Ring made waves at CES 2023 when it unveiled the Ring Car Cam, a dashcam and in-car security camera in one device. But just over a year after its launch, the Amazon-owned company is quietly pulling the plug on the troubled product.
In an email statement yesterday, Ring spokesperson Andrea McDonald confirmed Ring is halting sales of the Car Cam indefinitely. “We’ve experienced ongoing delays with Car Cam and have decided to stop the sale of the device,” McDonald said.
Customers who already purchased a Car Cam will continue to receive software updates and support, according to McDonald’s. But no new orders will be fulfilled.
The demise of the Ring Car Cam comes after over a year of production delays, order cancellations, and lackluster reviews.
Debuted to much fanfare at CES last January, the Car Cam was slated to begin shipping to customers shortly after. However, many early adopters found their orders delayed for months on end.
Reddit threads and Ring’s own support forums paint a picture of frustrated customers unable to get their hands on the Car Cam since pre-orders first opened. One Redditor ordered their Car Cam on January 31, only to receive cancellation notices months later when stock failed to materialize.
Other Redditors reported ordering the camera in March and being told October was the earliest it would ship. Now, Ring appears to have thrown in the towel entirely, canceling all outstanding orders in recent weeks.
For the few customers who did receive the $250 Car Cam, reviews have been mediocre at best. With lackluster 1080p video quality, no free storage options, and a hefty $6 per month subscription fee for full functionality, the device fell short as both a security camera and a stand-alone dashcam.
Panned by critics as a jack of all trades but master of none, the Ring Car Cam attempted to bridge the gap between in-car cam and outdoor home security camera. But the execution left much to be desired.
With its delayed rollout, poor reviews, and now canceled pre-orders, the demise of the Ring Car Cam after just 13 months on the market makes it one of Ring’s biggest product flops so far under Amazon’s ownership.
The end of sales comes despite Ring’s insistence earlier this year that it remained “excited about opportunities to innovate in the auto space.” For now, it seems those innovations will have to come in another form, as Ring’s first foray into the dashboard cam market ends in disappointment for both the company and its customers.
Discover more from GadgetBond
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
