Biggest tech flops of the decade revealed – from Facebook fails to fireball smartphones

AS we're about to enter a new decade it's likely you bought the device you're reading this on within the last 10 years.

The 2010's have seen some amazing tech innovations but they also saw a fair few flops and we've rounded up some of the most epic fails below.

Facebook Portal

Timing was a major issue for Facebook's video chat smart screens designed to rival the Amazon Echo smart speakers and enable you to video chat with friends from the comfort of your home.

When the world first became aware of Facebook Portal back in 2018, the reveal came at the same time as the outing of numerous Facebook scandals including the huge Cambridge Analytica breach.

With CEO Mark Zuckerberg having to testify in US Congress over security and privacy concerns, no-one really wanted a Facebook camera and microphone in their home.

Supply chain sources spoke of sales but with new advertising featuring Kim Kardashian the social media giant may have a chance of pulling back interest in the next decade.

Wearables no-one wanted to wear

Google Glass is often considered as an iconic tech fail.

The smart glasses, which went on mass sale in 2014, received a great deal of criticism about their design and also privacy concerns.

Snapchat's Snap Spectacles, released in 2016, also weren't as successful as expected.

The video-recording glasses were surrounded in hype but didn't end up selling very well.

Another wearable flop was the Microsoft Band, a fitness tracker released in 2014 that just couldn't compete.

Smartphone disasters

You may have started the decade using a Blackberry but the popularity of those smartphones and BBM now seems like a lifetime ago.

When the iPhone was released in 2007, Blackberry was still going strong but as we entered the 2010's Apple's iOS became superior and the android phone brand couldn't really compete.

One thing that can be said for Blackberry is at least it won't be known for smartphones that burst into flames.

That unfortunate title was given to Samsung after the 2016 Galaxy Note 7 had several exploding battery issues.

The Samsung Galaxy Fold became a more recent disaster when the bendable screen of the device broke easily and the phones had to be recalled and redesigned.

Another huge flop was the 2014 Amazon Fire phone, which you may not even remember because it was just not that popular.

Hoverboards

There seemed to be a time in the middle of the past decade when everyone was getting hoverboards for Christmas.

However, the hard to balance devices began to loose popularity when there were multiple reports of them setting on fire.

Tragically, they were even listed as responsible for house fires and deaths.

In other news, we got hands on with the new Motorola Razr that will be coming out in 2020.

Samsung is also bringing back the flip phone with a bonkers new foldable mobile, leaked photos reveal.

And, here's some handy iPhone tricks that can help you text much faster.

What's your favourite piece of tech from the past decade? Let us know in the comments...

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