It looks like Microsoft is not done with hardware introductions. The company plans to bring new low-cost mixed-reality headsets to market through its Windows Holographic platform for as little as $299.
The details were revealed at the big Surface launch event in New York earlier this week. The company originally announced its plans to open up the Windows Holographic platform to its partners in June and said there would be new headsets besides its HoloLens “in months, not years.”
In August, it revealed the Windows Holographic shell, which makes Windows 10 apps appear as either 2D or 3D, would be made available in a future version of Windows. That version is now known as the Creators Update.
The devices were co-engineered with Microsoft and its OEM partners, using the technology and software initially created for the HoloLens. They will be opaque, so you can’t see through them, and will need to be connected to a computer by a long wire. They will have a “high field of view” with six degrees of freedom and inside-out tracking.
Inside-out tracking uses cameras built into a headset to track a user’s movements without the need for any cameras mounted on walls or in front of desks. The first of these new headsets will arrive alongside the Creators Update in spring 2017, with more devices being released throughout the rest of the year.
