2024 isn't even over yet — and some tech products, despite debuting only a few months ago, are already bound for the gadget graveyard.
AI hardware, in particular, had it rough this year, with several startup companies overpromising and underdelivering. (One was even accused of being deceitful and having a shady past.) Gather your somber attire, for a technological wake is on the horizon.
Chances are high that a fraction of these — my bet is the AI gadgetry — won't see 2025. As such, for those, we're already practicing our eulogies. Here are the most overrated tech of 2024 — products that failed to meet our expectations.
1. Rabbit R1
The Rabbit R1 made a big splash at CES 2024.
Perhaps its striking, electric-orange design hypnotized the masses or its Tamagotchi-like appearance stirred warm feelings of nostalgia. Or maybe the concept of a pocketable AI gadget caught people's attention. However, after Rabbit unleashed its first set of units in March, many users discovered that the R1 did not work as expected. Rabbit claimed that the R1 could order Uber or DoorDash on owners' behalf, but many found that they couldn't get the device to execute these tasks.
In my experience, something as simple as asking the Rabbit R1 to play the new Taylor Swift "Fortnite" proved to be a struggle for me. Most frustratingly, the Rabbit R1, which runs on Perplexity, didn't seem to understand my requests nor questions with the same natural-language proficiency as ChatGPT. However, to its credit, the Rabbit R1's AI proved to be better than Meta AI (featured on the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses).
2. Humane Ai Pin
Many had high hopes for the Humane Ai Pin. Unlike the Rabbit R1, the Humane Ai Pin has been in the works for five years. Plus, the founders of Humane, Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudri, were former designers at Apple, according to CNBC.
The Humane Ai Pin had all the markings of a hit product: blood, sweat, and tears invested within the past half decade and two talented co-founders who once worked with one of the most influential tech giants of the century. Plus, it boasted a handful of showstopping features that were astonishing, from its screenless design and green-light projection. However, the latter proved to be a dud. The Verge, for example, complained that its "720p resolution is crap," insinuating that its sharpness — while being projected onto one's hand — could be improved.
Plus, the Humane Ai Pin, placed on users' lapel, tends to overheat. On top of all of that, the Humane Ai Pin costs $699, which doesn't include the additional $24 monthly subscription that's required for connectivity.
3. Apple Vision Pro
The Vision Pro, on one hand, is the closest thing to technological magic in 2024. Apple said, "Screw controllers!" and delivered hand-and-eye tracking up the wazoo. Just by looking at virtual artifact, I can make selections with my peepers. I can use my fingers to type on a simulated keyboard, too, adding to a feeling that we've reached some sort of new plane — a new dimension — where the Cupertino-based tech giant redefined the relationship between man and computer.
At WWDC 2024, the crowd erupted in applause when Apple announced that the Vision Pro will support a new ultra-wide viewing mode for the virtual Mac monitor, thanks to VisionOS 2.
However, in other ways, the Vision Pro left me feeling disillusioned when I tested it earlier this year. Apple may have reached mixed-reality nirvana with the Vision Pro, but all of that is difficult to enjoy when the design is uncomfortable. The front-loaded headset gave me a headache after using it for just 10 minutes. Plus, Apple boasted that it could potentially be an excellent travel accessory, but I tested the Vision Pro while flying to Costa Rica — and I don't recommend it.
While the Vision Pro is a marvel in some cases (e.g., it's got, hands down, the best tracking features of any headset), it could stand to improve from a design perspective.
4. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
I'm a Samsung stan when it comes to mobile devices. I can't get enough of the S Pen. And little useful features — like being able to use hand gestures to trigger the shutter button — keep me coming back to the Samsung world. However, as someone who uses the the Galaxy S24 Ultra has her daily driver, it's been hit or miss — so much so that I'm considering jumping into the iPhone bandwagon.
First and foremost, I've been coming across some camera issues. And I'm not the only one who's been experiencing them. According to PhoneArena, users have expressed frustration with the shooters' white balance problems, telephoto flubs, overexposure issues, and more. It's worth noting, though, not all Galaxy S24 Ultra owners have camera problems. Some claim that everything is going just fine with the S24 Ultra (like some commenters on this thread.)
On the plus side, I've been digging Galaxy AI — for the most part. I've had a blast removing unwanted objects from photos and using "Chat Translation" for texting French-speaking relatives. Still, stellar camera performance is crucial, so I'm a bit disappointed. Fortunately, according to PhoneArena, rumor has it that Samsung is planning on rolling out an update to rectify the camera issues.
5. "AI PCs"
A handful of Windows laptops launched this year — and they're billed as "AI PCs" because they're packed with an NPU, a processor that is purpose-built to handle AI tasks. However, as it stands now, many of these "AI PCs" only deliver incremental performance increases when it comes to AI processing.
Per XDA Developers, "as AI PCs currently stand, they are currently more of a gimmick than a game changer, offering a few beneficial features to users." However, this may change soon. The Intel chips that power the current AI PCs have NPUs that only deliver 11 TOPS of AI-accelerated performance (TOPS, which stands for trillions operations per second, is a unit of measurement to track AI performance.) The next wave of AI PCs, including the Copilot+ PCs (e.g., Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11), will have Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips, which are said to have NPUs with up to 45 TOPs.
As such, while today's AI PCs may be overrated, that may change when the next Snapdragon-powered AI PCs drop in the near future.
Want more of the best of 2024 (so far)? Join Mashable as we look back at all the internet slang, TikTok songs, movies, memes, dating trends, scientific discoveries, social media apps, and more that have delighted and amazed us so far this year.
