As Snapchat marks its 14th year, CEO Evan Spiegel has issued a blunt message to staff: 2025 will make or break the company. In a letter to employees, Spiegel called the coming year a “crucible moment” that will determine whether Snap cements its place as a growth company or risks losing momentum against bigger rivals.
His playbook boils down to three fronts—reviving ad revenue, expanding the user base, and betting heavily on consumer hardware.
Push Toward 1 Billion Users and $6B in Sales
Spiegel has set the bar high. By the end of 2025, he wants Snapchat to cross 1 billion monthly active users and generate $6 billion in revenue. The platform is already closing in on those marks—932 million users and a projected $5.5 billion in annual sales—but hitting the next level won’t come easy.
One part of the plan is a sharper focus on mid-sized advertisers, a group Snap has historically underutilized. Early tests of its upgraded ad platform are encouraging: app installs jumped 25%, and unique conversions climbed 18%. Tools like tCPA v2 and the App Power Pack are central to this push, signaling that Snap is doubling down on performance-driven advertising rather than relying solely on big brand campaigns.
AR Glasses: Snap’s Boldest Gamble Yet
Perhaps the most ambitious piece of Spiegel’s roadmap is Snap’s renewed push into augmented reality hardware. The company is aiming to launch its first mainstream AR glasses in 2026.
The next-generation Spectacles are expected to be slimmer, lighter, and far more functional than previous iterations, plugging directly into Snapchat’s already massive AR ecosystem. With more than 400,000 developers building AI-enhanced AR lenses, Snap has a creative base ready to deliver experiences for spatial computing.
The project isn’t happening in isolation either. Partnerships with Niantic, OpenAI, and Google are set to integrate features like AI-driven mapping and advanced lens effects—an ecosystem Spiegel described as a “once-in-a-generation transformation toward human-centered computing.”
The Growth–Profitability Tension
The vision is bold, but the execution is fraught with risk. Snap’s Q2 growth slowed to 4%, a sign of the wider pressures facing mid-sized tech platforms caught between industry giants and fast-moving newcomers.
AR hardware in particular is notoriously expensive to develop and difficult to scale. While Snap has been an early innovator in AR software, it has yet to prove that it can turn hardware into a mass-market product. If the upcoming Specs flop, Snap could find itself with fewer levers to pull on both user engagement and advertiser confidence.
The Bottom Line
Snap is entering 2025 with clear momentum but little room for error. Its future hinges not only on boosting ad efficiency and hitting ambitious user milestones but also on whether it can convince consumers that AR glasses are more than just a futuristic toy. For a company built on reinventing how people communicate visually, the next two years may be its biggest test yet.
