Microsoft today announced that its latest AR headset, HoloLens 2, is finally shipping. The headset can be purchased directly for $3,500 or rented for $125 per month.

Microsoft announced HoloLens 2 back in February and has started selling the headset today. Though pricey at $3,500, HoloLens 2 is actually cheaper than its predecessor which launched at $5,000. In addition to the outright purchase price, Microsoft is also renting headset to businesses for $125 per month, and will later launch a developer edition priced at $100 per month.

Image courtesy Microsoft

Like the original, HoloLens 2 is positioned as an enterprise-focused device. Microsoft envisions companies using the headset for design, remote assistance, training, visualization, collaboration, architecture, construction, and much more.

HoloLens 2 Specs

The official specs confirm the headset’s weight at 566 grams and ‘active use’ battery life at 2–3 hours. Here’s the full spec sheet:

Display

Optics See-through holographic lenses (waveguides)
Resolution 2k 3:2 light engines
Holographic density >2.5k radiants (light points per radian)
Eye-based rendering Display optimization for 3D eye position

Sensors

Head tracking 4 visible light cameras
Eye tracking 2 IR cameras
Depth 1-MP time-of-flight (ToF) depth sensor
IMU Accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer
Camera 8-MP stills, 1080p30 video

Audio and speech

Microphone array 5 channels
Speakers Built-in spatial sound

Human understanding

Hand tracking Two-handed fully articulated model, direct manipulation
Eye tracking Real-time tracking
Voice Command and control on-device; natural language with internet connectivity
Windows Hello Enterprise-grade security with iris recognition

Environment understanding

6DoF tracking World-scale positional tracking
Spatial Mapping Real-time environment mesh
Mixed Reality Capture Mixed hologram and physical environment photos and videos

Compute and connectivity

SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 Compute Platform
HPU Second-generation custom-built holographic processing unit
Memory 4-GB LPDDR4x system DRAM
Storage 64-GB UFS 2.1
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac 2×2)
Bluetooth 5
USB USB Type-C

Fit

Single size
Fits over glasses
Weight 566g
Image courtesy WalkingCat

Aside from field of view and resolution improvements, HoloLens 2 also launches out of the gate with full hand-tracking. This is a huge improvement over the ‘air tap’ gesture that was relied upon with the original headset. With hand-tracking users will be able to more naturally and directly interact with augmented reality content.

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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."
  • Kasey

    After 5 yrs I decided I would get away from my previous work and it changed my daily life… I started off working on a task on the internet, for a corporation I located on the internet, for a number of hours per day, and I earn way more than I have done on my old job… Very last payment I got was Nine thousand bucks… Wonderful thing about this is the fact that I get additional time for my family. Test it out, what it’s all about… w89.me/28oc

  • asdf

    eat a dick

  • mellott124

    Having deja vu, and I still don’t see a buy button.

  • Immersive Computing

    Looking forward to trying the new generation, I’ve had the pleasure of using the original several times and thoroughly enjoyed the sessions.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/963ec74043c29698c2d79410043a7802147781067075f56b117d1af9bc7253c7.jpg

  • sfmike

    The corporate flacks now think this is their big money tech savior. Maybe they will get interested in VR again after this proves not to make a billion dollars in two quarters after launch.

  • AR Glasses are always Enterprise.

    You’ll find not one consumer version unless its hot garbage.

  • Kim from Texas

    Hope there is a review of this product soon. I am interested in knowing more about field of view. One of the big problems with the previous version is the field of view was really, really tiny.

    • Immersive Computing

      Increased FOV is welcome, I found Magic Leap’s slight increase over original Hololens to be very noticeable and preferred Magic Leap in that respect. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/56b4a259b360619976abcad56af7c29ff23966f49d953ab064ba43d17b71249b.jpg

      • You should try the North Star AR headset then!

        • Immersive Computing

          Would love to… you built one yet?

      • Kim from Texas

        Magic Leap is not an option for me due to my eye glass prescription, and contacts do not work for me. (I am aware of the prescription inserts that Magic Leap sells) This is one of the advantages of the Microsoft solution is that you can use them over your existing glasses.

        • dota

          hmmm
          eye wear is all about ergonomics
          the more comfier wins

    • dk

      fov is basically the same as ML1 just sightly less square

  • dota

    wonderful specs
    I especially like optical waveguide tech
    Hope in future they’d make it like that of Spiderman
    (with a separate proc. unit connected with usb, it could be possible)

  • Kenji Fujimori

    Blue screen of death in AR

  • Kenji Fujimori

    Praising monopolies to become more monopolies in all fields. Google and apple creeping further into the market. Here’s an idea how about a non monopoly?

  • dk

    bots have families too?

  • Ardra Diva

    the only truly disappointing thing about Hololens is the 50-degree FOV. Otherwise it’s amazing. One reviewer described it as “sorcery”. Good times ahead. We have to get past these baby steps before we can have amazing. It’s been 4 years since Google Cardboard – we have seen amazing leaps in that amount of time.

  • Ardra Diva

    The only truly disappointing thing about Hololens is its 50-degree FOV. Otherwise pretty incredible. One reviewer described it as “sorcery”. We have to get past these baby steps before we can have amazing. Cardboard was released 4 years ago – we have seen improvements in leaps and bounds just in that short amount of time. What will the next 4 years bring? Incremental upgrades, but the visors 4 years from now should be lights-out better than what we have today.

  • No mention of FOV and brightness?