Does Microsoft have any plans for a HoloLens 3?

What are the chances we’ll see a Microsoft HoloLens 3 headset in the near future? Unfortunately, if this Business Insider report is accurate, the answer may not come anytime soon. According to BI, Microsoft’s plans for the HoloLens 3 may never see the light of day.

Naturally, Microsoft denies these claims. “Microsoft HoloLens remains a critical part of our plans for emerging categories like mixed reality and the metaverse,” Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw said. “We remain committed to HoloLens and future HoloLens development.”

The publication’s sources claim the HoloLens 3 team developed factions in its group and couldn’t pin down what it should focus on. Some wanted to devote their efforts to hardware, while others wanted to develop a metaverse OS that other companies could use, similar to Windows.

And then there’s the question of whether Microsoft would develop something for consumers vs. its current plan for enterprise customers. As you can see, it’s one giant mess, and it reportedly led to 25 mixed-reality employees jumping ship to join Meta’s metaverse efforts in 2021.

Another interesting tidbit from this Business Insider report is that Microsoft reportedly partnered up with Samsung to create an entirely new mixed reality device. Unfortunately, neither company has commented on the partnership, so it is unclear how much of this is true.

But circling back to HoloLens, Microsoft claims “HoloLens is doing great.” Alex Kipman, head of the HoloLens division at Microsoft, took to Twitter to counter Insider’s reporting:

don’t believe what you read on the internet. #HoloLens is doing great and if you search said internet they also said we had cancelled #HoloLens2… which last I checked we shipped with success [)-)

— Alex Kipman (@akipman) February 3, 2022

“Don’t believe what you read on the internet,” says Kipman in a response to a tweet referencing the report. “HoloLens is doing great and if you search said internet they also said we had cancelled HoloLens 2… which last I checked we shipped with success.”

Microsoft has its own plans for the metaverse, and it remains unclear if a new HoloLense headset has any part in it. So, for the time being, it’s probably safe to assume it won’t. But things can change so who really knows.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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