Snap introduced its latest AR wearable, targeting content creators as it looks to boost its portfolio and tap advertising revenue opportunities as the battle for user engagement hots up.

At its annual Snap Partner Summit, CEO Evan Spiegel introduced the fourth generation Spectacles smart glasses, which he described as its first to bring AR to life.

The wearable is only available to select developers and content creators, offering the ability to overlay Lenses, Snap’s feature for animated objects, onto the physical world and send their creations to contacts directly.

Spectacles sport dual 3D waveguide displays and a 26.3-degree diagonal field of view, delivering “immersive Lenses experiences” which Spiegel said felt like they are “naturally overlayed” on the world.

The displays adjust to different environments, with brightness of up to 2000nits of brightness.

Spectacles also feature two RGB cameras, four microphones, two stereo speakers and a touchpad controls.

Spiegel explained the smart glasses offer a “multi-sensorial experience that redefines the way we interact with and see the world”.

The device is powered by a new Snap Spatial Engine, with six degrees of freedom, and hand and surface tracking claimed to deliver a realistic representation of digital objects.

Lenses are set to appear quickly and accurately in a person’s field of view through a 15millisecond motion-to-photon latency.

Once started through a phone, the glasses can operate on their own for approximately 30 minutes on a single charge.

Spiegel said Snap aimed to aid creators build and interact with their Lenses in real-time through a full integration with AR platform Lens Studio.

In Q1, the company noted accelerated adoption of AR across its advertisers “out of necessity” due to global Covid-19 (coronavirus) lockdowns.

Its move comes in time of increased rivalry by social media companies to boost original content and incentivise creators on their platforms, including Twitter and Telegram.