumer-gear full-AR glasses.
For more color and depth, see the full session below...
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