The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2022-2024
Snap's selfie drone flopped in months — then its battery got recalled
Snap pulled its Pixy selfie drone from sale months after launch during an ad slump, then recalled all 71,000 of its lithium-ion batteries for catching fire.
Snap Inc. · 2024-02-01
What happened
Snap launched the Pixy flying camera in April 2022, a small selfie drone meant to follow users and film short clips for Snapchat. It sold online at Pixy.com and Amazon for $185 to $250, but Snap discontinued sales just months later, in late 2022, as a broader advertising slump forced the company to cut costs.
On February 1, 2024, Snap and the CPSC recalled the roughly 71,000 rechargeable lithium-ion batteries sold with Pixy drones, after four reports of batteries overheating and bulging — one resulting in a minor fire and a minor injury. Owners were told to stop using and stop charging the batteries immediately.
Snap offered refunds of $185 to $250 for the flight-pack bundle, $40 to $50 for charger-and-battery combos, and $16 to $20 for spare batteries — a recall on a product that had already been off the market for more than a year, closing out the hardware line entirely.
Why it happened
- Pixy's battery fire risk wasn't caught before the drone shipped, and it surfaced only after the product itself had already failed commercially and been pulled from sale.
- Snap's Pixy bet was a hardware push during an ad-revenue slump that couldn't sustain even a modest accessory line, and the recall closed out a product that had already lost the company's attention.
The lesson
A recall on a product already off the market for a year isn't a correction — it's a final bill on a bet the company had already written off.
Aftermath
Snap did not revive Pixy or announce a replacement hardware product; the recall closed out the company's only consumer drone. Refunds were processed through Snap's dedicated recall support line.
Sources
- Forbes — Snap Recalls 71,000 Drones After Lithium Ion Batteries Create Fire Hazard
- CPSC — Snap Recalls Lithium-Ion Battery Sold for Pixy Flying Cameras Due to Fire Hazard
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