Snap is launching a flying camera, the Pixy, it announced Thursday during its annual shareholder meeting.
Snap ’s camera , called Pixy , is a “pocket-sized” device with no controls. Users press a button to send Pixy into one of four pre-set flight paths. The device hovers, hovers or follows a few feet above the user to take photos and videos, then lands in the user’s palm.
Snap is touting Pixy as a companion to its flagship app, Snapchat. The company said that videos and images from flights are automatically transferred to a user’s Snapchat Memories . Users can edit the images and share them on any other platform, it said. Pixy stores up to 100 videos or 1,000 photos.
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Snap’s Pixy is available starting Thursday in the U.S. and France for $229.99. The basic flight package includes the Pixy camera, bumper and carrying strap, a charging cable and a rechargeable battery. Additional batteries are available for $19.99, and a dual-battery charger is available for $49.99, according to the company. The camera can fly five to eight times using the default flight modes on each battery charge.
Snap has previously ventured into gadgets like Pixy, with products like the $380 Spectacles 3 camera glasses and glasses AR next-generation that can superimpose computer-generated images onto a user’s field of view. The company has said it is committed to making hardware in the long term, which could open up a new revenue stream outside of its advertising business. However, the company said in its latest earnings report that hardware revenue is not considered significant these days.
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The company also announced several AR features and developer updates. Snapchat now has 600 million monthly active users and more than 330 million daily active users, it said.
Source: www.cnbc.com
