Microsoft scraps HoloLens 3 plans and struggles with mixed reality strategy

Microsoft may have scrapped plans for a third-generation HoloLens headset. That’s what sources tell Business Insider. Microsoft would struggle to formulate a mixed reality strategy and the future of the HoloLens would be uncertain.

According to Business Insider sources, Microsoft scrapped plans for a HoloLens 3 in the middle of last year. The website claims to be based on conversations with ‘more than twenty’ current and former Microsoft employees. It is unknown what this means for Microsoft’s roadmap, but certainly one of the sources expects this to be the end of the HoloLens as we know it.

Instead, the company may be working with Samsung on a mixed reality device, Business Insider said. The South Korean news medium The Elec wrote the same at the end of last year. A source says Samsung wants Microsoft to develop the necessary software. Samsung would then produce the hardware. The cooperation would be difficult; Microsoft is reluctant to share its HoloLens display technologies, according to Business Insider sources.

The alleged collaboration with Samsung would therefore cause division within Microsoft’s HoloLens division. Some team members believe that Microsoft should focus on its own hardware, while other employees think it is better to focus on software and develop a ‘go-to’ metaverse platform. The company has already shown interest in the software side of the metaverse, including with its Mesh platform. Furthermore, according to Business Insider, there is disagreement about whether the company should make products for the enterprise or for consumers.

These differing visions would make it difficult for Microsoft to formulate a concrete strategy for mixed reality and the metaverse. According to Business Insider, at least 25 Microsoft employees will have switched to Meta by 2021. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that about 100 employees have left Microsoft’s AR division.

Microsoft denies that it is discontinuing the HoloLens. “Microsoft HoloLens remains a critical part of our plans for emerging categories like mixed reality and the metaverse,” Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw told Business Insider. “We remain committed to the HoloLens and future HoloLens development.” The company declined to comment on the possible partnership with Samsung.

The Microsoft HoloLens 2