Kylie Robison, for The Verge:

Shortly after Humane released its $699 AI Pin in April, the returns started flowing in.

Between May and August, more AI Pins were returned than purchased, according to internal sales data obtained by The Verge. By June, only around 8,000 units hadn’t been returned, a source with direct knowledge of sales and return data told me. As of today, the number of units still in customer hands had fallen closer to 7,000, a source with direct knowledge said.

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These figures, which have not been reported before, paint a better picture of the difficult position Humane finds itself in with limited options on a path forward. The low sales figures also pale in comparison to the over $200 million that Humane has raised from notable Silicon Valley executives like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. To date, around 10,000 Pins and accessories have shipped in total. Humane hoped to ship about 100,000 Pins within the first year, according to a source with knowledge of the plan and first reported by The New York Times.

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Once a Humane Pin is returned, the company has no way to refurbish it, sources with knowledge of the return process confirmed. The Pin becomes e-waste, and Humane doesn’t have the opportunity to reclaim the revenue by selling it again. The core issue is that there is a T-Mobile limitation that makes it impossible (for now) for Humane to reassign a Pin to a new user once it’s been assigned to someone. One source said they don’t believe Humane has disposed of the old Pins because “they’re still hopeful they can solve this problem eventually.”