When I first found out that Snapchat's newest Spectacles would cost $380 — $220 more than the previous model — I was surprised. Initial hype around the first Spectacles model in 2016 led the company to order 800,000 units, resulting in $40 million worth of unsold inventory. By any measure, Spectacles were a flop.
This time around, Snapchat only planned to make around 24,000 units of Spectacles 3, according to Cheddar. Morris, Spectacles' design lead, told Business Insider that Spectacles 3 are an "iterative approach" toward a future with widely adopted AR wearables.
That future, according to Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, is still 10 years away.