The 20 Biggest Tech Product Flops of All Time

Recalls, cancellations, and a few that shipped and should not have. Some names here are still household brands; others vanished inside a year.

1

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

The 2016 flagship recalled worldwide and permanently discontinued after its batteries caught fire.

2

Apple AirPower

Apple's multi-device charging mat, announced in 2017 and cancelled in 2019 before it ever shipped.

3

Google Glass

A $1,500 face-worn computer that made its wearers a punchline and was pulled from consumers in 2015.

4

Microsoft Zune

Microsoft's answer to the iPod, launched in 2006 into a market the iPod had already won.

5

Amazon Fire Phone

Amazon's 2014 smartphone, discounted to 99 cents within months and written off at $170 million.

6

Juicero

A $699 juice press undone when reporters found the packs could be squeezed by hand.

7

Nintendo Virtual Boy

A 1995 red-on-black 3D console that caused headaches and was dropped inside a year.

8

Segway

The self-balancing scooter hyped to reshape cities that instead became mall-security shorthand.

9

Windows Vista

Microsoft's 2007 operating system, so badly received that many buyers paid to downgrade to XP.

10

Apple Newton

The 1993 handheld whose handwriting recognition was mocked in Doonesbury and The Simpsons.

11

HP TouchPad

HP's webOS tablet, killed 49 days after launch in one of the fastest retreats in tech.

12

Nokia N-Gage

A 2003 phone-console hybrid you had to hold sideways against your ear to take a call.

13

Google Stadia

Google's cloud gaming service, shut down in 2023 with refunds issued to every buyer.

14

Microsoft Kin

A social-networking phone pulled from sale roughly six weeks after its 2010 launch.

15

Samsung Galaxy Fold (2019)

The first folding phone, delayed after review units broke within days of going out.

16

MacBook Butterfly Keyboard

The 2015-2019 keyboard whose sticking keys cost Apple a $50 million class-action settlement.

17

Ouya

A $99 Android games console crowdfunded to fame in 2012 and abandoned three years later.

18

Sony Betamax

The technically respected videotape format that lost the living room to VHS.

19

BlackBerry PlayBook

A 2011 tablet that shipped without the email app BlackBerry was famous for.

20

CueCat

A free barcode scanner mailed to millions in 2000 so they could scan magazine ads at home.