The Hololens 2 dev kit is on sale — and it makes the Oculus Quest look downright affordable
Microsoft has slapped a price on the developer edition of the HoloLens 2, and it’s an eye-watering $3,500 (£2.7k), pricing it far and away above every other AR and VR headset.
This is in line with the consumer edition, which was priced back in February when the headset was announced. The augmented-reality headset is still $1,500 cheaper than the development model for its predecessor, but will still sting a little bit.
There are two payment options, and the option to pay $99 per month will no doubt be a welcome boon for hobbyist developers and small business owners. Whichever option you go for, Microsoft will chuck in $500 of credit for Azure services, in addition to a three month subscription for Unity Pro and the PIXYZ CAD plugin.
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The developer headset will be limited to one per person — not that many would want to buy two at that price — but otherwise the hardware seems to be largely identical.
Talking of the hardware, we haven’t had a chance to put the HoloLens 2 on our collective Trusted Reviews bonce just yet, but the promised features: more accurate gaze tracking, an improved field of view, and better tracking of both the world, and the users skeleton, could make this a big step forward for those coming from Microsoft’s original AR headset.
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Announcing the HoloLens 2 at Mobile World Congress Alex Kipman, technical fellow for AI and mixed reality at Microsoft, claimed: “To put it in perspective, and to highlight the generational leap, this is the equivalent of moving from a 720p television to a 2K television on each of your eyes.”
The HoloLens 2 will be available at some point this year. VR and AR seem to be having a moment again, the more reasonably priced Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S will be available for £399 in the near future.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
