Snap Showcases AR Advances at Web Summit Qatar 2026
Snap Inc. has returned to Web Summit Qatar with an immersive showcase focused on the continued development of augmented reality as a practical tool for digital transformation, creativity, and storytelling across the region. The company’s presence highlights its engagement with the regional digital ecosystem, with an emphasis on real-world applications that influence how culture, art, and heritage are explored through technology.
At the 2026 edition of the summit, attendees are invited to experience an interactive augmented reality environment that traces Snap’s technological evolution. The experience covers mobile augmented reality, machine learning, wearable computing, and generative artificial intelligence, demonstrating how these technologies are now used beyond entertainment and everyday communication. The showcase illustrates how such tools are being applied in practical contexts that support daily activities and broader digital experiences. Drawing on more than a decade of work in augmented reality and a global creator network, the company outlines how the technology has developed into a platform capable of supporting digital transformation at scale, enabling partners to move from early experimentation to wider deployment across applications, wearable devices, and proprietary digital channels.
Usage data shared during the event provides context for this focus. More than 350 million people engage with augmented reality features on Snapchat each day, with a significant majority of users in the region using AR daily. This level of engagement reflects the growing role of augmented reality in self-expression, content discovery, and shared digital interaction. The platform is supported by a global community of hundreds of thousands of creators and developers, who have produced millions of lenses using Lens Studio. Together, these figures illustrate how augmented reality now supports communication, commerce, cultural engagement, and live digital experiences.
The exhibition space at the summit is designed as a guided walk-through experience informed by themes of culture, art, and heritage. Visitors move through a series of connected activations, each presenting a different application of augmented reality. Taken together, these experiences demonstrate how hardware, software, and creative tools can be combined to support practical use cases, positioning augmented reality as a functional component of wider digital transformation efforts.
One section of the experience focuses on cultural storytelling delivered through wearable technology, using Spectacles in collaboration with the National Museum of Qatar. Participants engage with heritage content within a shared spatial environment, showing how wearable augmented reality can offer new approaches to preserving, exploring, and interacting with cultural narratives. The activation builds on earlier collaborative efforts following the opening of Snap’s Qatar office and reflects ongoing engagement with the country’s cultural and creative sectors.
Another part of the journey places visual art at the centre through an interactive augmented-reality mirror inspired by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. Using machine learning, the experience allows visitors to see themselves transformed through artistic effects inspired by modern Arab art. This activation demonstrates how augmented reality can serve as a creative tool, combining technology and artistic practice to foster deeper engagement with contemporary visual culture.
The final element of the showcase is a generative artificial intelligence photobooth focused on heritage themes. Visitors can create personalised digital images set against recognisable cultural landmarks from Qatar. The experience highlights how generative AI can be applied to create individualised digital content while drawing attention to identity, place, and historical context.
In addition to the exhibition activities, Snap is also participating in the conference programme. A keynote session on the main stage examines the company’s development over more than a decade, outlining how its emphasis on presence, authenticity, and human connection has influenced its work in camera-based computing, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. Through its involvement at Web Summit Qatar, Snap continues to contribute to broader discussions on the future of communication and creativity while engaging developers, creators, and institutions exploring new approaches to immersive, culturally relevant digital experiences across the Middle East.
