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How to use Snapchat Memories
How to use Snapchat Memories
Snapchat wants you to hold on to your photos and videos for a little while longer.
The new Memories feature is a searchable and shareable archive of snaps that you can access within the app. Memories backs up snaps to Snapchat's servers and automatically pulls together saved snaps into categories based on location. But you can also search on a keyword, such as food.
How do I get Memories?
Snapchat's new Memories feature has tabs along the top to divide up snaps and stories.
Screenshot by Lexy Savvides/CNET
The first step is to update the Snapchat app for iOS or Android. The Memories feature is rolling out progressively to users over the next month. When the new feature is available for your account, you'll receive a snap from Team Snapchat.
Snapchat's main camera interface now has an extra icon underneath the camera button. Swipe it up to access Memories.
Memories has a series of tabs that let you switch between viewing snaps, stories and the contents of your camera roll.
Making Memories
To make a new memory, create a snap as usual with all the filters and stickers you desire. Then, tap the Save icon like you normally would to download the snap to your camera roll or gallery. Rather than saving to the roll, however, the snap will save to the Memories section.
To create a story from snaps within the Memories section, press and hold on an individual snap, then tap "My Snap" at the top of the screen. From here, tap "Create story from this snap" and select any additional snaps you want to include. Now you can save or send this snap to friends or to the My Story section as you would normally.
Note that if you post a snap to a story that was taken earlier than the past 24 hours, it will have a frame around it with the timestamp.
If you want to import snaps from your camera roll or gallery, go to Snapchat's settings and find Memories. Select "Import Snaps from Camera Roll."
Note that this will only surface actual Snapchats you have previously saved to your phone -- not photos taken with the regular camera app.
For My Eyes Only
Don't want those eggplant photos visible in your Memories section when you pass your phone around? Add them to a section called My Eyes Only.
Press and hold on the snap, tap My Snap, and select "Move to My Eyes Only." Snapchat will prompt you for a passcode or passphrase. Once you've set this up, a new tab will appear within Memories that contains these less-than-salubrious snaps for your private viewing pleasure.
So what's backed up?
Any snap you save in your Memories section is saved to Snapchat's servers, so if you log in on another device these snaps are available.
It's important to note that even though you have access to your camera roll or gallery within Memories, these photos and videos are not being backed up on Snapchat's servers.
What if I don't want to use Memories?
Within the Snapchat settings, navigate to the Memories section and find the Saving section. Tap "Save To..." and select "Camera Roll Only." This section also lets you automatically save stories to Memories or set to My Eyes Only by default.
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How to use Snapchat Memories
How to use Snapchat Memories
Snapchat wants you to hold on to your photos and videos for a little while longer.
The new Memories feature is a searchable and shareable archive of snaps that you can access within the app. Memories backs up snaps to Snapchat's servers and automatically pulls together saved snaps into categories based on location. But you can also search on a keyword, such as food.
How do I get Memories?
Snapchat's new Memories feature has tabs along the top to divide up snaps and stories.
Screenshot by Lexy Savvides/CNET
The first step is to update the Snapchat app for iOS or Android. The Memories feature is rolling out progressively to users over the next month. When the new feature is available for your account, you'll receive a snap from Team Snapchat.
Snapchat's main camera interface now has an extra icon underneath the camera button. Swipe it up to access Memories.
Memories has a series of tabs that let you switch between viewing snaps, stories and the contents of your camera roll.
Making Memories
To make a new memory, create a snap as usual with all the filters and stickers you desire. Then, tap the Save icon like you normally would to download the snap to your camera roll or gallery. Rather than saving to the roll, however, the snap will save to the Memories section.
To create a story from snaps within the Memories section, press and hold on an individual snap, then tap "My Snap" at the top of the screen. From here, tap "Create story from this snap" and select any additional snaps you want to include. Now you can save or send this snap to friends or to the My Story section as you would normally.
Note that if you post a snap to a story that was taken earlier than the past 24 hours, it will have a frame around it with the timestamp.
If you want to import snaps from your camera roll or gallery, go to Snapchat's settings and find Memories. Select "Import Snaps from Camera Roll."
Note that this will only surface actual Snapchats you have previously saved to your phone -- not photos taken with the regular camera app.
For My Eyes Only
Don't want those eggplant photos visible in your Memories section when you pass your phone around? Add them to a section called My Eyes Only.
Press and hold on the snap, tap My Snap, and select "Move to My Eyes Only." Snapchat will prompt you for a passcode or passphrase. Once you've set this up, a new tab will appear within Memories that contains these less-than-salubrious snaps for your private viewing pleasure.
So what's backed up?
Any snap you save in your Memories section is saved to Snapchat's servers, so if you log in on another device these snaps are available.
It's important to note that even though you have access to your camera roll or gallery within Memories, these photos and videos are not being backed up on Snapchat's servers.
What if I don't want to use Memories?
Within the Snapchat settings, navigate to the Memories section and find the Saving section. Tap "Save To..." and select "Camera Roll Only." This section also lets you automatically save stories to Memories or set to My Eyes Only by default.
It's no secret Snapchat is confusing to use. In fact, when Snap, the social media app's parent company, released its IPO filing documents earlier this month, the app's confusing user interface was listed as one of the risk factors for investors.
Lo and behold, on Friday, Snap released the user manual many bewildered Snapchatters (or their parents) have been asking for. It came in the form of a video, labeled "Snapchat Product Overview," in its "roadshow" materials -- the stuff it uses to convince potential investors to buy in.
"Making a Snap is simple," a friendly-voiced narrator says in the video as he takes more than eight and a half minutes to explain the app.
Among the things the video covers: how to record a video, how to use lenses and how to use a geofilter.
Watch the whole thing here.
CNET Magazine: Check out a sampling of the stories you'll find in CNET's newsstand edition.
Batteries Not Included: The CNET team shares experiences that remind us why tech stuff is cool.
Snapchat Spectacles, glasses with a camera, coming this fall
Snapchat Spectacles, glasses with a camera, coming this fall
The camera built into Snapchat's "Spectacles" lets you shoot video that shows the world from your point of view.
Spectacles.com
Like to view the world through Snapchat-colored glasses? You'll soon be able to do that for real.
The millennial-friendly messaging service plus social network plus video hub is set to release "Spectacles," its own smart glasses. The specs shoot first-person video clips, or Snaps, that you can transfer directly to the Snapchat app.
The company, which has also renamed itself Snap Inc. to reflect its expansion into consumer hardware, touted the new product Saturday by way of a fashion-friendly website called, appropriately enough, Spectacles.com. It also posted a statement on the new site Snap.com.
"We've created one of the smallest wireless video cameras in the world," the post says, "capable of taking a day's worth of Snaps on a single charge, and we integrated it seamlessly into a fun pair of sunglasses."
Both sites say the specs will arrive "soon." In an article published late Friday by The Wall Street Journal, Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel said the glasses would be available in the fall.
The move is the latest in the continuous effort by tech companies to see into the future and stake out new territory as they jostle for customers and try to keep each other at bay.
Social-media juggernaut Facebook failed to acquire Snapchat three years ago and has watched as the upstart and its video Snaps (until now shot only with smartphones) have seized the imagination of the younger crowd. That's one of the reasons -- along with live-streaming products like Twitter's Periscope -- behind Facebook's strong move into video with its Facebook Live feature. Among other things, the Spectacles product adds another element to the video equation.
Snapchat's $130 camera-toting glasses will come in three colors: coral, teal and black.
Spectacles.com
The specs can record up to 10 seconds of video from the wearer's perspective. Each tap of a button mounted on the frames records another clip, while a ring of tiny lights lets people know you're recording. The camera-glasses use a 115-degree-angle lens that resembles the human eye's natural field of view, the Journal said.
"Spectacles connect directly to Snapchat via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and transfer your Memories directly into the app in our brand new circular video format [which] plays full screen on any device, in any orientation," Snap Inc. said on its site.
The glasses, which can be recharged in their case, will come in one size and be available on a limited basis. They'll come in three colors -- black, teal and coral -- and, according to the Journal, will cost $129.99 (roughly £100, AU$170).
"We're going to take a slow approach to rolling them out," Spiegel told the paper. "It's about us figuring out if it fits into people's lives and seeing how they like it."
A video ad on the Spectacles site shows a posse of happy millennials enjoying an endless summer to a Beach Boys-y soundtrack -- all while storing up the good vibes via clips shot with the specs.
"Imagine one of your favorite memories," the Snap.com post reads. "What if you could go back and see that memory the way you experienced it?"
The unveiling of the product confirms speculation that followed the leak of a different ad for the glasses, obtained by Business Insider on Friday from a YouTube tipster. It also follows plenty of scuttlebutt about the project.
In 2014, Snapchat bought Vergence Labs, a startup that makes Google Glass-like eyewear that records video of what the wearer sees. In 2015, Snapchat began building Snapchat Research, a team composed of scientists and software engineers specializing in computer vision and machine learning.
In March, CNET's Sean Hollister reported that Snapchat was recruiting hardware experts for a stealthy new project. The social-media firm has never produced physical gear, unless you count merchandise like beach towels and backpacks. It does, however, already count nearly a dozen wearable-technology vets among its ranks.
In addition, Spiegel had been spotted in public wearing prototypes specs.
On any given day, Snapchat reaches 41 percent of all 18- to 34-year-olds in the United States, according to the company.
That's a lot of young consumers that could sport new specs.
First published, September 23, 5:45 p.m. PT. Update, 8:15 p.m.: Adds information on Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel's confirmation of Spectacles. Update, September 24, 9:22 a.m., 12:38 p.m.: Recasts top of story, with material from Snap.com and Spectacles.com websites.
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Snapchat's emoji pins are crazy fun. Here's how to use them
Snapchat's emoji pins are crazy fun. Here's how to use them
Snapchat sensed you might be getting bored with swapping faces, so you can now stick emojis on moving objects in your Snapchat videos instead.
You've always been able to add emojis to your photo or video snaps, but now those emojis can move along with whatever face -- or thing -- you tie it to.
The end result makes something like this possible:
Fun, right? As you can see with the taco emojis (below), the emoji pins don't have to cover the selected object -- they can move around it too.
How to use Snapchat's emoji pin feature
To pin an emoji in Snapchat, record a video, ideally one that focuses on a moving object. It could be someone dancing or a dog running around (see above). Once you're happy with the video, tap the emoji icon at the top of the preview screen and select the one you want to use.
Twitter user @NoPattern used the new feature to fill his world with emoji tacos.
Twitter user @NoPattern.
I suggest re-sizing the emoji at this point. Once you pin it, it's harder to re-size it without having to re-pin. Next, long press on the emoji until the video pauses. Drag the emoji to the item you want it to follow. Snapchat will reload the video, and the emoji should follow along.
In testing, it's taken me a few tries to get Snapchat's tracking feature to work properly. I captured another video which started with my dog further away, but Snapchat couldn't track him until he got much closer. The new feature is easiest to use on videos that feature objects moving closer to the camera.
While you're learning new Snapchat features, read about the five hidden features that every Snapchat user needs to try.
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Snapchat's Time Machine AR lens creepily shows what you'll look like old
Snapchat's Time Machine AR lens creepily shows what you'll look like old
So far this year, we've been introduced to popular photo filters like Snapchat'sgender-swapping filter and the FaceApp challenge that makes you look super young or gives you wrinkles you're not ready to see. Now Snapchat has come out with Time Machine, a new filter that lets you swipe left and right to watch yourself age from a child to an adult, and finally to an older and grayer version of yourself.
Unlike the FaceApp challenge I tried, I don't see as many wrinkles as I "age" with this new Snapchat filter -- but I did get white hair, a wider face and saggy skin (ugh!). Somewhere in the middle of the aging timeline seems to be the best look for me.
Snapchat released the new filter earlier this week, so if you don't see it yet, you may need to update the app. Here's how to use it.
Katie Conner/CNET
1. Open the Snapchat app on your phone.
2. The camera screen should be the first to open, but if not, tap the bottom circle to launch the camera.
3. Select the smiley face icon.
4. Make sure the camera is facing you by tapping the rectangular arrows in the top right corner.
5. Multiple filters will appear, but the Time Machine filter will be one of the first options, so select that one. It's purple has a baby face and an older face in the icon.
6. Use the slider at the bottom of the screen to change the appearance of your age.
7. You can either snap one picture or you can record yourself as you go through an entire life cycle.
Now you can send your age timeline to all of your friends and family (and see if you'll look more like Mom or Dad in the future). You can also save your photo or video by pressing the arrow in the lower-left corner to save it to your photo album. Then you can upload it to Facebook or Instagram.
Want more filters to try out on yourself? Check out how to do the gender-face-swap and how to do the FaceApp challenge to make yourself look older.
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Snap Unveils Pixy, a $230 Pocket-Size Flying Camera Drone
Snap Unveils Pixy, a $230 Pocket-Size Flying Camera Drone
What's happening
Snap unveiled Pixy, a $230 pocket-size flying camera drone that can follow you around.
Why it matters
It's another example of how social media companies are getting more serious about releasing consumer hardware.
What's next
Pixy goes on sale Thursday in the US and France.
Snapchat has a new way for people to capture photos and videos: a flying camera drone called Pixy that fits in the palm of your hand.
The drone goes on sale Thursday on Pixy.com in the US and France, with the price starting at $230. Snap said drones pre-ordered will start to arrive by the end of May. Photos and videos captured on the drone will get downloaded into Snapchat Memories, where users are able to store content for later use.
Pixy is another example of social media companies experimenting with consumer hardware products. Though Snapchat parent company Snap is known for the ephemeral-messaging app, Snap calls itself a camera company. Last year, Snap unveiled its latest pair of Spectacles, AR glasses that let creators overlay digital images onto their view of the real world. There have been rumors for years that Snap has been working on a selfie drone.
Snap unveiled Pixy at its fourth annual Partner Summit, an event the company is streaming online on Thursday.
To use the drone, people press a button and select one of several flight paths: hover, orbit, reveal, favorite and follow. If you select follow, for example, Pixy will follow you around as you go on a hike or walk around a city. Pixy will automatically take photos and videos during flight, but users can program Pixy to only take only videos. The drone will float in the air and capture images before flying back to the palm of your hand.
"Pixy is ready to fly at a moment's notice. There are no controllers. There's no complex setup. Simply set a flight path and let Pixy take it from there," Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said in his keynote remarks, which was viewed by CNET before the conference.
Snap will have to convince its users to capture photos and videos on a product that hasn't become mainstream yet. There are products similar to Pixy for purchase that are also cheaper, such as Air Neo from AirSelfie, which costs $150, and more expensive drone cameras made by DJI.
A Snapchat spokesperson said there are two flight packs available to buy online. The base flight pack costs $230 and comes with a bumper strap to carry the drone, a charging cord and a battery. There's also a bundled flight pack that costs $250 that includes everything in the base pack but also includes additional rechargeable batteries and a charger.
A battery costs $20 and a charger costs $50. The guide for Pixy doesn't say how much time the battery lasts, but it says it will allow you to capture content over five to eight flights. With 16GB of flash storage, Pixy can store up to 1,000 photos or up to 100 videos. The product is lightweight at 101 grams. Video is shot at 2.7K and the camera is 12 megapixels.
Videos shot on Pixy don't capture sound, but users will be able to edit the footage on Snapchat to include music, a voice-over and other effects.
Pixy also isn't water resistant and might not be able to complete its flight paths if there's too much wind. People are also advised to avoid using the drone over water, near highly reflective surfaces or where there's an abrupt change in elevation, such as a cliff or balcony.
Snapchat has more than 600 million monthly users and more than 330 million daily active users worldwide, the company said.
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Snapchat takes on TikTok with Spotlight feature
Snapchat takes on TikTok with Spotlight feature
Snapchat on Monday launched a new in-app feature called Spotlight to highlight videos on the messaging app. Spotlight positions Snapchat to compete with other social video apps and features like TikTok and Instagram Reels (which was also created to compete with TikTok).
"We built Spotlight to be a place where anyone's content can take center stage -- without needing a public account, or an influencer following," Snap said Monday in a blog post. "It's a fair and fun place for Snapchatters to share their best Snaps and see perspectives from across the Snapchat community."
Snaps submitted to Spotlight must be vertical videos that are up to 60 seconds long -- no still-image photos or horizontal videos allowed -- and adhere to the messaging app's Community Guidelines. Snap said Spotlight is meant to be a fun, positive experience and isn't a place for news or "overtly political" content. The 30-second video released to announce Spotlight includes short videos that look exactly like TikTok videos.
To kick off the new feature, Snap says it'll distribute $1 million every day among top creators who submit videos to Spotlight. The reward program will run through at least the end of 2020, Snap said.
Spotlight is available in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and France, with more countries "coming soon," said Snap.
See also: How an ordinary 16-year-old came to dominate TikTok
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Amazon uses Snapchat to send exclusive deals
Amazon uses Snapchat to send exclusive deals
Amazon uses Instagram to promote its new Snapchat account. Screenshot by Donna Tam/CNET
Snap up these deals before they're gone in 10 seconds. Literally.
Amazon, the world's largest online retailer by revenue, hopes to boost sales with a new take on social shopping -- using a Snapchat account to send gift ideas, recommendations and exclusive deals that disappear in seconds. The company will send out its first "snap" on Thursday.
The account -- announced Wednesday alongside a new Instagram feed for its site and an early kickoff for Black Friday deals -- is Amazon's latest effort to grab the attention of shoppers glued to social networks on their smartphones and tablets. The company in May created a hashtag for Twitter that would let people put products in their Amazon shopping cart just by responding to a tweet.
The new Instagram feed encourages users to buy items posted to Amazon's profile. A click on the product image sends the user straight to the product page.
All about mobile
Half of Amazon's customers shopped from a mobile device during last year's holiday season, according to John Yurcisin, Amazon's director of social.
The online retailer knows it has to keep up with consumers' constantly growing presence on social media, Yurcisin said. And that's where Instagram and Snapchat come in.
"Instagram and Snapchat are the two of the fastest growing mobile social networks where people are engaging and interacting with each other in entirely new ways," Yurcisin said.
Instagram attracts roughly 40 million unique users who access the site only from their mobile devices, according to a May report from ComScore. Snapchat, which is only accessible through a mobile app, has 21.7 million users.
Both have rapidly growing mobile audiences, according to the report, with Instagram increasing its mobile users by 45 percent since last year.
Amazon is trying to tap into that trend by reaching out to social media followers.
Despite their potential for boosting sales, it's still too early to predict which social media services will have the greatest impact on consumers' buying habits, said Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru-Kodali.
The race to build AR glasses is heating up, and Samsung is surprisingly quiet
The race to build AR glasses is heating up, and Samsung is surprisingly quiet
It's only January, but 2022 is already shaping up to be a big year for augmented and virtual reality. It was one of the most prevalent themes at CES, which featured AR and VR announcements from Sony, Microsoft and Qualcomm (among others). Apple is also rumored to finally make its anticipated move into the smart headset space this or next year.
Yet, one company has been unusually quiet on the AR and VR front in recent years: Samsung.
The South Korean tech giant made a name for itself early on primarily through its line of Gear VR smartphone-based headsets, which launched in 2014. But companies like Meta, Microsoft and Snap have made bigger strides in the past couple of years.
Samsung has a reputation for experimenting with new technologies early and often, typically before other major competitors like Apple. Its decision to enter the Android smartphone market early -- more than a decade ago -- also helped it become the world's largest mobile device maker in terms of market share. That makes Samsung's relative absence from the smart glasses discourse all the more puzzling.
Smart glasses and VR are moving forward... without Samsung
Although it will likely be a long time before smart glasses become useful enough to earn a place in our everyday lives, the industry seems eager to get there. This year kicked off with a slew of announcements at CES, which included a partnership between Microsoft and Qualcomm to make custom chips for AR glasses and a glasses concept from TCL that look like an evolved version of Google Glass. Sony also teased the second-generation PlayStation VR, although it didn't reveal a price or launch date.
We also saw some pretty significant developments in the AR and VR space throughout 2021, perhaps the biggest of which was Facebook's rebranding as Meta. The change reflects its larger goal to expand beyond social networking and focus on building the "metaverse," a blanket term for digital communities which also encompasses AR and VR.
Meta announced its Project Nazaré concept AR smart glasses last year, too, and released its first pair of connected spectacles: Ray-Ban Stories. Those shades don't have AR functionality and are designed primarily for taking hands-free photos, but they could still be a step toward future smart glasses.
Meta is also currently leading the VR market thanks to its popular Oculus VR line. The company accounts for almost 75% of the market for AR and VR headsets, according to the International Data Corporation.
Snapchat parent Snap also debuted in 2021 its first wireless AR spectacles, which can display 3D effects over real surroundings and track hand movements. These glasses aren't available for the general public without an application and are primarily aimed at developers. But Snap has already released three generations of its photo-taking Snapchat Spectacles, a signal that it's serious about wearable tech.
Microsoft, meanwhile, was one of the early players in the AR and VR market with its first HoloLens AR headset back in 2015. It launched the second-generation model in 2019 and added 5G support in 2020.
Apple hasn't released VR or AR eyewear yet, but rumors that it could launch a headset this year are already making waves. The iPhone maker is expected to announce an AR and VR-capable headset mostly geared towards developers in 2022, which could lay the groundwork for a more ambitious pair of consumer-friendly AR glasses in the future, according to Bloomberg. But Apple may delay the headset's debut by several months because of development issues, possibly pushing it to 2023, according to a more recent Bloomberg report.
While we don't know when or if we'll ever see an Apple AR headset, CEO Tim Cook has been vocal about his enthusiasm for augmented reality. He told journalist Kara Swisher in April 2021 that he's seeing AR "take off" when used with phones and that the technology is critical to the company's future. The company has long offered tools for developers to build better AR apps for the iPhone in its ARKit platform, but it recently started building depth-sensing Lidar sensors into certain iPhone and iPad Pro models, too.
Snapchat's AR Spectacles are compact, but they're entirely developer-focused and have a very short battery life.
Scott Stein/CNET
Samsung, meanwhile, hasn't released a new version of its Gear VR headset since 2017. But that doesn't mean it's been completely quiet; the company is seemingly focusing on different executions of AR. At CES 2022, for example, one Samsung concept showed how AR could be incorporated into a car's windshield to display the weather, tire pressure levels, maps and other information. The company also worked with the 3D avatar and social app Zepeto to create a virtual home filled with its products during CES, an effort to prove it's paying attention to the metaverse hype.
Meanwhile, an older Samsung concept from CES 2020 involved pairing AR glasses with an exoskeleton to provide virtual workout experiences. And back in 2017, it showcased a computer glasses concept called Monitorless at Mobile World Congress.
Still, it's been a while since Samsung has made announcements around concrete AR or VR products, while companies like Meta and Snap are moving full steam ahead. But that doesn't mean Samsung isn't thinking about it. Two leaked videos from 2021 suggested Samsung is working on a pair of AR glasses that could project a giant screen before your eyes or place 3D virtual objects in your surroundings.
Samsung said its research team "continues to develop related core technologies for smart devices including AR glasses, next-generation wearables and more" when CNET asked about its plans for AR and VR products. The company also pointed to the website for Samsung's research division, which mentions AR glasses specifically and discusses the technology's potential benefits and industrywide challenges.
"AR glasses are expected by many experts as a next-generation IT device because they have the advantages of large-screen immersiveness compared to smartphones, unfettered freedom of not having to hold it, immediacy of not having to take it out of one's pocket, and a truly private display," Samsung Research's website reads.
Being early has worked to Samsung's advantage
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 has nearly all the refinements you could ask for but still feel like it's missing a purpose.
Patrick Holland/CNET
Samsung isn't usually one to sit on the sidelines when it comes to emerging technologies. It launched its first modern smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, back in 2013 when the industry was still new and wearables were scarce. Apple didn't launch the first-generation Apple Watch until 2015, by comparison.
The story is similar for other technologies like curved screens and foldable smartphones. Samsung announced the Galaxy Round in 2013, which had dramatic curves along its sides, long before it integrated rounded edges into its more recent Galaxy phones.
Samsung was also among the first major companies to release a smartphone with a foldable screen in 2019 with the Galaxy Z Fold, a phone that's already on its third generation. Years before we had the Galaxy Z Fold or Galaxy Z Flip, Samsung also showcased its flexible display technology prototypes during events. It's still cranking out new concepts, as we saw at CES 2022.
The rest of the industry hasn't quite caught up with Samsung when it comes to foldable phones. Motorola, for example, has launched two versions of its foldable Razr, the last of which debuted in 2020, while Samsung has already released several foldables. Huawei, another early front-runner in the foldable space, only sells its flexible Mate X2 phone in China. Samsung, meanwhile, said it sold four times as many foldable phones in 2021 as it did in 2020.
Being early is a strategy that's paid off for Samsung in the broader smartphone space beyond foldables and in the smartwatch market. Samsung is the global leader in smartphone shipments, according to Counterpoint Research, and the second-largest player in the wearable device market, says the International Data Corporation.
Showing up early has also given Samsung the flexibility to experiment, see what customers respond to and incorporate that feedback into future products. Take the Galaxy Round, Samsung's curved screen phone from 2013, as an example. That phone never caught on, but maybe it wasn't supposed to.
Instead, the Galaxy Round helped pave the way for Samsung's later phone designs with more subtle curves, like the Galaxy S10 series. Samsung's early bet on larger-screened smartphones with the original Galaxy Note in 2011 not only influenced its own direction, but also helped usher in an industry-wide shift to bigger phones. And who knows if we would have the Galaxy Watch 4 without the original Galaxy Gear, which was deemed clunky and expensive nearly 10 years ago.
Smart glasses still face many challenges
Amazon is also trying its hand at smart glasses with the Echo Frames, which provide hands-free Alexa access.
James Martin/CNET
That we haven't heard much from Samsung on the smart glasses front makes me wonder if it'll skip that experimental phase and keep its earlier iterations behind closed doors. Of course, that's if Samsung is working on smart glasses at all, which is a big assumption.
And more broadly, smart glasses face challenges that must be solved before they can become as mainstream as smartphones or smartwatches. Those include improving battery life, phone compatibility and working easily with eyeglass prescriptions.
Does Samsung want to risk entering the market early, or wait out what could be a years-long process? Or could they launch simpler glasses in the meantime, similar to audio glasses from Amazon and Bose? Samsung is clearly thinking about some of these questions, as it says on its research website. What we don't know is when those efforts will materialize into a real product, if at all.
Who knows how long Samsung can afford to wait when companies like Meta and Microsoft are pushing forward. Those tech giants missed out on the smartphone boom for the most part and are seemingly determined to prevent the smart glasses market from becoming yet another two-horse race between Apple and Samsung. But the AR glasses landscape is still conspicuously missing some of the biggest players in the consumer tech space -- Samsung being one of them -- and that absence looms large.
