Snap Stock Climbs as Qualcomm Deal Brings Smart Glasses Closer to Reality

TLDR

• Snap’s smart glasses unit, Specs, has signed a multi-year deal with Qualcomm to use its Snapdragon XR processor platform
• The glasses are expected to launch later this year for consumers
• Specs was spun off as a separate unit in January 2026 to give the team more independence and open the door to outside investment
• The deal extends a long-running relationship — Qualcomm chips have powered multiple previous generations of Snap’s developer glasses
• Activist investor Irenic Capital Management, holding roughly 2.5% economic interest in Snap, had recently pushed for Specs to be spun off or shut down

Snap (SNAP) stock moved higher on Friday after its smart glasses unit, Specs, announced a multi-year chip partnership with Qualcomm (QCOM).

Snap Inc., SNAP

The deal will see Specs use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR processor platform to power its upcoming AI smart glasses. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Specs was formed as a standalone unit in January 2026. The move was designed to give the glasses team more operational independence and create room for potential outside investment.

The glasses, also called Specs, are described as standalone, see-through devices. They are built to let users see, hear, and interact with digital content overlaid on the physical world.

Snap says the Snapdragon platform will allow for “intelligent, context-aware experiences” to run directly on the device, keeping interactions faster and more private.

A Long Road to Market

Snap has been working on smart glasses for over a decade. The last consumer version launched in 2019. Since 2024, the product shifted to a developer-only release.

The new Qualcomm deal is aimed at finally getting a consumer product to market. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said the partnership “provides a strong foundation for the future of Specs.”

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said the next era of computing will be “defined by devices that understand what you see, hear and say,” adding that the Specs work will focus on AR devices that deliver “agentic experiences.”

Friday’s announcement came just days after activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which holds roughly a 2.5% economic interest in Snap’s Class A stock, pushed the company to either spin off or shut down the Specs unit entirely and focus on cutting costs.

Competing in a Crowded Space

The smart glasses market is getting busier. Meta’s Ray-Ban AI glasses, built with EssilorLuxottica, are widely seen as one of the few clear hits so far in the AI wearables race.

The U.S. AI smart glasses market is projected to grow from around $0.40 billion in 2025 to $1.11 billion by 2035.

On TipRanks, SNAP currently holds a Hold consensus rating — 4 Buy, 19 Hold, and 2 Sell. The consensus price target sits at $7.81, with the highest target at $15.

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