Amazon has announced it is taking a massive loss on its first smartphones, the Amazon Fire Phone, which failed to resonate with consumers upon its launch this summer.
Following a disappointing quarterly earnings reports, the online retailer turned gadget peddler admitted it would write-off $170m (around £106m) on the device.
The company began selling the phone for $199 (around £120m) with the AT&T network in the United States, but dropped it down to just 99c, following reports it had only sold 35,000 in the first month on sale.
Today, the firm admitted the write down was “primarily related to Fire Phone inventory and supplier commitment costs.”
The device launched in the UK at the end of September, but there are no indications the 4.7-inch Android-based device has fared any better.
Elsewhere, there was little more for Amazon to shout about in its third-quarter financial report with the firm posting $544m (£339m) operating loss despite sales rising by 20 per cent.
The firm doesn’t get into specifics on sales, but did say the new Fire TV box, which launches in the UK soon, was the best selling streaming box on the store. Given that its plastered all over the homepage that should be a given.
Read more: Amazon Fire TV review
Via: Recode
