Snapchat has reportedly hired a secret team of hardware experts to build new smart glasses. The social media startup is quietly developing a device and has almost a dozen wearable tech gurus on its payroll. Their LinkedIn profiles show that Snapchat's employees now include designers who worked on Logitech's UE Boom Bluetooth speaker and Nokia phones    

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It is unclear why Snapchat would develop a pair of smart glasses. However, one virtual reality expert explained that apps tend to have a short lifespan and money-making potential, according to CNET.

More tech giants are starting to invest in virtual reality gadgets and include Facebook purchasing Oculus VR for $2 billion in 2014.  

During that year Snapchat also bought the startup company Vergence Labs. It manufactures Google Glass-like smart glasses called Epiphany Eyewear that record video of the wearer's vision.

Almost half of the dozen former Vergence employees with LinkedIn profiles are left. They include the co-founder and product designers.  

In February 2015 Snapchat also started to create Snapchat Research. The tech team includes more than a dozen software engineers and scientists who specialize in machine learning and computer vision.

Such tech is used for headsets including Microsoft's augmented reality/virtual reality HoloLens that uses computer vision to scan the user's environment. Tech giants including Google and Facebook also use the tech. For example, artificial intelligence (AI) is used for object/face recognition for photo sharing.

Since its 2011 launch Snapchat has become a photo-sharing and video-streaming giant whose users view more than 8 billion videos per day. That matches Facebook's daily video views reported in November 2015.  

Smart glasses would let Snapchat app users instantly capture photos and videos. It would build on the company's patented method of tapping the mobile app's shutter button to take a photograph, or holding it down to record a video.

However, smart glasses would end the need for Snapchat users to snap a picture or record a video. It could thus boost the app's number of active users.

In other Snapchat news last month the company launched new selfie lenses available with the newest version of the mobile app, according to Daily Dot. When snapping a selfie the new feature scans a face to calculate where to put the filter.  

Here's a report on Google Glass 2: