Snap to Buy Augmented Reality Company WaveOptics for Over $500 Million

Snap recently unveiled a new version of its ‘Spectacles’ glasses, the first to incorporate AR with two built-in cameras, two speakers, and four microphones.

By Reuters | Updated: 22 May 2021 11:54 IST

Snap to Buy Augmented Reality Company WaveOptics for Over $500 Million

Photo Credit: Reuters

Snap said it will pay half the $500 million for WaveOptics in stock at closing

Highlights

Snap is acquiring British AR tech company WaveOptics
The California-based company is working on AR devices for some time
Snap brought its new Spectacles for AR developers on Thursday

Snap said Friday it will acquire WaveOptics, a British augmented reality (AR) technology company, for over $500 million (roughly Rs. 3,645 crores).

The deal, first reported by The Verge and confirmed by a Snap spokesman, will help the owner of photo messaging app Snapchat push its way into a future where AR eyewear could be ubiquitous.

Snap, along with other tech giants like Facebook and Apple, are racing to build AR devices as the next technological frontier after the smartphone.

Samsung Wins Patent for a Tri-Fold Smartphone With Specialised Barrier Layer for Improved Durability

The vision behind AR eyewear is that it could allow a user to virtually see route directions in front of them, or see information about a landmark in their surroundings, for example.

Snap said it will pay half the $500 million for WaveOptics in stock at closing, and the other half will be paid in either cash or stock in two years. Snap is based in Santa Monica, California, while WaveOptics is headquartered in Oxford, England.

On Thursday, Snap unveiled a new version of its Spectacles glasses, the first to incorporate AR with two built-in cameras, two speakers and four microphones.

Snap to Cut Emissions, Achieves Carbon Neutrality in New Climate Strategy

The new Spectacles won't be sold to the public, and will only be available to AR developers who apply to use the glasses.

Snapchat Android App Adds More Users Than Wall Street Expected

© Thomson Reuters 2021

It's Google I/O time this week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, as we discuss Android 12, Wear OS, and more. Later (starting at 27:29), we jump over to Army of the Dead, Zack Snyder's Netflix zombie heist movie. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.