Magic Leap’s next-gen AR headset, Magic Leap 2, is officially slated to launch sometime in 2021. Company founder and CEO Rony Abovitz says in a Forbes interview that ML2 will be targeting enterprise and early prosumers, calling it “a major new platform packed with sensors, and advanced optics.”

Speaking to Forbes, Abovitz says its next headset is now passing through its final build stages, although he didn’t delve into specifics regarding any of the device’s upcoming features, saying only that the company plans to work with customers to perfect the Magic Leap 2 throughout 2020—exactly how, he wouldn’t say.

In a bid to further position itself as a solution for businesses, Magic Leap has now done away with the Magic Leap One Creator Edition moniker, replacing it simply with ‘Magic Leap 1’.

The $2,300 base price tag is still the same, and it doesn’t appear to be physically different in any way from the Creator Edition, which was launched in August 2018. However now the company is ostensibly trying to attract enterprise users, as its newly updated website puts professional use cases front and center—a definite change in tone from the quasi-consumer approach the company has taken since launch, which has showcased games, music apps, and experiences as the platform’s biggest draws.

The company has also put together a Magic Leap 1 ‘Enterprise Suite’ package, priced at $3,000, which includes two years of access to the company’s newly released Device Manager software, enterprise support, limited warranty, and rapid replace plan.

Some of this likely comes as response to a damning report recently released by The Information that alleges the company only sold 6,000 Magic Leap One headsets in the first six months after launch.

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That same report maintains that Magic Leap Two will include 5G connectivity, a wider field of view, a smaller and lighter form factor, and different color options. The report claims however this second iteration may be stymied by “fundamental technology constraints,” making a hardware refresh a possibility too. Critically, Magic Leap disavowed the report, calling it “littered with inaccuracies.”

Whatever form Magic Leap 2 takes, one thing is for certain: the company is taking a clear step back from its ambitions as a consumer device, and meanwhile locking down street cred as a business-friendly device provider, putting it in closer competition with Microsoft’s HoloLens platform. Its 2021 release date is also encroaching upon the same time frame Apple reportedly could release its first AR device too. Where those two dots connect, we can’t say just yet (especially since the Apple report is unsubstantiated), but it seems the roaring ’20s are going to be a very interesting decade for AR, to say the least.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • NooYawker

    It’ll be just like the Hololens 2.

    • Malkmus

      The current device is already on par with Hololens 2, and it came out 18 months ago.

      • Smokey_the_Bear

        HL2 has a wider FOV, and it looks better.

        • Malkmus

          And ML1’s FOV is taller. You’re talking about differences in the one percent range. They’re essentially the same unless you’re splitting hairs.

      • asdf

        no no no no. have you used them both? the HL2 is sooooo far ahead of the ml

        • Malkmus

          Please share how. Both headsets have advantages over each other. But they also share the same specs anyone cares about like FOV, eye tracking, hand tracking, iris login, and voice detection. Personally I think Hololens is better suited for enterprise because it’s all in one but people need to get over this ideas that it’s somehow far superior. They’re as similar as the Rift and Vive.

      • Gato Satanista

        Hey people, there is one here! Malkmus! A magicleap fanboy! We thought that they no longer exists but… Look! They survived! He is really still defending Magic Leap in foruns??? Did he saw all the lies? Did he saw the Magic Leap CEO in a TED TALK using an astronaut suit? Lets put eletrodes in his brain and start a research!! Maybe the Hololens 2 and ML one have similar qualities but… Magic Leap is far away from Microsoft in lies and marketing bullshit.

        All the glory to Microsoft and moderately lying companies.

  • Really? It’s not that I’m surprised, it’s that I’m surprised they are being so upfront with giving up. Most people knew they were a scam, but I gotta imagine those pie-eyed backers at least wanted to *pretend* Magic Leap was a legit company for just a little while longer before throwing in the towel on their absurd vision of the future. This is a very public step back.

    It might not LEGALLY be fraud, but it’s a sizable blow to the morale. It’s an admittance they are unlikely to ever reach consumer hands. This is a niche device for businesses and unlikely to ever be anything more. Not a revolution for society, as they proudly boasted, but a rather a blip, rarely seem out of news posts.

    Let’s compare this to a legitimate company, like say Oculus. Oculus was also a company crowd funded into existence, but with real goals and honest actions. They made product after product, focusing on getting their hardware out there to anyone that wanted it. They never resorted to fantasy. Magic Leap is a scam designed rack in money. It’s the lesser brother to the Hololens, floated on fat money bilked from the pockets of the naive, uninformed, and gullible. They never had any REAL intention for their vision, just alot of talk and videos.

    Of course, I can’t blame Magic Leap entirely. Why has media outlets been so keen on letting them slide for so long? This paper tiger should have been torn down right after they showed a video of a whale jumping through the floor of a cheering gymnasium. A few old fat cats with piles of cash can believe in all sorts of tech hype, but why have tech journalists accepted ANY OF THIS NONSENSE? The second we saw their first real hardware we all knew they didn’t have any super-secret, advanced display technology up their sleeves. This magic-act from Magic Leap was shown to be all strings and mirrors several years ago. And STILL people pretend they aren’t a bad joke.

    All we should hear about Magic Leap is that Microsoft did the same thing, better, and FIRST, and Magic Leap will NEVER live up to any of their BS videos. Just repeat that, again and again, until Magic Leap’s backers wake up and start demanding their money back! For godsakes, they are trying to get even MORE funding now! STOP THEM! We’re watching a robbery in progress! Stop filming it for YouTube and call the cops!

    • Malkmus

      I’m surprised they are being so upfront with giving up.

      Giving up is stating that their next gen product is coming in roughly a year and announcing a bunch of enterprise partnerships in the meantime?

      • aasdfa

        giving up is having to pivot your entire product even after selling it as being the next great thing.

        • Malkmus

          “ML2 will be targeting enterprise and early prosumers“.

          That’s keeping line with their current demographic. Enterprise just should have been a strong focus as well since the start.

          • fdad

            Prosumers may as well be rich people only. It’s far more niche than regular VR/AR consumers. Like the new Mac.

    • Gato Satanista

      “This is a niche device for businesses and unlikely to ever be anything more”
      [[ UNLIKELY TO EVER BE ANYTHING MORE?????]] Are you serious dude?? You really just said that? ML is a scam, sure. I agree. AR is not ready for consumer. I agree. But 10 years in the future, 20, 30 years… do you really think that the AR tech will be forever doomed to high priced and bulky devices?? You really think that people doesnt have interest in play with holograms in real world??? Are you blind???

  • flamaest

    All those demos suck.

  • This pivot was to be done since start. Targeting consumers with this expensive device has been a stupid idea, and now MS is years ahead in enterprise customers management

    • Debbra

      I am outsourcing from the solace of my home, completing some basic jobs which only demand from you a PC and net access and it’s the very best occupation I at any point needed…. Six months have passed since I started this and I made in total $36,000… Basically I profit close to 80 dollars/hourly and work for 3-4 hrs daily.And the best part about it is that you can work when it’s convenient to you and you get paid weekly > hackflowerpot.am-strand.de

      • trekkie

        @disqus_o8Rfo2k1nP:disqus Good. You now need to go buy Magic Leap. And you wont have to work at all !

  • Ardra Diva

    Every time I hear “prosumer” I think of the Portlandia skit CREATIVE JUNGLE.

  • fuyou2

    MAGIC LEAP ARE CUNTS!!! SIMPLE AS THAT…

    • trekkie

      Now available in different colors.

  • trekkie

    Finally WOW !!!! Different color options !!! Thats awesome !! I have been waiting for this moment all my life ! This is what the AR industry needs. Consumers will love it and buy it in the millions. Blue, pink, orange, green, purple, violet, yellow… damn I am crying ….

  • A day late on this one, but sadly as many here have said from almost day one, Magic Leap was misleading an entire industry. I just wonder what they showed so many investors that would have persuaded them to give out millions of dollars like it was candy? Also, were none of these investors educated enough in manufacturing or even lab based XR to know that pushing a fixed static prototype into compact fashionable eyewear that could fool the user in believing the 3D objects in their field of view could not be distinguished from the world around them? Or seeing a whale come out of basketball court floor might diminish the effect with the current FOV of anything even in labs at that time? I would think I someone would have questioned something?

    Sadly when ML Creator one came out, we saw Rony Abovitz for what he was. A Steve Jobs wantabe, who felt he was entitled to Steve’s reality distortion powers. 2021 will be great year for XR viewing devices, but it will be for the company he tried to mimic without their decades of successes and failures that earned them their lofty position — Apple.