Snapchat

Snap Has Hundreds Of Thousands Of Unsold Spectacles Sitting In Warehouses (Report)

While Snap’s first hardware launch — Spectacles — launched to substantial buzz last year, it turns out that the company may have drastically overestimated demand for the smart sunglasses, which can capture and share photo and video content to the Snapchat app.

According to The Information, which cited two unnamed sources close to the company, there are hundreds of thousands of unsold Spectacles units — including fully assembled devices as well as parts — that are currently sitting in warehouses in China. The report arrives after Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said earlier this month that Spectacles sales had topped 150,000, according to Slate

, exceeding projections of 100,000 units.

While 150,000 sales is a promising number for a debut product — and Spectacles were a hot commodity upon their launch, when the devices were exclusively available via interactive pop-up vending machines called Snapbots — the fact that demand already seems to be fizzling could spell doom, according to Slate. Last month, Snap laid off roughly a dozen staffers amid a leadership shakeup within its hardware division, which is responsible for Spectacles.

Subscribe to get the latest creator news

Subscribe

And the smart sunglasses aren’t the only problem plaguing Snap, which has seen its shares plummet since a high-flying IPO earlier this year. Users of its flagship ephemeral messaging app — including high-profile digital influencers — also appear to be fleeing Snapchat in droves for competitor Instagram, which successfully copied its key Stories feature.

Share
Published by
Geoff Weiss

Recent Posts

Have you heard? Sykkuno’s bad behavior, Mamdani’s Sidetalk inspo, and a Tax Day surprise.

Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends,…

8 hours ago

deviantART says artists made $23 million on its platform last year, boasts that it was “100% right” to embrace generative AI

Back in the very early 2000s, deviantART was a tentpole of digital fandom. All sorts…

9 hours ago

YouTube reshuffles clipping by removing viewer options while bringing Clips to Shorts

YouTube still wants its users to keep things brief, but it's reimagining the tools that…

9 hours ago

Jesser makes moves off the court to turn his sports content empire into a business

A leading creator in the sports category is turning his channels and offline ventures into…

10 hours ago

Reed Hastings leaves Netflix, which says it “really built our M&A muscle” during failed deal with Warner Bros. Discovery

There's just no winning with Netflix shareholders. After it reported 2025's Q4 earnings in January,…

1 day ago

TikTok is turning ByteDance’s AI video generator into a brand’s best friend

As one AI-powered video generator bites the dust, another is being integrated into one of…

1 day ago