xTool unveils X1 for five laser types, keeps price to itself

Why it matters

The X1 could push desktop fabrication toward upgradeable hardware, giving xTool repeat module sales while letting small shops add CO2, diode, fiber, MOPA or UV capability without buying a separate machine for every process. Its undisclosed price and work area still prevent a useful comparison with Creality, Glowforge and other alternatives.

Makeblock founder and CEO Jasen Wang unveiled the xTool X1 on August 28, combining gantry cutting, galvo engraving and support for five laser types in one expandable desktop platform. xTool is a brand owned by Makeblock Co., Ltd., and the hardware is Wang's clearest attempt yet to organize its growing fabrication catalog around a common chassis.

The August 28 launch announcement describes a base configuration with a 55W CO2 laser and a galvo head carrying a 20W diode laser. Optional 30W fiber, 60W MOPA and 5W UV sources are designed to feed through the same optical system. That would let an owner move among cutting wood and acrylic, high-speed engraving, metal marking and detail work without maintaining a separate machine for each process.

xTool has not published the X1's price, final working dimensions, power requirements, safety certifications or confirmed shipping date. The cost of the optional modules will determine whether Wang has produced a cheaper route to expansion or an expensive chassis that eventually accumulates an expensive set of attachments.

Wang's second hardware reinvention

Wang studied aircraft design at Northwestern Polytechnical University and built soccer robots while participating in university robotics competitions, according to a founder profile from CompassList. He founded Makeblock after graduation, initially building educational construction kits and robots. Forbes reported that Wang grew up in a poor village with limited access to computers and electronic toys before encountering programming and robotics at university.

The xTool brand emerged in 2021 as Makeblock moved deeper into personal fabrication following weakness in China's education market. Wang saw an opening in laser cutters, a consumer-hardware category drawing fewer builders than 3D printers, according to an HSG founder profile. xTool found buyers among American and European makers, home workshops and small merchants producing customized goods.

That history explains the X1's intended customer. xTool introduced the machine in Mountain View during its first small-business summit and named Etsy and Shopify sellers among the target users. An owner's next order may require a larger sign, faster batch engraving or a material that the current laser cannot process. The X1 tries to make that additional capability an upgrade instead of another machine.

One chassis, two motion systems

Most desktop lasers make an architectural tradeoff. Gantry machines move a head across rails, providing a larger work area for cutting panels and signs. Galvo machines steer the beam with mirrors, producing much faster movement within a smaller field.

xTool calls its answer Hybrid Motion. The four-axis system coordinates gantry movement with galvo scanning, and xTool claims a maximum processing speed of 6,000 mm/s. Independent testing has not established whether the X1 can maintain useful precision at that speed or how performance changes across its working area.

The second piece, Laser Swap, is the larger commercial bet. xTool says additional sources can be routed through a shared optical path into the galvo head. Different laser wavelengths have distinct alignment, calibration and thermal requirements, so the value will depend on whether owners can change modules without lengthy setup or specialist servicing.

The finished hardware has yet to receive independent hands-on testing.

xTool also says its UniCast Frame replaces almost 100 assembled parts and over 268 screws with three large aluminum structures made using 4,000-ton high-pressure die casting. Fewer joints should reduce tolerance problems in a machine moving two optical systems at high speed. Long-term accuracy under production workloads remains unproven.

Creality and Glowforge already sell different answers

The modular desktop-laser pitch is not unique to xTool. Creality Falcon's T1, marketed as a modular 5-in-1 workstation, supports interchangeable diode, fiber, UV and MOPA modules. The X1 adds a 55W CO2 source to its base architecture and combines gantry movement with a galvo-mounted diode laser, giving it a different configuration for buyers who need both larger-format cutting and fast engraving.

Glowforge takes a more appliance-like approach with enclosed CO2 and diode systems, cloud-based design tools, camera previews and passthrough cutting on supported models. Buyers choose among separate machines instead of adding fiber, MOPA and UV sources to a shared chassis. xTool's own buyer guide identifies Glowforge and the Flux Beambox Pro as alternatives in the broader desktop-laser category.

Portable systems provide another comparison. LaserPecker's LP4 combines a 10W diode laser with a 2W infrared source and advertises speeds up to 4,000 mm/s, emphasizing portability and offline operation. The X1's claimed 6,000 mm/s peak and wider range of laser sources are more ambitious, but its undisclosed work area and price prevent a meaningful cost or throughput comparison with any of these machines.

The platform economics are still blank

The X1 arrives as xTool broadens well beyond the diode engravers that established the brand. Its current US store spans CO2 cutters, portable galvo engravers, MOPA and UV systems, printers, heat presses, laser welding equipment and CNC cutting hardware. xTool opened a Mountain View headquarters in July 2025 to support the US market, while Makeblock remains based in Shenzhen.

That expansion has produced a complicated catalog. The X1 gives Wang a chance to consolidate part of it around a base machine, paid modules and shared software. It could also produce repeat revenue as owners add laser sources, accessories, materials and services.

xTool is also extending its product lineup beyond lasers. Its Atomm software converts prompts and photos into production-ready designs, proposes material settings and generates mockups, according to the X1 announcement. At the launch event, xTool demonstrated a workflow linking its O1 Omni Printer with an SE1 embroidery and sewing machine. xTool also claimed the O1 generated more than $20 million in revenue and sold over 6,000 units on its first day. Those sales figures have not been independently audited.

The financial incentive is substantial. In a Hong Kong listing application filed in January 2026, xTool reported revenue of 1.46 billion yuan in 2023, 2.48 billion yuan in 2024 and 1.78 billion yuan during the first nine months of 2025. It also claimed a 47% share of the global laser engraver and cutter market by gross merchandise value during those nine months, citing commissioned market research. The same research materials report more than 500,000 users, over 80 million projects and an entrepreneur share of 60%; those are xTool-supplied figures.

Wang has backing and distribution inherited from Makeblock. Makeblock disclosed a $6 million Series A, a $30 million Series B and a $44 million Series C. Makeblock's 2018 Series C announcement said CICC Alpha led the RMB 300 million round, with Yuexiu Industrial Investment Fund, GX Capital and Everest Capital participating, at a stated valuation of RMB 2.5 billion, then approximately $367 million. Sequoia Capital led the earlier Series A, according to Forbes.

At the time of that 2018 financing, Makeblock said it employed 500 people, worked with more than 1,600 channel partners, operated in more than 140 countries and regions, and supplied products used by over 20,000 schools. Those historical figures do not establish xTool's current headcount, but they show the sales and manufacturing base behind Wang's expansion into fabrication hardware.

The X1 comes from an established hardware vendor with distribution, software and an existing customer base. Its current products range from the $599 M2 to the $7,999 F2 Ultra MOPA and UV bundle, leaving a wide pricing band for the new platform. xTool has not said whether the X1 will replace existing systems or sit above them.

Price will settle much of the argument. A modular machine is attractive when owners can buy capability as orders justify it. The model loses its advantage if the chassis and modules cost as much as several independent machines, especially because a failure in the shared platform could stop every supported workflow at once.

Wang has spent over a decade trying to make physical creation easier. The X1 applies that idea to the next stage of a maker's business: growing without filling the workshop with another box every time customers ask for something new. xTool has shown the architecture. Buyers still need the bill, the measurements and evidence that all those lasers can work together outside a launch presentation.