Rabbit R1 review: $199 is reasonable but emblematic of a trend of selling unfinished products at full price while vowing to fix the issues later to win a “race”

AI in a Box. But a different box. R1 provided by Rabbit for review. So this is the rabbit R1 and it's another AI …

Marques Brownlee on YouTube 2024-04-30 Marques Brownlee

Context & Ripple Effects

Rabbit entered the AI-device conversation with strong early demand: the company said it sold 10,000 R1 units in its first day of orders. That launch momentum now meets a more practical question of whether the hardware delivers enough utility at purchase to justify its standalone role.

Early hands-on coverage had already praised the device’s design and basic AI responses while identifying an unfinished Rabbithole app. This review sharpens that concern from a product-detail issue into a critique of Rabbit’s go-to-market approach.

First-order effects

Rabbit’s $199 R1 is judged against features that work now, rather than against a future software roadmap; buyers bear the immediate gap between the product’s promise and present capabilities.
The review increases pressure on Rabbit to convert promised fixes into visible improvements, especially after the R1’s high-demand launch raised expectations for the device.

Second-order effects

Other AI-hardware launches face a tougher credibility test: polished industrial design and agent demonstrations may not offset missing or unreliable core functions at sale.
The comparison shifts toward whether a dedicated device beats using a phone for the same tasks, making the cost per reliably completed task more important than the upfront $199 price.

Third-order effects

If this pattern persists, AI-device makers may find that software readiness—not novel hardware—determines whether a new category earns repeat use and durable demand.
The category could split between products that ship with a narrow, dependable job and those that rely on post-sale updates to validate a broader agent vision; the latter model carries greater trust risk when delivery slips.

The trend: Consumer AI hardware is moving from launch-day novelty toward scrutiny of whether its software delivers a distinct, dependable use case before customers pay.

Discussion

@jetscott Scott Stein on x
These early AI gadgets feel like precursors, like the first wearables well before smartwatches normalized. Phones need to develop more advanced hook-ins for all sorts of peripherals and their services...they're the hubs. Still not here yet, but for AI/XR it's going to need to be
@lisaeadicicco Lisa Eadicicco on x
After spending about a week with the Rabbit R1, I have a lot of thoughts: - Love the retro design - It understands natural language quite well - Most experiences feel half-baked and limited - Not close to being a viable alternative for phone apps yet https://www.cnet.com/...
@jessechenglyu Jesse Lyu on x
we shall see how fast r1 improves and evolves. we are a tiny team trying to catch the fast pace of AI. the current level of AI needs strong human supervised fine tuning. you can't take your time polishing features without real user testing. we will push the OTA fix as early as...
@mkbhd Marques Brownlee on x
NEW VIDEO - Rabbit R1: Barely Reviewable https://www.youtube.com/... This is the pinnacle of a trend that's been annoying for years: Delivering barely finished products to win a “race” and then continuing to build them after charging full price. Games, phones, cars, now AI in a b…
@aniiyengar Ani on x
You (AI hardware CEO): “I want to build a fun product that will improve with the pace of AI progress” Your investors: “Ship an MVP and iterate! Do things that don't scale” Marques Brownlee: “I'm about to end this man's whole career”
@uwukko @uwukko on x
second mkbhd review has hit the ai bubble
@metalhaze Alex on x
The phrase “Done is better than perfect” shouldn't be misinterpreted as rushing to market with low-quality products. Although perfection may not be achievable, striving for higher quality and exceeding expectations is crucial. Do better and stop wasting everyone's time and money
@dannyabas Danny on x
@MKBHD But I was expecting this. The product never seemed that exciting. People are so prone to hype culture.
@neelmprakash Neel Prakash on x
Thank you @MKBHD for being critical and truthful in your review. Now I feel incredibly vindicated about my detestation for the #rabbitr1 @rabbit_hmi
@growing_daniel Daniel on x
he did it again 😂 he does not give a fuck about yall crying 🤣
@pitdesi Sheel Mohnot on x
I can feel consumer willingness to pre-order products decreasing, kickstarter burnout redux
@theonecid Cid on x
MKBHD attention to detail is awesome 👏 He paired tons of orange items in the studio background to review the bright orange rabbit r1 The use of the Vestaboard flip text was awesome too. Well done 🔥🔥 [image]
@iamjasonlevin Jason Levin on x
@MKBHD Products should be finished when people buy them. [image]
@trace_cohen Trace Cohen on x
@MKBHD This is why Apple is king - they build and launch when ready. No one pressures them to do anything they don't want Building in public has lost its way [image]
@stevesi Steven Sinofsky on x
This is true. And horrible. For this to work you really need a product that is so essential and works for one bit of the promise long enough that the rest can be delivered (like Tesla and FSD) AND a core “enthusiast” audience who goes along for the process.
@briancpark Brian Park on x
I bet the problem of delivering half-baked things is most likely due to software engineers becoming lazy, not meeting deadlines, or they're too ambitious I am remembering this and gonna hold myself more accountable when contributing to software projects and deadlines 😅
@mauronic Pete Mauro on x
I think this review did not hurt and maybe helped Rabbit, here's why: They don't need sales from MKBHDs audience right now. In fact, any non-early adopter purchase creates noise for their team who is frantically trying to catch up on building features. The early adopters who...
@drzeeshanzia Zeeshan Zia on x
Second order effect of mass adoption of lean. It makes sense for a startup to adopt lean, but as customers realize all new products are MVPs, they'll stop buying v1s even when they're open to buying the mature product.
@willahmed Will Ahmed on x
AI hardware should be priced as entirely a subscription. Include the hardware for free, charge monthly fee. Ship software updates weekly. Customers will get value or churn; businesses become customer obsessed. First startup w courage to go full subscription will win the market.
@seyitaylor @seyitaylor on x
MKBHD said, “please ship something I can review thx bbs”
@codybrown @codybrown on x
I love two things at once. - It's cool that more people are shipping weird hardware that's only possible because of AI. - I love that @MKBHD isn't holding anything back and giving them brutal reviews. https://twitter.com/...
@nikhiljoisr Nikhil Jois on x
Extremely grateful to tech reviewers like @MKBHD and @Mrwhosetheboss for saving thousands of idiots like yours truly from impulse-buying cool devices too soon.
@supertrucker @supertrucker on x
Steve Jobs would have destroyed entire careers over launches like this. We need more assholes back making consumer products.
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
The Rabbit R1 and Humane AI Pin are the culmination of a trend of launching unfinished products that are sold at full price and then users get the promised features only after software updates. The Bethesda games approach to selling products is plaguing the AI device category.
@allgarbled Gabe on x
“this is the worst it will ever be”-cels absolutely seething at “you should sell things that work”-chads
@harrymccracken Harry McCracken on x
This practice has been going on so long that I wrote a column complaining about it in 2011! (It may not be a coincidence that most of the products I cited as examples went on to flop.) https://web.archive.org/...
@lakshyalark Lakshya Lark on x
@MKBHD Never. Ever. Buy a tech product based on the promise of future software updates. -@MKBHD [image]
@einarvollset Einar Vollset on x
Seems to match my experience pretty well.
@ctoadvisor Keith Townsend on x
So, @MKBHD, I just saw your review on the Rabbit R1. See, your time would have been better spent reviewing my market-leading AI assistant. I've spent 3 years perfecting this version. It looks like an iPhone 13, but that's just the skin!!! :)
@jasonleowsg Jason Leow on x
@MKBHD Another AI hardware startup dies today
@vcbrags @vcbrags on x
@MKBHD what company next 🤣 [image]
@drknowitall16 @drknowitall16 on x
Excellent review by @MKBHD where he identifies a very troubling trend exemplified by the Rabbit r1: delivering half baked hardware that will be finished “later.” That makes all us early adopters effectively paying to make later generations good enough to be used. This is ok (and.…
@masudrhossain @masudrhossain on x
This is a wake up call to everyone building an MVP with half baked products or services. If you promise a 10x experience, it better be 10x or suffer the churn.
@zarifali9 Zarif on x
expected reception, but damn, the rabbit team responded almost immediately. shows just how fast these companies are moving. this growing trend marques is talking about— absolutely annoying from a consumer standpoint, but just to play devil's advocate: moving fast and breaking...
@adamludwin Adam Ludwin on x
Barely reviewable [image]
@ericbahn Eric Bahn on x
Hooboy, here we go again!
@dustinthedad Dustin Burnham on x
@MKBHD I expect this to be better than the pin. The tension is between never shipping a product versus shipping too soon. [image]
@ggabrielmmm Gabriel M on x
MKBHD @rabbit_hmi R1 review is here! For the price this is a fun gadget to play with in a world where everyone has a smartphone. @jessechenglyu and team have done the unthinkable in such a short time, excited for the future.
@coastalcrypto11 @coastalcrypto11 on x
@MKBHD Am I the only one asking.... Why are these just not apps for your phone? Seems like a lot of ewaste for something that could just be an app
@essorensen @essorensen on x
@MKBHD “Sir, there's been a 2nd @MKBHD murder.” [image]
@ryanfenwick Ryan Fenwick on x
Honest feedback, which is cool. We're in the very early stages of the new AI hardware industry. The important thing is to move fast, continuously update the product and keep improving the experience for those of you who are on this ride with us.
@paulroetzer Paul Roetzer on x
100% agree with this take. Humane AI Pin. Rabbit. FSD (getting better, but undelivered and overcharged for years).
@theonecid Cid on x
@MKBHD The hat-trick 🤯 [image]
@waifuverseai WaifuDev on x
The real reason why devices and games feel half baked is because of systemic talent issues. Most engineers thst are hired can not perform the job to minimum standards. The result down town the road is failure to meet deadlines, and then failure to deliver a good product.
@bilawalsidhu Bilawal Sidhu on x
Large Action Models sound cool, but they better get a LOT more robust to warrant a standalone device — even if it is made by Teenage Engineering. Perhaps it'll take Apple, Google, Microsoft to make killer LAMs that integrate at the OS level. It'll be your entire digital...
@teslatrip Wes on x
MVP - Minimum Viable Product The bain of a tech PM. Pushed to absolute absurdity.
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
MKBHD becoming the Gordon Ramsay of tech gadgets and I'm here for it
@stevemoraco Steve Moraco on x
we will not be launching hardware DATA for this reason until 2025 thank you for coming to my TED talk you may throw stones when your AI wrapper has a 4 month 100% refund policy and 5% churn 😇
@iscienceluvr Tanishq Mathew Abraham, Ph.D. on x
It's so over for AI hardware products lol
@tomgara Tom Gara on x
The part around 5:00 here where he explains how you navigate the Rabbit OS is absolutely wild. There's no “back” option when navigating menus, and even though it has a touchscreen, you can't use it for selecting things, only the scroll wheel https://www.youtube.com/...
@lensisle Camilo on x
This was savage but I totally agree with @MKBHD . Companies should stop shipping half backed products in the name of “innovation”. Rabbit should have been an app. Period.
r/mkbhd r on reddit
Rabbit R1: Barely Reviewable
r/rabbitinc r on reddit
Marques Brownlee Review
@raywongy Ray Wong on x
EXCLUSIVE: The past 4 days have been absolutely UNREAL. You guys are incredible. The followers, the comments, the everything. It has been non-stop since the @rabbit_hmi R1 launch event on Tuesday I think we all agree that Rabbit came out of nowhere at CES in January and just... […
@simonbalmain Simon Balmain on x
Great article from @raywongy and @inversedotcom! “Inside The Rise of Jesse Lyu and the rabbit r1” https://www.inverse.com/... #rabbitr1 @rabbit_hmi
@raywongy Ray Wong on x
“You go [to your phone] to waste your time or to kill your time. But you go [to the R1] to save your time.” Agree or disagree? ICYMI, big profile/feature on @jessechenglyu and the @rabbit_hmi R1 on @inversedotcom Read my 5,730-word scribe👉 https://www.inverse.com/... [image]
@lanceulanoff Lance Ulanoff on x
Really excellent piece by ⁦@raywongy⁩ Exclusive: Inside the Rise of Jesse Lyu and the Rabbit R1 https://www.inverse.com/...
@kylewiebalk Kyle Wiebalk on x
This is such a great story on the origins of @rabbit_hmi & founder @jessechenglyu, if you're curious about this new #GenAI hardware tech (by @raywongy) https://www.inverse.com/...

Chronicles