It wouldn't surprise me if Prusa abandons kits
Would be curious to find out what the percentage of support calls there were for Core One kits versus past kits (MK4 etc) per units sold. I bet it was a lot higher given the complexity of the CoreXY setup.
I'm just guessing of course but I wouldn't be surprised if future printers only come in assembled or semi-assembled form and that Prusa switches over to SLS printed parts.
There is just no way Prusa can move the Core One forward, keep it in a kit form and then not get inundated with support calls keeping a 24/7 support team tied down.
RE: It wouldn't surprise me if Prusa abandons kits
This would be very sad. The high-quality kits are what makes Prusa special - if they don't have a kit then the printers will of course become less repairable, and the cost of ownership will go up. At that point Bambu will have won. I for one will never buy a pre-built printer (although "never" isn't as long for me as some others here 😀 ).
It's not obvious to me that kit owners require any more cost to support than pre-built owners. There's a trade-off between ability to try onsite repairs (kit owners) versus sending back the entire printer (pre-built owners).
Prusa MK4 since Jan 2024, Printables: @MikeB_1505898
RE: It wouldn't surprise me if Prusa abandons kits
After my Bambo 5 head nightmare experience I opted for the XL SINGLE head semi assembled.
I decided no more complexity!
It's been just fine