Microsoft is developing a glasses-style version of HoloLens, which may be aimed at the consumer market

At the MWC conference held in February this year, Microsoft officially released the new generation of MR computing device HoloLens 2, but this new MR headset is still aimed at the commercial market. Alex Kipman, the head of the HoloLens team, has revealed some views on the consumer version in many interviews, but this seems to contradict the future development forecast of MR presented by Microsoft at the first Mixed Reality Development Day held at the beginning of the month.

Now, perhaps there is one thing that can explain some of the contradictory statements. According to an interview report published by NDTV, Microsoft is already developing a "glasses style" version of HoloLens, and this is likely to be the low-end AR device listed in Microsoft's forecast table, which is likely to be the main consumer market.

Further reading :

Microsoft predicts that by 2025, high-end AR will be equipped with 5K screen and 120-degree FOV, and the price will drop to $2,000

Greg Sullivan, Director of Communications of Microsoft's MR division, said in an interview that the company will not only focus on the commercial market, but also plans to provide a more affordable version of HoloLens for the end-consumer market.

Greg Sullivan also talked about the glasses-style HoloLens version. He said: "We have people studying how to gradually realize the next time period (version), but there is also a group of researchers working on a longer-term version (glasses-style HoloLens version). They are very smart, most of them are doctoral scientists."

In the forecast released not long ago, Microsoft showed that the high-end AR and low-end AR in 2016 belonged to the same model, and Microsoft HoloLens 2 was very consistent with the specifications, but it was not officially launched until 2019. Microsoft predicts that the price of high-end AR in 2020 is expected to be US$2,500, equipped with a 4K display and 70-degree FOV, and the price of low-end AR is expected to be US$2,000, equipped with a 2K display and 60-degree FOV.

From Microsoft's predictions, we can boldly guess that starting with HoloLens 3, two different versions of HoloLens may be provided, and eventually develop into a product for the high-end market and a product for the low-end market. And HoloLens 3 is likely to be released in 2021-2022.