Snapchat Fuels Speculation It Has An Augmented Reality Device In The Works

Snapchat recently joined the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), which raises the question as to why a social media platform would join the body that oversees the development of Bluetooth standards.

Tech Crunch noted that membership within SIG is mandatory for any company that wishes to employ Bluetooth technology in a hardware device. In fact, the sole reason for any company to be part of the group is if they plan on launching a wireless device.

Tech Crunch also cited a report from Financial Times, which suggested Snapchat is even considering a jump into the augmented reality hardware space, as evidenced by its acquisition of an augmented reality headset startup called Vergence Lab.

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Snapchat has also hired and acquired entities heavily involved in computer vision and augmented reality software. Chatter surfaced earlier this year that Snapchat is working on a pair of smart glasses.

An expansion into the augmented reality hardware could make sense for Snapchat. The social media platform is considering to be "one of the most successful existing examples" of consumer augmented reality features through the use of image filters, which can even be applied to live video segments that are captured on a smartphone.

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