The Device That Was Meant to Replace Your Phone

In November 2023, a startup founded by two former Apple employees unveiled a small square device that clipped to your shirt. No screen, no apps. You spoke to it, and it used AI to answer, send messages and take photos. It could even project text onto your palm with a laser.

It was called the Humane AI Pin, and the pitch was big: a future where we look up from our phones. Humane had raised more than $200 million before shipping a single unit.

Less than 16 months after it went on sale, every AI Pin stopped working. Here's what happened.

🎯 Quick Answer (30-Second Read)

  • Who: Humane, founded in 2018 by ex-Apple designers Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno.
  • What: a $699 screenless AI wearable plus a $24/month subscription.
  • Launch: shipped in April 2024 to some of the harshest tech reviews in years: slow, inaccurate, hot, poor battery life.
  • June 2024: Humane told owners to stop using the charging case because of a fire risk; the case was later recalled.
  • August 2024: The Verge reported more Pins were returned than sold between May and August.
  • February 2025: HP bought Humane's team and technology for $116 million. All Pins stopped working on 28 February 2025.

Timeline

timeline title The rise and fall of the Humane AI Pin 2018 : Humane founded by ex-Apple designers 2023 : April - TED talk demo : November - AI Pin unveiled at $699 plus $24 a month 2024 : April - Ships to customers, brutal reviews : June - Charging case fire risk warning : August - Returns reported to outpace sales : October - Price cut to $499 2025 : February 18 - HP buys assets for $116M : February 28 - All Pins stop working

The Pitch

Humane's founders had worked on the iPhone and other Apple products. Their idea: phones pull our attention into screens, so build an assistant that stays in the background.

The AI Pin:

  • Clipped magnetically to clothing, with a camera, microphone and speaker
  • Used cloud AI models to answer questions, translate and summarise
  • Had its own phone number and data plan (through the subscription)
  • Projected a simple interface onto your palm with a laser display
  • Had no app store; AI was meant to replace apps

It was a bold bet that AI was ready to become the main way we use computers.

What Went Wrong

1. It didn't work well enough

When reviews landed in April 2024, they were brutal. Reviewers reported:

  • Slow responses: questions often took several seconds, much slower than pulling out a phone
  • Wrong answers: AI responses that were confidently incorrect
  • Heat and battery: the device got warm and battery life was short
  • Hard to use: the palm projector was difficult to read outdoors, and gestures were awkward

Popular YouTuber Marques Brownlee titled his review "The Worst Product I've Ever Reviewed... For Now." When a product's main job is to be faster and easier than your phone, being slower and harder is fatal.

2. The price and subscription

$699 plus $24 a month, on top of the phone you still needed. The Pin couldn't replace your phone, so it was an expensive extra.

3. Hardware problems

In June 2024, Humane emailed owners telling them to immediately stop using the charging case because battery cells from a supplier could pose a fire risk. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission later announced a recall of about 10,500 charging cases.

4. Returns outpaced sales

In August 2024, The Verge reported, based on internal sales data, that more AI Pins were returned than purchased between May and August, with lifetime sales of just over $9 million including accessories. Returned Pins reportedly couldn't be resold to new customers. Humane disputed parts of the report, including the financial figures.

The core mistake: Humane built a new device category around AI that wasn't fast or reliable enough yet, and then charged premium prices for it. The hardware was beautifully designed; the experience wasn't ready.

The End

flowchart LR A["Raised $200M+"] --> B["$699 launch
April 2024"] B --> C["Bad reviews"] C --> D["Low sales,
high returns"] D --> E["Price cut to $499
Oct 2024"] E --> F["HP buys team & IP
$116M, Feb 2025"] F --> G["Servers shut down
Pins stop working"]

On 18 February 2025, HP announced it would acquire most of Humane's employees, its intellectual property and its CosmOS AI software platform for $116 million. The team would work on AI across HP's PCs and printers.

The AI Pin itself was discontinued. Sales stopped immediately, and on 28 February 2025 the devices lost calling, messaging, AI answers and cloud access. Because the Pin depended on Humane's servers for almost everything, the hardware became nearly useless. Some recent buyers were eligible for refunds; others were not.

Lessons for Builders

Lesson What happened at Humane
Beat the existing option The Pin was slower than taking out a phone
Don't charge premium for unproven $699 + $24/month for an experimental device
Cloud-dependent hardware has an expiry date When the servers went off, the devices died
Hype isn't validation Big launch events and funding didn't mean people wanted it
Ship to small groups first Problems became public all at once in reviews

Rabbit's R1, launched the same year, faced similar criticism. Both showed that people liked the idea of an AI gadget but weren't willing to put up with one that was worse than their phone. Meanwhile, AI features flowed into phones, glasses and earbuds people already owned.

(For more failure stories, see Why Tech Companies Build the Same Features at the Same Time and Ship It or Kill It.)

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did the Humane AI Pin fail?

Reviewers found it slow, often inaccurate, prone to heating up and short on battery life, while it cost $699 plus a $24 monthly subscription and couldn't replace a phone. A charging case fire-risk warning and reports that returns outpaced sales followed, and HP bought the company's assets in February 2025.

Does the Humane AI Pin still work?

No. After HP acquired Humane's assets, the AI Pin was discontinued and the devices stopped working on 28 February 2025, losing calling, messaging, AI responses and cloud access.

How much did HP pay for Humane?

HP paid $116 million for most of Humane's employees, its intellectual property and its CosmOS software platform. That was far less than the more than $200 million Humane had raised from investors.

Conclusion

The Humane AI Pin was a well-funded, beautifully designed bet that AI could replace the smartphone. It launched before the AI was fast and reliable enough, at a price that demanded perfection, and the reviews, recall and returns followed. Sixteen months after shipping, HP bought the team for $116 million and the Pins went dark. The lesson: a new device has to be clearly better than the phone already in your pocket.

Sources

Last verified: 2 November 2026.

Related reads: Ship It or Kill It: A Solo Product Framework · Why Free Apps Cost Billions to Run · Why Tech Companies Build the Same Features

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