PlanetPC XR mini PC dramatically fails to meet crowdfunding goals (Linux PC with ARM-based processor and integrated touch panel)

The PlanetPC XR Series is a compact desktop computer with an ARM-based processor, Ubuntu Linux software, plenty of ports and storage options. There’s also an unusual touch panel on the front that can be used to control some of the PCs functions or display information.

There’s just one catch: it’s unclear if you’ll ever actually be able to get your hands on one. Planet Computers showed off prototypes of the XR Series at Mobile World Congress in February and launched a crowdfunding campaign to help raise the money to bring the PC to market. But only 14 people backed the campaign and it raised less than 1% of its funding goal.

In an update to the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, the company says there was “tremendous interest in the XR PC” at Mobile World Congress, and that despite very few contributions to the crowdfunding campaign the company has seen “extremely strong interest from business to business customers,” so there’s a chance that the device will eventually come to market.

If that happens, you may still be able to pick one up from an Indiegogo InDemand campaign. The PlanetPC XR1 and XR2 are also still listed on the PlanetPC website, with prices starting at $632 and $797, respectively. But given the failure to raise money through crowdfunding, I’m not sure I’d put much faith in the estimated delivery date of September, 2023.

Planet Computers is a company with a somewhat mixed track record of delivering crowdfunding products. The company has been producing smartphones for the past five years that also function as pocket-sized laptops thanks to touch-typable keyboards and support for dual booting Android and Linux. And the Gemini PDA, Cosmo Communicator, and Astro Slide have featured some truly fascinating designs that blur the lines between smartphones and laptops (or at least handheld computers).

But the company has also offered limited software support for its devices and has failed to keep up with demand for hardware from its most recent crowdfunding campaign, leaving a trail of disappointed backers.

The PlanetPC XR series mini PCs could have been a way to provide something a little more traditional that wouldn’t have required quite so much unique engineering. Sure, the touch panel on the front helps set the system apart, but for the most part it’s an ARM-based computer using hardware that’s similar to many existing products. And on the one hand, that left some people wondering why the prices were so high. On the other, it probably increased the chances that Planet Computers would have actually been able to produce and ship these mini PCs… if it had raised enough money to do so.

Here’s a run-down of the key specs for the little computers (which may or may not never see the light of day):

thanks James!