What you need to know
- HoloLens 2 Development Edition is now available in the U.S.
- Pricing remains $3,500, but you'll get free Azure credits and 3-month licenses for Unity Pro and more.
- A $99 per month fincancing option is expected in 2021.
- HoloLens 2 Development Edition is available at Microsoft.
HoloLens developers in the U.S. can now get their hands on a HoloLens 2 Development Edition. Microsoft announced the availability today, noting that the Development Edition headset will be headed to more countries by the end of the year.
Pricing remains the same as the standalone headset, which went on general sale at the Microsoft Store earlier this year. For 3,500 you'll get the headset, along with $500 worth of Azure credits. Microsoft also includes 3-month licenses to Unity Pro, along with the Pixyz plugin.
The total value of the package, Microsoft says, comes in at $4,750, so you're getting quite a bit extra for your $3,500.
If you live outside of the U.S., Microsoft says that it expects to make the HoloLens 2 Development Edition available in Canada, Germany, France, UK, Ireland, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Italy by the end of 2020. In 2021, the company says it also plans to make a financing option available for $99 per month.
The HoloLens 2 builds on the original, upgrading nearly everything that made it an interesting piece of tech. that includes a new carbon fiber body, eye tracking, a wider field of view, and extra padding. It also now runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 compute platform with 4GB of RAM.
For more on the HoloLens 2, check out our early hands-on from 2019. Otherwise, developers in the U.S. can order their Development Edition headsets now.
HoloLens, but better
HoloLens 2 takes everything that made the original great and turns it up to 11. With a new carbon-fiber body, extra padding, eye tracking, and a wider field of view, the headset should have no problem finding success among developers and firstline workers.
