[kguttag]

Thanks,

The rumor mill is that Microsoft has slowed down development of HL3 development with many people leaving. Most famously, Bernard Kress, and optical architect of Hololens 1 and 2 has left for Google.

There were very few Magic Leap Ones ever sold. The number I hear is between 5,000 and 10,000 units sold for money with about as many units given away.

Hololens 2 seems to be shipping about 70K to 100K units per year but it is not clear if that has peaked or not. The display quality is very poor as I have written about extensively, but the ergonomics are good enough for some industrial applications.

I get the sense that ML2 was too far gone and with money running out to react to ML2 and thus still has terrible ergonomics. With blocking 80% of the light, not supporting ordinary glasses, and having a cable which is a snag hazard, the future looks bleak for Magic Leap 2 as it was for ML1. I don't know if they would have been a success, but at least they would have had a shot in the same space as HL2 if they had reworked the serious ergonomic problems. The dimming feature is a differentiation that resulted in them missing the market altogether.

[binarynate]

Thank you very much for the info! The detail about Kress joining Google is fascinating, as is the contrast in sales numbers for Hololens 2 and ML1. Hololens 2 is the most advanced AR headset that I've used so far, so it's helpful to hear from you that its display quality is poor compared to others. Despite the display quality, I've been blown away by what it's capable of, and I look forward to seeing how this space evolves over the next 5 years.

[mustacheemperor]

I was tentatively excited for the prospect of the magic leap 2 being a successor or alternative to the hololens 2 in industrial / job site environments so am definitely disappointed to hear it has the same problems in those contexts as the magic leap 1. The ML1 was a complete non starter for us because it’s a physical safety hazard in any risky environment.

Thanks as always for your coverage on this stuff.