Snapchat CEO to Deliver Keynote at AWE 2025, Focusing on Boosting XR Presence

The head honcho of Snap Inc., the brains behind Snapchat and the innovative Spectacles AR glasses, is gearing up to take the spotlight at AWE 2025 this June. It’s a much-anticipated appearance, especially as Snap is looking to carve out a bigger niche in the burgeoning XR industry.

Snap is still somewhat of a maverick in the extensive XR community, despite being one of the rare companies offering completely standalone AR glasses right now. This unconventional status partly stems from Snap’s unique direction in the AR realm, differing from its competitors.

While other standalone headsets like Quest, along with PC VR and PSVR 2, are typically designed with gaming at the forefront, Apple’s Vision Pro caters more towards entertainment and productivity. In contrast, Snap’s Spectacles reflect the company’s social-first AR approach. This means they offer experiences that are grounded in real-world locations and can be shared by multiple users within the same space.

Come June, Evan Spiegel, Snap’s CEO and co-founder, will step onto the main stage of AWE 2025—a premier conference in XR’s world—putting a spotlight on Snap’s forward-thinking AR vision and hoping to forge stronger ties within the XR sector. The event will be hosted in Long Beach, California, from June 10th to 12th, expecting a turnout of more than 6,000 attendees, 300 exhibitors, 400 speakers, and an exhibition space sprawling across 150,000 square feet. Those still interested can snag early-bird tickets, with Road to VR readers enjoying a special 20% discount.

Spiegel’s keynote will be bookended by presentations from industry stalwarts like Qualcomm and XREAL, both well-established figures in the conference circuit and the XR realm at large.

Interestingly, Snap’s ambition to craft an AR platform from scratch is a key reason it remains an outsider in the XR space. Not only has Snap developed its own AR glasses, but it’s also created Snap OS, a tailored operating system for the Spectacles. And instead of using widely adopted tools like Unity, developers need to familiarize themselves with Snap’s own Lens Studio to create for their headset—making the transition of existing XR content not as seamless.

Yet this ground-up strategy underscores Snap’s genuine investment in the XR future. In a discussion with Road to VR, Snap’s VP of Hardware, Scott Myers, expressed that Spectacles are envisioned to be more than just a Snapchat extension. The endgame? Spectacles and devices of their ilk might eventually replace the cornerstone of today’s tech – the smartphone. This vision guides the development of Spectacles, ensuring they operate independently of phones or tethered computing units.

“We want people to look up [through their glasses], not down [at their smartphone],” Myers remarked.

Beyond a social and geography-centric AR approach, Snap is laser-focused on making its platform developer-friendly by crafting top-tier tools and constantly refining them with feedback. Myers shared his personal commitment to Spectacles, noting he uses them “nearly every day” to test drive new features and experiences. “We’re learning alongside developers to make development [as seamless as possible],” he mentioned.

For Snap to thrive as major tech companies like Meta, Apple, and Google race to create a pair of mainstream AR glasses, the company will need to play a strategic hand in the coming years.

In our role as the Premier Media Partner of AWE USA 2025, we’re thrilled to offer an exclusive 20% ticket discount to our Road to VR readers, making this unmissable event all the more accessible.