The End of an Era: Bambu Lab X1, X1 Carbon & X1E Officially Reach End-of-Life

So it happened. The legendary Bambu Lab X1, X1 Carbon and X1E 3D printers entered a well-earned retirement. On March 31, 2026, they officially reached their end-of-life (EOL) — and will no longer be manufactured. However, users have nothing to worry about! Spare parts and service will continue for the next five years, until 2031.

Key Dates to Remember

• End of manufacturing and active sales: 2026-03-31
• Software and firmware bug fixes and feature updates: 2027-05-31
• Software and firmware security patches: 2029-05-31
• End of spare parts supply and support: 2031-03-31

Five years of support from the EOL date — that's one of many new standards Bambu Lab introduced to the industry.

The Kickstarter That Shook the Industry

Let's go back to May 2022. An unknown company from China launched a campaign on Kickstarter promising a 3D printer with 20,000 mm/s acceleration, 500 mm/s speed, a built-in camera, a dedicated neural processing unit, automatic calibration, and a multi-color printing system supporting four filament spools. And all this for a very fair price.

Hardly anyone took it seriously. Kickstarter had already seen dozens of campaigns promising to turn the market upside down, only to end in failure and embarrassment.

Except this wasn't that. Bambu Lab delivered exactly what it promised. And for the first time in the history of 3D printing, everything truly was turned upside down.

The campaign ended with over $7 million raised from 5,575 supporters — the third most successful 3D printing hardware campaign in Kickstarter history. But the result was just a prelude.

3D Printing Before Bambu Lab

Desktop FFF 3D printing in 2022 was a technology for the patient and the forgiving. Calibration before every print — a ritual, not a routine. Hours spent tweaking parameters. The first layer was an act of faith, not creation.

The market was dominated by bed-slingers — printers with moving beds that became sources of vibration, artifacts, and frustration with every increase in speed. CoreXY existed, but as an alternative. Multi-color printing was technically possible — in practice, a weekend project that stretched into a week.

Bambu Lab packaged all of this into a single device and priced it in a way that forced the entire high-end segment to rethink its strategy.

How the X1 Rewrote the Rules

Bambu Lab didn't just make good 3D printers; they were ground zero for a new era.

It was the X1 and X1C that opened the door to consumer 3D printing as people had always imagined it.

Look at what's happened in the market since 2022:

• CoreXY is now the absolute standard
• Enclosures are no longer a luxury — they're expected
• Automatic calibration has become real-time, AI-driven compensation
• The distinctive extruder design introduced by Bambu Lab has become an industry template, copied manufacturer after manufacturer

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the 3D printing industry has never flattered anyone so unanimously.

AMS changed everything about multi-color printing. When Bambu Lab first introduced it, full-color printing was accessible only to enthusiasts willing to spend hours with mods and external filament systems.

A Farewell That's Not the End

The EOL of the X1, X1 Carbon and X1E marks the end of a chapter — but not the story. Machines already in users' hands will keep working, supported until March 31, 2031.

Across forums and social media, reports have been quietly accumulating — X1 and X1C machines crossing 10,000 print hours and still running. Users who bought their machines at launch, ran them at homes, through print farms, studios, through sleepless production nights — and never had a reason to stop.

The printers weren't just fast and smart. They were built to last in a segment where built to last was rarely part of the conversation.

The X-series redefined expectations and forced the entire market into a race that continues to this day. Bambu Lab wrote new rules. And the world of 3D printing — whether it wanted to or not — started playing by them.