The Biggest Phone Flops Of All Time

When the HTC Thunderbolt was unveiled in 2011, HTC was widely regarded as one of the best makers of Android smartphones, but the Thunderbolt did a lot to shatter that reputation. Upon its release, it was billed as being ahead of the pack, as it was one of the first handsets to offer 4G connectivity in the U.S. (via CNET). SlashGear’s Thunderbolt review confirmed that it was indeed a lot faster in terms of its upload speed and download speed than anything else on the market, but there were several glaring issues that overshadowed this achievement. Firstly, the phone’s battery life was atrocious, with SlashGear’s reviewer only able to get a mere three and a half hours of use on a full charge.

Then, there was the faulty front camera, rendered effectively useless due to its inability to be recognized by anything other than HTC’s own camera app. Skype, the most popular video calling app at the time, wouldn’t recognize either the front or the rear camera, making it impossible to use on the Thunderbolt. There were also problems with the phone rebooting, a lack of software updates, and no support for popular streaming apps like Hulu and Netflix (via GottaBe Mobile). Early adopters of the phone assumed these were just teething troubles and that fixes would be on the way shortly, but months later, these fixes never came. The failure of the Thunderbolt really eroded the trust that buyers had in the company, and set it on a path of seemingly terminal decline.