The Facebook Phone Meltdown Everyone Missed

Facebook built a phone. Nobody bought it. This is the story of the $99 smartphone disaster Mark Zuckerberg would rather you forget.

In 2013, Facebook launched a product so bold, so ambitious, that it was supposed to redefine the way we used smartphones forever. A phone not just with Facebook on it—but powered by Facebook entirely. No app-switching. No distractions. Just one company, one screen, one platform: Facebook. This was the vision behind the HTC First, also known as the Facebook Phone.
But that vision turned into one of the most humiliating failures in tech history.

In this video, we uncover the forgotten story of Facebook's disastrous attempt to enter the smartphone market. Long before Meta. Long before the metaverse. Facebook tried to take over your home screen. And failed in record time.

It all began with two obscure Android phones: the HTC Chacha and HTC Salsa. Released in 2011, they featured a dedicated Facebook button—designed for a future where social media was fully integrated into your device. The concept flopped. Bad hardware. Gimmicky software. No one wanted a phone built around a single app.

But Mark Zuckerberg wasn't done. By 2013, Facebook was bigger than ever. With over 1 billion users and massive IPO success, they were ready for a second attempt. This time with serious hardware support from HTC and a major carrier partner: AT&T.

The HTC First wasn’t just a Facebook-themed phone. It ran a new Android skin called Facebook Home, which completely took over your device. Every photo, status, message, and interaction went through Facebook. It turned your home screen into a live Facebook feed. A social network that never slept.

But users hated it.

From the moment it launched, Facebook Home was slow, confusing, and buried basic apps. It forced interaction with Facebook even when people didn’t want it. Ratings plummeted. Reviews were brutal. The app barely reached 1 million downloads, a dismal result for a platform with over 1 billion users. Out of 16,000 reviews, over half were 1-star ratings.
Then came the death blow.

AT&T slashed the HTC First’s price from $99 to just $0.99 within weeks. Sales collapsed. UK retailers refused to carry it. Facebook Home was quietly abandoned. And the Facebook Phone was discontinued almost overnight.
So what went wrong?

This video explains exactly why the HTC First failed so spectacularly. Why the public rejected Facebook’s attempt to take over the smartphone experience. And why the era of single-platform dominance was already dead by the time the HTC First hit shelves.

People were no longer just using Facebook. They were on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube. They didn’t want to be locked into one platform. They wanted freedom. Flexibility. And real functionality. Not a glorified Facebook portal.

In this deep dive, we break down the launch, the hardware, the marketing, and the fallout. We also compare it to other tech flops like the Amazon Fire Phone and explore how even the most powerful tech giants can still completely miss the mark.

📌 Chapters:
00:00 Facebook’s Forgotten Phone
00:36 The First Attempt: HTC Chacha & Salsa
01:37: Zuckerberg Wasn’t Done
02:01 Facebook’s Second Try: HTC First
02:12 What Was Facebook Home?
02:46 Customer Feedback
04:01 The $0.99 Death Sentence
04:27 Why It Failed So Fast