This week, Sightful, the immersive technology innovator behind the upcoming AR laptop device, “Spacetop,” announced that it is laying off 20 employees and disbanding its hardware division. The move comes as a “long-term strategic decision” to develop AR software solutions.
In an official press release, the firm noted that the layoffs are “not the path the company intended”, especially as Sightful is deep in its development of the Spacetop and the recent G1 model. In a May update, the firm doubled down on its product commitment with a new sleeker Spacetop G1 device costing early buyers an initial $100 and a total cost of $1700 and an early adopters programme that Sightful introduced at the start of the year that allows users to request devices ahead of a general release window.
Sightful created the device to provide users with a spatial computing productivity device, with support from smart glasses vendor XREAL, which integrates leading technology without compensating for a device’s form factor.
However, Sightful explains that “rapid” advancements in the “broader” market aligned with the firm’s aforementioned long-term strategic vision to scale staffing down, focusing on software, and “bringing AR productivity to as many people as possible.”
In its official press release regarding the downsizing, Sightful explained;
Essentially, these market changes enabled an acceleration in Sigthful’s path. That acceleration has positive aspects including a significant increase in our total addressable market and faster speed to market, but also has negative aspects including the termination of valued employees.
More on Sightful’s Innovative AR Laptop
The Spacetop introduces a unique productivity AR hardware solution for 2024’s XR customers. The laptop offers a virtual 100-inch virtual monitor for workers to use, with deep mobility considerations that allow users to work from home, in the office, or while on the go.
Sightful is partnering with XREAL, a smart glasses vendor experienced in the consumer market, but is turning investments towards offering an affordable Vision Pro workplace solution. The Sightful laptop utilizes the hardware vendor’s vision and the XREAL Air 2 Pro glasses, which feature 2X OLED display panels, 1920×1080 pixels per eye, and a 90Hz refresh rate.
Sightful is customizing XREAL’s hardware to suit workplace utilisation, focusing on factors such as text legibility. The firm first announced the product during last year’s AWE event; Sightful touted it as the world’s first AR laptop. Although the product is still under development, the company is eager to demonstrate its abilities, with Sightful using the more recent AWE 2024 event to showcase the product.
This comes at a time when Apple is also focusing on spatial computing and MR productivity tools. Sightful partners XREAL are clearly on a mission to market its portfolio as a more affordable alternative to Apple’s spatial computing Vision Pro device, and the Spacetop follows that goal with the device pushing a screenless productivity future.
