Telly, a home theater startup that emerged in 2023 with an eye-catching proposition – free dual-screen televisions with always-on ads – has struggled to deliver on its promises.
In contrast to its ambitious initial plans, which included shipping 500,000 screens by the summer of last year, the company's actual numbers are far more modest. According to a quarterly investor update, Telly had only shipped around 35,000 units as of the end of Q3 2025 – a meager fraction of what its executives initially anticipated.
It appears that while some customers were indeed interested in Telly's unique product – with over 250,000 pre-orders booked in June 2023 alone – technical issues have hindered the company's ability to meet demand. The problem persists, as around 10% of shipments through FedEx arrived damaged, according to a report cited by Janko Roettgers, author of Lowpass.
The company's struggles seem evident in its performance thus far. A thread on Reddit, dated last year, highlights issues with delayed deliveries and non-functional replacements.
In contrast to its ambitious initial plans, which included shipping 500,000 screens by the summer of last year, the company's actual numbers are far more modest. According to a quarterly investor update, Telly had only shipped around 35,000 units as of the end of Q3 2025 – a meager fraction of what its executives initially anticipated.
It appears that while some customers were indeed interested in Telly's unique product – with over 250,000 pre-orders booked in June 2023 alone – technical issues have hindered the company's ability to meet demand. The problem persists, as around 10% of shipments through FedEx arrived damaged, according to a report cited by Janko Roettgers, author of Lowpass.
The company's struggles seem evident in its performance thus far. A thread on Reddit, dated last year, highlights issues with delayed deliveries and non-functional replacements.
. They had so much hype around that free dual-screen TV thing, but it seems the execution hasn't quite lived up to the promises 
. It's frustrating when customers are excited about something only to be let down by tech issues or delayed shipments... poor guys gotta deal with disappointed fans and damaged goods 
it just made me wonder, what happens when we put too much emphasis on innovation and progress? like, they started out with this super cool idea of free dual-screen TVs, but then reality set in... 
and now they're dealing with all these technical issues. it's like, how do you balance ambition with pragmatism?
we see this happen in so many industries where companies rush into launch without thinking through the logistics. and then what happens? customers get disappointed, and the company struggles to recover.
we gotta be careful not to get too caught up in the hype.
. I mean, 35k units shipped in just a year? That's not bad, but considering the hype and pre-orders, you'd think they'd be crushing it 
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. Tech issues can be super frustrating, especially when you're dealing with something as complex as a home theater system. And yeah, damaged shipments are no joke 
. But still, I think they should've been better prepared for demand 
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. But still, it's sad to see Telly struggling so much after all the hype surrounding their product 
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. And don't even get me started on the damage rate – 10% of shipments are arriving broken 
. It's clear that their technical issues are really holding them back.
️. But if they can't deliver on those numbers, then what's the point? They need to get their act together ASAP 
. And sorry Reddit users who are getting delayed deliveries and faulty replacements 
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. Free dual-screen TVs sound too good to be true, right? And it's only been like 2 years since they started promising those, but have they actually delivered on any of that stuff? Nope 
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. Meanwhile, they're probably counting on those pre-orders to keep the cash flowing 
and now they're struggling to even meet a fraction of that number... like, I get it technical issues can happen but it's crazy how unprepared they are for actual production 
i remember when they had over 250k pre-orders, that was crazy! now it just seems like a slow rollout... i'm not hating on the idea of affordable dual-screens or anything, but telly's execution is all over the place