Hardware startup Sightful, which was trying to carve out a new 'headless AR laptop' space, has canceled plans for the $1,900 Spacetop G1.
Introduced in May, the Spacetop G1 would be the company's first commercially available product, following the early access release of the first Spacetop, which offered a slightly large laptop form factor attached to a pair of XREAL AR glasses.
Now the company says: CNET Spacetop is canceling the G1 entirely, and customers who pre-ordered will be offered a refund for their $100 deposit.
Sightful says this is down to Microsoft's own neural processing units (NPUs) integrated into the latest generation of Surface laptops and the challenges of competing with the usual roster of partner OEMs like Lenovo, Dell, Asus and HP. These NPU-integrated laptops promise to increase processing power and battery efficiency when running AR applications.
Previously targeting an October 2024 launch, the Spacetop G1 was set to use Qualcomm's own Android-based SpaceOS, which runs on the Snapdragon QCS8550 chipset and is solely tied to the included XREAL Air 2 Ultra glasses.
Sightful, which has raised $61 million in funding to date, says it is now focusing on a software product for Windows laptops, enabling a similar AR experience that would run Windows apps and integrate with Microsoft's CoPilot AI features.
The company says its software will be available in early 2025 and will initially be compatible with Xreal AR glasses via USB-C. More AR glasses may be added, but Sightful hasn't shared any specific plans.
Additionally, Sightful says Mac support will come post-launch and could potentially expand beyond laptops like TVs and phones, but it hasn't offered a specific timeline yet.