What comes after smartphones, with Evan Spiegel of Snap

By Stripe

Categories: Product, Startup

Summary

Snap is hitting a "crucible moment" with 1B monthly active users, net income profitability, and consumer Specs glasses launching in 2026—marking a shift from screen-based computing to spatial experiences that keep users engaged with the world rather than isolated in devices.

Key Takeaways

1. Specs glasses target the unoccupied sweet spot between low-capability AI glasses (like AirPods with cameras) and high-capability VR (Vision Pro), offering normal glasses wearability with spatial computer capabilities after 12 years of R&D investment.
2. The smartphone won't be replaced but rather work alongside glasses for specific use cases—large-screen applications (TV, laptop, desktop displays) migrate first, while glasses excel at net-new spatial experiences like augmented play and collaborative building.
3. Computing has historically been isolating, pulling users into screens. Specs promise to reverse this by bringing computing into the world—enabling shared experiences like gaming, design, and building together rather than solo screen consumption.
4. Young users prioritize experiences and doing things together over isolated consumption—Specs capitalize on this shift by enabling novel interactions (laser tag, AR dinosaurs in backyards, collaborative Lego building) that desktop and phones cannot provide.
5. Snap is simultaneously achieving profitability, reaching 1B MAU, and launching consumer hardware—executing a three-front transformation while investing heavily in AI, positioning the company at an inflection point for post-smartphone computing.

Topics

• Spatial Computing vs VR vs AR Glasses
• Post-Smartphone Device Strategy
• Hardware-Software Integration at Scale
• Experience-First Product Design
• Computing UX: Isolation vs Social Engagement

Transcript Excerpt

This is pretty funny playing chess in the pub. Cheers. Cheers. Good to see you. Good to see you. Thanks. Give me the Snap 2026 update: product, business. Just what do you spend your days thinking about? We've described it as the crucible moment. Actually, we described it as that towards the end of 2025, and it is just proving to be true in a major way for a couple of reasons. One, we're about to reach a billion monthly active users, which is a big deal for us. We're really excited about the prog...