Snap's Spiegel says Apple is already helping to grow the Augmented Reality market

The developer of Spectacles for recording Snapchat videos, Evan Spiegel, says that Apple has already been helping his business, and that he expects Apple Glasses to complement devices instead of replacing them.

Speaking to CNBC, Snapchat creator and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has discussed both how he expects Apple to enter the Augmented Reality market and how it has already helped his own firm.

"[Apple is] doing really advanced things with their Metal hardware," he said, "that allow us to run very sophisticated augmented reality lenses. So I think we've seen that their investments in hardware and furthering AR have really helped our business.

He was asked specifically about whether Apple will be a competitor to Spectacles, and whether it's true that Apple intends its Glasses to replace phones.

"Well, I think it's unlikely that these glasses are going to replace phones," he said, "in the same way that people still use desktop computers, they use their laptops and things like that. So I do think they'll be supplementary to those other computing experiences."

Spiegel also said that as well as being aided by Apple's Metal development, Snap has worked with the company directly.

"I'm not sure what Apple's strategy will be but to date we've been really great partners on augmented reality," he continued, "...and I hope we'll continue to partner well with Apple in the future."

Snap first introduced its video-recording Spectacles in 2016. Rather than offering a display, Spectacles contain only a camera, though the depth-sensing capabilities of the latest release enables augmented reality filters to be used.

Apple is currently expected to release an AR headset in 2022, and glasses in 2023.