Earlier this month, reports circulated on social media platforms like LinkedIn about HoloLens/Microsoft Mixed Reality Partners receiving last-time-to-buy incentives for the HoloLens 2 device. It was also noted that first-generation HoloLens devices will receive a final update soon.
On the most recent episode of the Big XR News Show, Kevin ‘O Donovan, Co-Chair of the Industrial Metaverse & Digital Twin Committee, VRARA, noticed that. “Based on the news we’ve seen, they’ll get support until 2027, but I don’t see anyone investing in that.”
Regarding the HoloLens 2, Microsoft is announcing a last-time-to-buy period, which means the company will sell the remaining units on a first-come, first-served basis. These remaining devices will only be available directly through Microsoft or through official resellers. Warranty and customer/developer support remain unchanged following this announcement.
‘O Donovan explained:
If you read what’s in the press, Microsoft seems to be re-examining its strategies, as it does every few years. What do we do with the hardware? What do we do with software? Where’s the money? The HoloLens came out in 2016. In terms of technology and mixed reality, it was pretty groundbreaking 8-9 years ago, and I think they probably learned an awful lot in terms of the software ecosystem.
What is the future of Microsoft HoloLens?
While this news may seem like the end for the HoloLens 2, Microsoft plans to support the second-generation device until December 31, 2027 with updates that impact security and key features.
Jay Latta, Founder and President of The Fusionistsalso added that whenever Microsoft “touched XR hardware, it was really good, it was great, much better than their software.”
Currently, Microsoft is providing the backend for various XR implementations, such as cloud and security considerations, despite the HoloLens 2 lifecycle seemingly coming to an end.
However, Latta also noted:
You can see a pretty strong signal that Microsoft is abandoning HoloLens completely, because it’s even been removed from Windows 11, so the drivers and all this stuff are simply gone. So I expect that the technology they have used is not something you can do business with. It’s too fragile.
In addition to the final purchase announcement, Microsoft has informed its HoloLens/Mixed Reality Partner community that the first-generation HoloLens headset will receive its final update on December 10, 2024. This comes after the older device has undergone a multi-update. years, state of long-term maintenance in 2021.
Latta explained:
I suspect they might also stay in the hardware business because you can make money there. They will just continue with new technology. When you see the competitors, when you see Snap Spectacles, when you see what Meta comes with, maybe they’re focusing on something that’s going to look a little bit better. For example, when they removed mixed reality from the Windows drivers, that was also a signal that we were starting to talk about different areas. By eliminating mixed reality, they will marketing, rebrand and position themselves as competitors.
After the last update on December 10, HoloLens 1 devices will no longer receive security or software support. However, the devices will still function and Microsoft recommends that users upgrade to a HoloLens 2 product.
“I really think there will be a major shake-up in the headset market,” noted O Donovan, explaining: “the headset business is still maturing; we still have a long way to go.”
‘O Donovan noted that Microsoft also lost its largest partner, the IVAS/US military deal. “I believe that the IVAS system will once again continue to read the press. Microsoft goes are an important part of it because they provide the entire cloud and the software, but it seems like there are other players coming in with the hardware.”
Regarding the future of the HoloLens portfolio, ‘O Donovan concluded:
Who knows what happens behind Microsoft’s closed door? Maybe there will be a HoloLens 3 or something else that pops up out of nowhere, but we’ll see. Microsoft has announced that it will also be the last time it purchases HoloLens. They haven’t announced that HoloLens is completely dead, and they didn’t say they were from augmented reality. No one said they were running away.
How did HoloLens Fair go in business markets?
Despite the current uncertainty about the future of the HoloLens, Microsoft had a truly successful and groundbreaking product with the HoloLens 1 and 2. The device broke new ground as a serious business tool, bringing XR and immersive, interactive 3D workflows to businesses, most for the first time.
Amy Peck, Founder and CEO of EndeavorXRsaid: “It was groundbreaking when it came out.” Peck noted that HoloLens has changed the understanding of “the capabilities of AR, a contextual, spatially anchored, location-aware data layer in our field of view.”
Moreover, Letitia Bochud, Director of Virtual Switzerland and Chairman of the Board of Directors of XR4Europeechoed the groundbreaking sentiment, adding that “in Europe I would say mixed reality came in with Microsoft HoloLens, especially for remote assistance.”
Bochud further explained that European industries, such as “major travel, railways or airlines,” were introducing remote assistance through HoloLens; But now “it’s going to turn into something else,” she noted.
Bochurd added:
Because new MRI glasses and new arrivals do not look safe, they will not work for people working in tunnels, on roads and in factories and facilities. So they won’t have the same use cases [as HoloLens]. That worries me a little bit because it was on the rise here, especially in the areas of architecture, engineering and construction.
Jennifer Rogers, Executive Officer, Learning Technology Standards Committee at the IEEEalso added that “HoloLens brought a lot of things to the table.”
However, Rogers said of the HoloLens form factor:
In remote support, where colleagues are outside in uncontrolled environments, situational awareness and field of view, especially peripheral vision, are critical. We didn’t really get to use HoloLens. Everything about the form factor really doesn’t work when you’re in complex, challenging real-world environments, where support for remote control probably makes the most sense from a use case because the environment is unpredictable and you have a colleague on the other end who can see what you see and give you the best advice. Unfortunately, the form factor never really worked super well for that specific environment, which applies not only to a defense scenario, but also to heavy industry, energy and all those spaces.
Peck also stated that the XR headset market in general is “still fighting the hardware, the ability to scale down the processing power, and the ability to have the small device.
The future of Microsoft supporting XR Enterprise deployment
As mentioned, HoloLens is not Microsoft’s only XR avenue. Through systems like Azure Cloud services, the company helps support AR/VR/MR workflows and computing.
Rogers explained:
Microsoft discovered that. If you look at large organizations and enterprises, most of them have heavy, heavy involvement with Microsoft infrastructure. That’s how you can take what these companies have and take advantage of that to deliver the XR use case experience.
“Microsoft is very well positioned in this area,” Rogers explains. From a back-end infrastructure perspective, “Microsoft is already in an ideal position, so why not take advantage of that and provide an experience for enterprises to get to the next level?”
With Microsoft potentially dropping the hardware component, “it will be interesting to see if, as we continue to iterate on the form factor and what’s going on there, they decide to get back into that space,” Rogers concluded.
