Snapchat counts a loss of over $50 million on spectacles

Snap Inc's spectacles have a lens capable of recording short videos. Photo / Getty

Snapchat, if you didn't know by now, has been trying to sell "exclusive spectacles".

Unfortunately, it's not been going terrifically well.

The Spectacles themselves are a pair of smart glasses that feature a camera lens capable of recording short video segments, which retail online for £129.99 (NZ$247.32), news.com.au reports.

Snap Inc. released its third quarterly financial report on Tuesday, one which highlighted the disappointing sales from the glasses - a loss of nearly $50 million.

The report states, "these charges are non-reoccurring and not reflective of underlying trends in our business".

Snap's stock dropped nearly 20 per cent hours after the announcement on Tuesday.

In total, the photo sharing app lost approximately $580 million in the quarter.

At Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit in October, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel revealed the sales of the spectacles had reached over 150,000.

That number was more than 100,000 over initial expectations. But the hype quickly subdued.

Snapchat's competition with Facebook reached new heights after the latter introduced its own "Stories" feature, similar to Snapchat's main feature.

The report highlighted Snapchat added 4.5 million users last quarter, just a 3 per cent rise compared with the previous quarter.

In contrast, Facebook-owned Instagram boasted 800 million monthly and 500 million daily active users in September.