IT House February 3 news, Microsoft's AR direction seems to be divergent, the future of the HoloLens 3 headset can not be determined.
According to a report by Business Insider, Microsoft has canceled plans to release HoloLens 3. The report cites sources inside Microsoft, one of which specifically noted that this could be the end of the HoloLens hardware road.
The core of the problem, the report said, has to do with Microsoft's indecision. The company recently secured a government contract to work with the military to develop an integrated vision enhancement system (IVAS) based on HoloLens technology. However, these efforts did not meet expectations, and disagreements arose within Microsoft.
While some at Microsoft — including HoloLes CEO Alex Kipman — want to bring HoloLens to consumers, others believe Microsoft should continue to invest in businesses and IVAS-like contracts.
The report also notes that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella prefers to provide other companies with metaverse development software for AR and MR headsets rather than building the hardware herself. Microsoft is said to have worked with Samsung to build hardware to run Microsoft's software, but there hasn't been any progress in this partnership.
IT House understands that plans for the HoloLens 3 were canceled in the summer of 2021.