What you need to know
- Microsoft's Vice President of Mixed Reality has commented on the future of HoloLens.
- The company says the next HoloLens will need to be a "meaningful update."
- HoloLens 3 will focus on displays, tracking, sensors, and battery life updates.
The future of HoloLens has been uncertain in recent months. After multiple sources came forward to detail how the HoloLens team was trapped in a state of confusion and uncertainty over what was next for the hardware and software, and with ex-HoloLens lead Alex Kipman no longer at Microsoft after he resigned, the future of HoloLens has never been so unclear.
HoloLens was ahead of its time and has been at the forefront of augmented reality in the industrial and enterprise markets. With the "metaverse" becoming increasingly popular in these fields, HoloLens needs to stay relevant. In a blog post detailing HoloLens' role in the industrial metaverse, the company has shared some comments on the future of HoloLens as a whole.
Microsoft's Vice President of Mixed Reality, Scott Evans, has promised customers that the company will continue to deliver new versions of HoloLens when the time is right and that the next HoloLens needs to be a more meaningful update to make any sense for customers.
"No one wants to be obsoleted for 10% better capabilities. They don’t need a successor yet, but they want to know it will be there at the right time," said Evans. Microsoft reckons customers aren't yet yearning for new hardware and therefore don't feel it necessary to deliver a HoloLens 3 just yet.
Evans continued, "we’re just looking for the right design point to make it a meaningful update. They want a successor device that’s going to enable an even higher return on investment." The company says it's focused on improving the displays, tracking, sensors, and battery life for the next HoloLens.
These comments suggest the company does plan to continue building HoloLens products in the future. While a HoloLens 3 for 2023 may have been scrapped, that doesn't mean we won't eventually see a HoloLens 3 ship in the future, perhaps when the time is right and the hardware has further improved.
For now, the HoloLens hardware teams operate under the Windows & Devices division, led by Microsoft Executive Vice President & Chief Product Officer Panos Panay. Meta just recently launched the Meta Quest Pro for $1,599 and is a hybrid AR and VR headset that might be the HoloLens 2's first true rival.
