Google funded Magic Leap to severely undercut Microsoft's HoloLens in price

If there is one thing venture capital money is good for is undercutting the competition, and if there is one thing Magic Leap has it is a lot of investor money, with the company raising close to $2 billion from investors like Google, Fidelity and China’s Alibaba.

Now at Recode’s annual Code Media conference, Magic Leap chief Rony Abovitz has revealed what they will be spending some of that money on – delivering a version of the headset which could cost as little as $1000 – the price of a high-end smartphone.

There will be multiple versions of the headset – with the entry-level version hitting the lowest price point of around $1000, a mid-range Creators Edition which will be available later this year, and an expensive high-end version which will cost as much as a high-end PC.  The Creators Edition for developers will be somewhere in the middle, we assume costing between $1500 and $2000, which would still be significantly cheaper than the $3000 HoloLens. The Entry-level cheap version will also not be a version available from the start but only arrive later, while the high-end version is slated for 2019.

Magic Leap is hoping their solution will replace your smartphone, PC and TV.  Given the design of their headset I suspect we are still a long way from that, but maybe the competition is extactly what Microsoft needs to pull out their finger and deliver a more competitive device themselves.

Read more about the Magic Leap headset here.

Via Engadget.com