Virtual Reality

Magic Leap reveals plans for a second-generation AR headset

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Magic Leap says its second-generation AR headset will be the lightest on the market
Magic Leap
Magic Leap says its second-generation AR headset will be the lightest on the market
Magic Leap
Magic Leap has announced plans to launch a second AR headset
Magic Leap

Three years after finally launching its debut augmented reality headset, Magic Leap has outlined plans for a follow-up. The announcement comes as the startup reveals a fresh round of funding to the tune of US$500 million, and continues a shift toward the enterprise market.

After much mystery, years of teasers and a whole lot of hype, Magic Leap launched its One Creator Edition headset in 2018 for select customers at a price of $2,295. Like other augmented reality headsets such as the Microsoft HoloLens, Magic Leap's technology lays computer graphics over the top of the real world, with users interacting with that mixed reality through a headset powered by a small unit worn on the waist.

In the time since it started rolling out that first headset, Magic Leap has endured a rocky road on the business side of things. It was moved to cut half of its jobs, laying off around 1,000 employees as the impact of the pandemic took hold last year, and began to focus its attention on the enterprise market rather than delivering a consumer product.

Despite the discordance between the hype around AR and actual practical benefits of the technology, Magic Leap is continuing this push into the world of enterprise applications with a new CEO at the helm – Microsoft's former VP of Business Development Peggy Johnson. The company says the further $500 million in funding and new valuation of around $2 billion will advance these efforts, and assist the roll-out of its second-generation product Magic Leap 2.

Magic Leap has announced plans to launch a second AR headset
Magic Leap

As was the case with the original, details are scarce on this forthcoming headset, though Magic Leap says it will feature an increased field of view and first-of-a-kind dimming functionality for use in bright settings. It is also claimed that Magic Leap 2 will be the smallest and lightest AR headset designed for enterprise adoption, and is built so that "you can put on your head in the morning and wear all day long."

The company says it is now working to bring Magic Leap 2 to market with general availability slated for 2022.

Source: Magic Leap

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3 comments
Smokey_Bear
while is still looks kinda dumb, it's way smaller then Microsoft Hololens 2. So if they price in under that, they might get some decent traction. Of course the Hololens is an all-in-one, while this appears to stick with their method of a separate device that goes in your pocket.
christopher
Selling the dev kits was a stupid idea. The only people who could afford them, by necessity, had to be already-employed someplace and thus no time to spend building stuff to use on them.

They should have given them away.

I feel sorry for all the investors, and even more sorry for all the unfunded awesome ideas that never get to see the light of day because this silly company sucked away all those useful investment funds.
Aermaco
This will be a great potential for deaf people to read text of all the voices in their area.

The issue of convergence accommodation disparity still remains in AR with the imperfect simultaneous focus on displays over real world multi focal depths which can create nausea etc.