Microsoft is launching a developer edition of the company’s HoloLens 2 headset today. Priced at $3,500, it’s the exact same pricing as the version that will be sold to businesses later this year. While the original commercial pricing of the HoloLens was $5,000, the original development kit was always $3,500, so there are no price cuts for developers this time around.
According to the report of the Verge, Priced at $3,500, the device will have software support for the “Unreal Engine 4 SDK (software development kit)”.
The kit will include the HoloLens 2 hardware and Azure credits alongside free trials of Unity Pro and Unity PiXYZ Plugin for CAD data. Microsoft is also revealing that Unreal Engine 4 support for HoloLens 2 will be available for developers to start using by the end of May. This is a key addition for developers, and it will allow apps that include photo-realistic renders for use in manufacturing, product design, architecture, and more.
Microsoft still hasn’t announced a commercial release date for the HoloLens 2, but the company is promising to deliver developer and commercial units later this year.
The company showcased the device in February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The HoloLens 2 has a field of view that’s more than double of the first-generation HoloLens. The HoloLens 2 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 chip as well as a custom-built Holographic Processing Unit. Audio input and output are handled by a 5-channel microphone array and a built-in spatial audio hardware respectively.
HoloLens 2 contains eye-tracking sensors that make interacting with holograms even more natural. The new dial-in fit system makes the headset comfortable to wear for longer periods.
The headset will be sold in the US, Japan, China, Germany, Canada, the UK, Ireland, France, Australia, and New Zealand.
