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Consumer Electronics and Wearables

Intel Vaunt

Intel Vaunt was a pair of smart glasses that looked like ordinary eyeglasses, using a low-power laser to project a small monochrome image directly onto the wearer's retina instead of a bulky screen. Intel showed working prototypes to journalists in February 2018 to strong early impressions, but by April 2018 it had closed the New Devices Group that built them, and Vaunt never reached the market it was designed for.

Product discontinuation Discontinued Moderate
Company
Intel
Started
2018-02
Ended
2018-04
Employees in Intel's New Devices Group at the time of closure
200
Collapse speed
Rapid
Preventability
Medium
Lesson transfer
Narrow
Last reviewed
2026-08-17

Narrative

The story

The ambition

Intel's New Devices Group set out to solve a problem that had sunk earlier smart glasses: looking ridiculous. Google Glass had drawn ridicule and privacy backlash for its visible camera and bulky prism display, and by 2018 no other entrant had matched ordinary eyewear for weight, shape, or social acceptability. Intel's answer, codenamed Superlight and unveiled to the public as Vaunt, was a pair of plastic-framed glasses under 50 grams, built to work with prescription or non-prescription lenses and to be visually indistinguishable from a normal pair of glasses. The ambition was not augmented reality in the Google Glass sense of an overlay on the world, but a quiet heads-up display for simple notifications, delivered without looking like a gadget.

The rise

In February 2018 Intel demonstrated working Vaunt prototypes to journalists, and the early hands-on impressions were positive. The technical approach was distinctive: a low-power class one laser, built into the glasses' stems along with a processor, an accelerometer, a Bluetooth chip, and a compass, projected a red monochrome image at 400 by 150 pixels directly onto the wearer's retina, rather than onto a lens the wearer had to focus on. That kept the display always in focus and invisible to anyone else looking at the wearer. Vaunt had no camera, which sidestepped the "Glasshole" privacy stigma that had dogged Google's device. First-generation control was limited to simple head-nod gestures, and Intel described use cases like surfacing a contact's name during a conversation, or a recipe while in the kitchen. Rather than sell Vaunt directly to consumers, Intel planned to distribute the technology through OEM partners and said it would open an early access program with an SDK for developers later in 2018.

The cracks

Vaunt's path to market ran through Intel's New Devices Group, a division that had already been through layoffs in late 2016 and had discontinued other hardware, including the Basis fitness tracker. Around the time of Vaunt's public debut, Intel was reportedly trying to sell a majority stake in the group, said to be valued near $350 million, rather than fund its wearables efforts outright. Vaunt itself was widely described as looking like a side project inside a company whose revenue overwhelmingly came from supplying components to other hardware makers, not selling glasses to consumers. Neither the planned stake sale nor the developer program materialized in the months after the February unveiling.

The collapse

By April 19, 2018, roughly two months after the prototype demo, Intel confirmed it was closing the New Devices Group entirely and abandoning Vaunt. The company attributed the decision to "market dynamics" that did not support further investment, saying in a statement that "not all of these develop into a product we choose to take to market." The closure was expected to affect jobs within the roughly 200-person group. Vaunt was shelved without ever becoming a purchasable product, sold or spun out rather than shipped.

The aftermath

In December 2018, AR glasses startup North announced it had acquired the Vaunt technology portfolio, including patents and patent applications, from Intel. Terms were not disclosed, though the deal followed Intel Capital's existing investment in North, and North's own product, Focals, used a similar retinal laser-projection approach. North was itself acquired by Google in 2020 and shut down its consumer products shortly after. Intel did not return to smart glasses as a category.

The lessons

Vaunt shows that solving a hardware project's hardest engineering problem does not guarantee it reaches a market. Intel had addressed the two complaints that sank Google Glass, bulk and an intrusive camera, and produced a prototype that reviewers who tried it liked. What Vaunt lacked was a committed internal home. It sat inside a division Intel had already been squeezing, one built around commercializing new hardware categories at a company whose profits came from chips sold to other manufacturers, and Intel was shopping the division for outside investment even as it showed the glasses to press. When that investment did not appear, the project had no sponsor left to defend it, and a working prototype with positive early impressions was closed down within months, its main afterlife a patent sale to a smaller company pursuing the same idea.

Causal timeline

Failure Anatomy

  1. 2018-02-05

    Prototype shown to press

    Intel demonstrated working Vaunt prototypes to journalists, showing plastic-framed glasses under 50 grams that projected a red monochrome 400x150 pixel image onto the retina via a low-power laser, with no camera. [1]

  2. 2018-02

    Distribution plan left undelivered

    Intel said it would pursue OEM partnerships and open a developer early-access program with an SDK later in 2018, a plan that had not launched by the time the project was shelved. [2]

    Platform dependency
  3. 2018-02

    Stake sale sought for the division

    Around the time of Vaunt's debut, Intel was reported to be seeking to sell a majority stake in the New Devices Group, valued near $350 million. [4]

    Unsustainable economics
  4. 2018-04-19

    New Devices Group closed

    Intel confirmed on April 19, 2018 that it was closing the roughly 200-person New Devices Group and abandoning Vaunt, citing market dynamics that did not support further investment. [5]

    Unsustainable economics
  5. 2018-12-17

    Patents sold to North

    In December 2018, AR glasses startup North acquired the Vaunt technology portfolio, including patents and patent applications, from Intel on undisclosed terms. [6]

Structured analysis

What Went Wrong

Root causes

No stable home inside Intel. Vaunt was built inside the New Devices Group, a division Intel was trying to offload or sell a stake in even as it publicly demonstrated the glasses, rather than a business unit committed to shipping wearables. [4]

Contributing factors

A division already under pressure. The New Devices Group had already gone through 2016 layoffs and discontinued the Basis fitness tracker before Vaunt's debut, signaling weak internal commitment to consumer wearables. [3]

An OEM-distribution plan with no partner in hand. Intel planned to bring Vaunt to market through OEM partners and a developer early-access program rather than selling it directly, a plan that had not materialized by the time the project was shelved. [2]

Immediate trigger

Market dynamics did not support further investment. In April 2018 Intel closed the New Devices Group and cited market dynamics as the reason it would not keep funding Vaunt, shelving the glasses about two months after their public debut. [5]

Visible symptoms

Reported stake sale before launch. Intel was reported to be seeking to sell a majority stake in the New Devices Group, valued near $350 million, around the same time it was showing Vaunt prototypes to journalists. [4]

Warning signs

Division sale sought pre-launch. Intel's reported effort to sell a stake in the New Devices Group before Vaunt had a commercial launch plan signaled the company was not committed to funding the product itself. [4]

Affected groups

Employees

Evidence

Claims & sources

Every numbered marker in the analysis links to the claim it rests on, and each claim to its sources.

  1. [1]

    Intel demonstrated working Vaunt prototypes to journalists in February 2018, showing plastic-framed glasses under 50 grams that projected a red monochrome 400x150 pixel image directly onto the retina via a low-power class one laser, with no camera and Bluetooth/processor/accelerometer/compass built into the stems.

    High Fact Intel wants smart glasses to be a thing Intel unveils smart glasses that you might want to wear
  2. [2]

    Intel planned to bring Vaunt to market through OEM partners rather than direct consumer sales, with an early-access developer program and SDK planned for later in 2018.

    Moderate Fact Intel wants smart glasses to be a thing
  3. [3]

    Intel's New Devices Group had already gone through layoffs in late 2016 and the cancellation of other hardware, including the Basis fitness tracker, before Vaunt's public debut.

    Moderate Fact Intel abandons Vaunt smart glasses project
  4. [4]

    Around the time Vaunt was shown to press, Intel was reported to be seeking to sell a majority stake in the New Devices Group, valued near $350 million.

    Moderate Reported explanation Intel cancels its smart glasses due to lack of investment
  5. [5]

    On April 19, 2018, Intel confirmed it was closing the roughly 200-person New Devices Group and abandoning the Vaunt project, citing market dynamics that did not support further investment.

    High Fact Intel abandons Vaunt smart glasses project Intel cancels its smart glasses due to lack of investment
  6. [6]

    In December 2018, AR glasses startup North acquired Intel's Vaunt technology portfolio, including patents and patent applications, on undisclosed terms.

    Moderate Fact AR glasses startup North picks up Intel's Vaunt patents

Sources