Magic Leap, the mysterious augmented reality headset company, has apparently begun shipping its first wave of Magic Leap One AR systems to partners in limited numbers.

Citing “people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reports a small group of unnamed software developers recently received test units. Highlighting the startup’s ongoing insistence on complete secrecy surrounding their first product, the report maintains recipients must keep the AR headset locked away in a safe.

A Magic Leap spokesman confirmed to Bloomberg that a limited number of devices have gone out to partner developers, but that wider distribution is still slated for later this year.

Image courtesy Magic Leap

The company has announced a few strategic content partnerships in entertainment, including the NBA and Weta Gameshop, although its full list of content partners hasn’t been made public yet. While the Magic Leap SDK is now out in the wild, to date, the company has only shown its hardware in a controlled environment and under the strict confines of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), which prohibits users from releasing anything but general impressions.

First officially unveiled in December last year, the Magic Leap One system comes in three pieces: the ‘Lightwear’ AR headset, a tethered ‘Lightpack’ processing unit that clips to your belt, and a 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF) motion controller simply called ‘Control’.

image captured by Road to VR

Still one of the greatest sources of insider info on the upcoming AR headset is a Rolling Stone exclusive from late last year that details the Magic Leap One hardware including a rough estimate of the headset’s field of view (FOV). According to Rolling Stone‘s Brian Crecente, the headset’s FOV compares to “a VHS tape held in front of you with your arms half extended.” This is emblematic of the sort of information publicly available on Magic Leap One, as the company is staying mum on definitive hardware specs.

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Magic Leap says the headset itself boasts a “spatial interface [with] multiple input modes including voice, gesture, head pose and eye tracking.” The headset’s sensor suite can detect surfaces, planes and objects – something integral to tracking the physical world as digital light-field imagery is ostensibly displayed realistically thanks eye tracking-assisted replication of depth of field.

The system’s real-time computer vision processor is still somewhat of a black box, as it is said to deliver “high-fidelity, gaming-quality graphics, with the power and performance of a laptop computer.”

No release date or pricing is available at the moment, although the company has gone on record to say Magic Leap One will be priced similar to a “premium computer,” and that it would be shipping in 2018.

We’ll hopefully have a better picture of what’s exactly under the hood closer to launch of the Magic Leap One Creator Edition later this year. There’s always anonymous developer leaks, and you can be sure we’ll have eyes peeled for those too.

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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.
  • Nice! about time!

  • Courtney A Jeff

    All we need is Jesus…what is seen is temporary and what’s unseen is eternal.Jesus said to Thomas you believe because you have seen but blessed are those who believe and haven’t seen.

    • dk

      in the mean time watch Yahweh Brahma Cthulhu stuff in vr ….like that Hallelujah light field video recourding

    • Hivemind9000

      I had a similar pitch from a new crypto startup ICO. Then they disappeared with all my money.

    • WyrdestGeek

      Doubting Thomas is my hero.

      • EricD

        You know Thomas gets a rap. lol He also once said, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him. (Jesus) . All 11 disciples doubted the women that came to them to tell them that they had saw the Lord. John 1116 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

    • Jerald Doerr

      My kid loves Thomas The Train!

    • brandon9271

      Will i go to hell for flagging this as spam?

      • Courtney A Jeff

        You will only be like the nazi youth that would report their own parents.

        • brandon9271

          Oh, i apologize. I thought you were a spammer. I didn’t know you were mentally ill

          • Courtney A Jeff

            What spammer will be bold enough to share their faith and risk being kicked and blocked from a site? You can mock me all you want.Its for your benefit to receive Jesus it’s nothing to do with mental illness.You really have that much contempt for Jesus and eternally life.I hope you reconsider.

          • brandon9271

            I have no more contempt for Jesus than I have for Zeus. What I do have contempt for is you because you’re annoying.

          • Courtney A Jeff

            Sorry for annoying you and provoking you.It is my passion and purpose to share my faith but not intentionally trying to start any arguements.We both like vr so we have something in common.

          • brandon9271

            Sorry for being a dick. I know you’re just doing what you’ve been commanded to do. :) I suppose I’m just taking out years of overbearing religious parents on you. Lol

          • Courtney A Jeff

            Thanks for the apology but none is required,it goes with my call as a evangelist but I sometimes forget to love and forgive while I get caught up arguing because of pride.Lets do some vr improvising sir.Godislove4u on steam and oculus.

    • david vincent

      Where can I find these AR glasses “Jesus” ?

  • Zachary Scott Dickerson

    $10 says the packages contain a big black dildo, meanwhile the CEO of magic leap vanishes with all the investor money.

    • trekkie

      Bernie supporter ??

    • Ted Joseph

      That is a sad outlook on new technology. I actually cant wait for this tech to be on the market. Going to change the way we live for the better.

      • Zachary Scott Dickerson

        I feel like he CEO was one of those guys saying like ‘ I want the AR to be like WAHHH, then like MWRAAA’, pew pew whooosh’, then the engineers just kind of shook their head and made a clone of the Holo-lens. Trying to invent tech that is not possible with today’s gear.

    • Jerald Doerr

      “contain a big black dildo, ” lol!!!!!! But Hey! Wants wrong with a big black dildo? I mean would you be more comfortable with a big white one?

      • Zachary Scott Dickerson

        Black is more tactical.

        • Jerald Doerr

          Lol!!!? That was good dude… Real good! Lol!!!!!

  • Ellie 187

    Magic Leap One will be priced similar to a “premium computer,”

    so costs roughly $1,000-$2,500

    who is this aimed at?? I’m still trying to figure out how AR is even remotely interesting in the entertainment space…. For commercial use and /or business AR starts to make sense, but for gaming?? no thanks, i’ll stick with VR

    not to mention it looks even worse than current VR headsets.

    • Hivemind9000

      Just because you lack the imagination to see what could be done in AR gaming, doesn’t mean others will when the tech becomes ubiquitous with much higher fidelity.

      But yes, until they can get the price down (and the specs up) it will be stuck in the realm of industry/business – just like the Hololens. It’s a good proving ground to refine the tech and the manufacturing processes.

      I really don’t understand why everyone negs on these companies for trying to push a new technology forward. Technological revolutions take time and money (and lots of both).

      And if you give a fuck about what you look like with a headset on, then put a sack over your head and do us all a favor.

      • Patrick Bradley

        Settle down champ

        • Hivemind9000

          I’m perfectly settled thanks Patrick.

          We live in interesting times where we’ll get to see all this amazing tech develop over the coming years, and yet we have to endure all this impatient glass-half-empty entitlement. So I’m going to neg the neg’ers – just you try and stop me… ;)

          • JJ

            neg the neg’ers isn’t something you’d want to say out loud

    • WyrdestGeek

      AR: IMHO, some day *in the future*, AR will be a huge market. But that’s not ever going to happen so long as the device costs $1000+ and has a field of view about as big as “a VHS tape held in front of you with your arms half extended.”

      If or when AR can come down in price to… I dunno maybe <=$300, and when it has a field of view that covers all of the user's *actual* field of view, well– it'll be huge. But that could be any number of years into the future still.


      Furry cows moo and decompress.

  • brubble

    Oh how prestigious…./s

  • Da Mo (JFlash)

    Wow, new google glass, but 10% of the functionality.

  • Smokey_the_Bear

    Good, now it’s only a matter of time before we at least get a video of someone wearing it.

  • I’ve read in another article that one of the devs refused the device because of the too many restrictions

  • Ted Joseph

    I am saving up money now to buy this on day one. Cant wait to play these games in my house. The one about the ghost girl in your home telling you about a murder is going to be amazing.

  • Ted Joseph

    Apple had a patent that looked similar to this tech. Using the iPhone or similar device attached to your belt. I am excited to see what apple will release!

    • Don’t hold your breadth. There are a number of patents that never see the light of day at Apple and many in my opinion are vague, and the reason we need to move to an actual working prototype before awarding patents.

  • Still waiting to be contacted for a developer kit, but since I don’t have $$$$$ behind my name, I highly doubt I am anywhere near the top. Plus, I have been pretty critical of them due to the extremely vague approach of what they are really offering. Who knows maybe the final product will be stunning, but it also will have retail price to match making it that much harder to get a critical mass of apps specifically designed for it especially if their intentions is to control the app ecosystem, making it next to impossible to side-load Indy apps. Of course I am speculating, but that is all anyone can do if you are not on the other side of proverbial wall with all the answers.