Microsoft is discontinuing production of the HoloLens 2 augmented reality headset and urges interested customers to buy it now while supplies last. In addition, support for the headset with new updates will also end on December 31, 2027. This was reported by UploadVR.

Microsoft will also stop supporting the original HoloLens, which was first launched in 2016 and produced until 2018. The previous generation of the headset will stop receiving system updates in December 2024.

Microsoft released HoloLens 2 in 2019, and at that time, the headset received many significant improvements over the previous generation. In particular, a wider field of view, higher resolution, eye tracking, etc. However, in recent years, many new devices have appeared on the market, making Microsoft’s headset no longer competitive.

From now on, Microsoft does not intend to create the hardware of the devices and release new versions of the headset on its own. Instead, the company will cooperate with Meta and distribute its software on the Quest operating system – Horizon OS. The company has already been able to port Xbox Cloud Gaming and Office web apps there, and soon also plans to add automatic expansion to Windows 11 laptops through a normal look at them.

In addition, the company still has a military contract with the United States to develop an “integrated visual augmented reality system” (IVAS) based on HoloLens. Microsoft assured in a comment that it remains “fully committed” to the militarized IVAS headset. The company noted that testing of the system will start in early 2025, and full-scale production will begin by the end of 2025.

We would like to remind you that reports that Microsoft was abandoning the production of HoloLens 3 appeared in early 2022. Initially, the company was supposed to work on the headset with Samsung, but due to the unwillingness to share technologies, this collaboration ended before it started.