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Snap has struggled to make money from its Spectacles business,
and wrote down $40 million in unsold glasses in 2017.
Production will be smaller for its new Spectacles 3 version,
allowing Snap to continue experimenting with augmented reality,
a key focus for the technology company.
Spectacles 3, which will begin shipping in the fall, will cost
$380, almost twice the $200 cost of the previous version.
It will have dual cameras to add depth and dimension to photos
and videos. After uploading the content to the messaging app
Snapchat, users can add new lighting, landscapes and
three-dimensional effects to the images, Snap said.
Snap gained fame among users in part through its augmented
reality (AR) features, including lenses that can overlay effects
like dog ears on photos, or even change a user's gender in Snap
images.
The company added 13 million users in the second quarter, of
which 7 million to 9 million were from the new AR lenses, Snap
said.
Last week, Snap said it would raise $1.1 billion in debt to fund
further investments in AR, content and possible acquisitions.
Snap should focus on earning more money from its content, and
could potentially make investments in music, "a natural thing
for people to share" on social media, said Jim McVeigh, founder
of Cyndx, an investment search platform that connects companies
with firms seeking to be acquired or to raise capital.
(Reporting by Sheila Dang; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Paul
Simao)
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