Here's more evidence Snapchat is getting into the drone business

Disappearing photos and videos might not always (or ever) be profitable, which is why representatives of Snapchat parent company Snap have spoken about spreading out into other areas - and one of those other areas could well be drones.

We first got word that a Snapchat drone could be on the cards back in March, when anonymous sources speaking to the New York Times said the company was busy working on its own drone, ready to capture photos and videos from the skies.

Now Buzzfeed reports that Snap has picked up Ctrl Me Robotics, a small LA-based drone manufacturer, for the relatively cheap price of $1 million. That should give the makers of Snapchat some extra expertise for their push into the drone market.

Snaps from the air

At this stage it's not clear if Snap would ever put its own drone on sale or just make software or attachments for other devices, but it now seems clear that the company's push into hardware is going to go way beyond Snapchat Spectacles.

We also don't know whether Ctrl Me Robotics ever got to the stage of making its own drones, but it was certainly working on custom products and software for other drones, enabling filmmakers to get the best possible shots from the air - and that definitely sounds like something Snap would be interested in.

We've no official comment from Snap yet, so the guessing game about where it's planning to go with its drone technology continues. As soon as something new is officially announced, no doubt Facebook will try to copy it.

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.