SnapChat Spectacles

2016 - 2019

These Spectacles recorded short videos for the Snapchat video sharing platform. Highly successful marketing hype with special vending machines in Los Angeles made Snapchat grossly overestimate demand. When they became available 5 months later, the sunglasses  were no longer cool. Massive piles of Spectacles remain unsold and the company was forced to write down nearly $40 million in costs.

But Snapchat did not give up. In 2019 they launched an updated version of Spectacles. Price: $380.

Additional info:

The Verge - Snap’s first AR Spectacles are an ambitious, impractical start