According to a report from The Verge, an upcoming Microsoft press event is likely to offer the first glimpse of HoloLens 2.

Microsoft sent out press invites this week to an event that it will host just ahead of MWC 2019 in Barcelona next month. Official details are very limited: the company would only say that the event will include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, CVP Julia White, and Technical Fellow Alex Kipman.

But even that gives us some clues: that Nadella will be travelling to Barcelona for MWC means this is certainly a significant press event for Microsoft. Then there’s Alex Kipmam, the visionary behind HoloLens, whose closely involved with the company’s overall AR and VR efforts. Kipman was the one to introduce the world to the original HoloLens back in 2015.

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It definitely crossed our mind that the upcoming press event could be the moment when Microsoft finally takes the wraps off of HoloLens 2, especially with the original unit being inexplicably out of stock now for weeks on end.

The Verge however reports this outright, calling the event a “HoloLens 2 press event,” and noting that it marks a return to MWC for Microsoft, which in recent years hasn’t had a major presence at the show. The confidence of the headline, written by Senior Editor Tom Warren, suggests he has reason to believe this is a HoloLens 2 event beyond what’s reported in the piece itself.

HoloLens is a standalone AR headset that has had a remarkably long lifespan as a first-gen product in a brand new device category. While the original headset was positioned for developers and enterprise, Microsoft’s long-term vision is that such devices will become part of consumer’s lives too. To that end, it isn’t clear if HoloLens 2 will attempt to make the leap into the consumer space or just aim to be the next step for existing development and enterprise use-cases. Either way, HoloLens 2 is expected to be more compact than its predecessor while expanding the limited field of view of its predecessor.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • impurekind

    Actually looking forward to this.

    Apart from the abysmal field of view, the original Hololens was actually a really slick bit of kit–it def looked very cool as a piece of hardware imo–so as long as they’ve dramatically improved the field of view then I am excited to see what they have offer.

    Roll on the near future. . . .

    • MosBen

      Yep, I’m hoping/thinking that Hololens 2 will have at least somewhat increased FOV. I’ve got a feeling that this will still be targeted at enterprise though.

  • I am hyped for this

  • Data Soul

    My guess would be better processor and maybe 10 degree feild increase. Also Might go the Magic leap and add a separate processor.

  • Smokey_the_Bear

    My (100%) guess is this: consumer device (not dev), $799, 70° FOV, stand alone AR headset.
    Rumors are saying improved comfort, which likely means they made it lighter as well, hoping to see the battery portion on the back, so it’s balanced nicely.