Prusa themselves run 600 printers. They are commercial grade. If I was using a printer for commercial design or prototyping I would go with Prusa. Not only because I would prefer my designs were not sent overseas by an always cloud connected printer.
A lot of 3D printer companies have tried to go this route. It is not a strategy that tends to succeed.
I don't know their sales numbers, but I would be willing to bet that the ROI on those printers is nowhere near their bread-and-butter, high volume, mass market models.
I think their priority should have been to build something like the Core One (a P1S killer) rather than these expensive and risky forays into pro/prosumer land. The Core one is, realistically speaking, at least 24 months late to market. This was avoidable.
Everyone who operates a 3D printing farm, and who isn't a complete muppet, knows that closed down products like those of Bambu Labs are risky. Both because some 3D printer manufacturers kind of have a history of being dickish, and because the big boys are coming after Bambu labs with their patent lawsuits and whatnot. There are clear risks in dealing with companies like Bambu.
Dealing with Prusa involves significantly less risk. This reduced risk has value. You can charge a bit more for Prusa products due to the reputation of the company.
Most people I know who own 3D printers would rather have done business with Prusa. But Prusa only had the MK4 on offer and were burning cash on, let's be frank, irrelevant vanity projects.
Yes, Prusa were very much asleep at the wheel. Or at least, they had some strategic lapses in judgement. Let's hope they understand their customer base better now. I'd be happy to be a bit patient with them if it means we can get something that performs like Bambu printers, but from Prusa.
I'll even be willing to pay perhaps as much as 20% more just because I trust Prusa more than Bambu.
It costs more than the P1S - which lets fact it, thats what it should be compared to, not the X1C as the Core one doesn't have the stronger nozzle, nor any features that would make it a 'pro' level product.
They also still dont have an answer to the AMS, which is a big selling point for the Bambu's. The MMU3 may be better than the previous one but its just like putting lipstick on a pig - it's a mess, with tubes all over the place, spools dotted around, and then you've got to constantly babysit it and tune it.
Side by side the P1S with an AMS is still significantly cheaper and from a marketing perspective a much more visually pleasing offering.
Also worth mentioning that whilst the core one is about to come out, the MMU isnt actually even supported yet, and theres no timeline for when it will be.
Prusa are so far behind at this point and really shouldn't be. Chances are the core one is going to come out and just like the XL and MK4 will be extremely buggy for a good 6 months. How people still accept this is bonkers.
Swapping nozzles makes the machine worth double?
I'm not at all convinced that Prusa's main issue is the cost. Yes, cost is a huge part of it, but the other one is also just usability. When the X1C launched and later the A1, there was a huge difference in usability between what Prusa and Bambu had. Prusa is catching up and that is good. But they will have to do more on that front still, and the higher cost is less of a concern. It becomes a problem when the more expensive printer is worse too.
And it definitely worked! I got the kit and built it within 10h or so (very enjoyable time actually, like building LEGO as a kid) and have printed lots of stuff ever since. During that entire year I only had a clogged extruder one time and had to take that apart a bit. Any other issues I've had were either due to bad filaments or my own errors (not taking long overhangs or low adhesion seriously while slicing).
And all this time I have been using it completely offline with OctoPrint on an RPi.