Surprise! Magic Leap is failing even harder than the HoloLens 1

Magic Leap has been famous as the company who was big on talk but small on delivery. The company managed to raise more than $2.3 billion from investors such as Google, Alibaba and AT&T, but it seems their flashy demos were less successful at convincing buyers to part with $2,295, according to some recently leaked Magic Leap sales numbers.

The Information, which has been closely tracking the company, finally released some Magic Leap sales numbers and reports that they managed to sell only 6,000 Magic Leap One handsets 6 months after release, somewhat short of their 100,000 unit sale goal. This number can be compared to the $3,500 to $5,000 HoloLens 1, which managed to sell 50,000 headsets over a two year period, a number which we slated at the time.

It seems the poor performance of the headset has not gone without any consequences. The Information reports dozens of staff have been laid off and two executives, CFO Scott Henry and SVP of creative strategy John Gaeta, have departed the company.

In addition, the company has signed over early 2,000 patents as collateral to JPMorgan Chase earlier this year.

When Microsoft announced the HoloLens 2 Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz assured everyone that their next product will be even better.

(Wait until you see what is brewing for Magic Leap Next) – the game has only just begun ?

— Rony Abovitz (@rabovitz) February 24, 2019

Now the Information reports that Magic Leap’s next headset may be years off, as the company has run into “fundamental technology constraints” as they try and expand the field of view while at the same time squeezing in 5G and multiple colour options in a smaller and lighter headset.

In a statement, Magic Leap did not deny the report of disappointing Magic Leap sales numbers, but stated it was “littered with inaccuracies and misleading statements.”

What seems at the very least clear however is that it is much harder to make and sell an AR headset than even Magic Leap expected, giving us new-found respect for Microsoft sticking with the Hololens project for so long.

via the Verge