Magic Leap chief executive officer Peggy Johnson believes immersive AR will be available to the public in five years.
“If I had to guess, I think, maybe, five or so years out, for the type of fully immersive augmented reality that we do,” Johnson said during a Q&A forum on Zoom.
Magic Leap is an AR startup that creates AR headsets. The original Magic Leap headset left consumers disappointed upon its release. However, the company’s newest headset, the Magic Leap 2, hit the market earlier this year for $3,299 to a much better reception. However, the Magic Leap 2 offers a much more pleasant, immersive experience with a broader AR field of view than other headsets on the market. The new headset is geared toward engineers and other professionals.
Johnson also predicts that AR headsets will be made smaller and smaller with the introduction of silicone. She also states that consumers need a lightweight device that resembles glasses.
“The other big thing that will happen over time is the same thing that will happen in mobile phones, silicon integration. The CPU that runs our mobile phones used to be a lot of components, and it used to be bigger,” Johnson adds. ” And my old company, Qualcomm, puts more and more features into that chip. That allows you to have a very small, lightweight device and a very power-efficient device. And we are still coming down that trajectory.”
However, creating a VR/AR headset that’s lightweight and compact enough to fit consumer ideals is challenging due to the device’s battery, among other components.
AR/VR Headset Competition
Magic Leap faces some steep competition in the AR/VR headset market despite the advances of the Magic Leap 2. HTC is working on a new mixed-reality headset. Likewise, Apple also has such a device in development. Additionally, iPhone users can even use the Holokit X to turn their phone into an AR headset.
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Jack Brassell is a freelance journalist and aspiring novelist. Jack is a self-proclaimed nerd with a lifelong passion for storytelling. As an author, Jack writes mostly horror and young adult fantasy. Also an avid gamer, she works as the lead news editor at Hardcore Droid. When she isn't writing or playing games, she can often be found binge-watching Parks & Rec or The Office, proudly considering herself to be a cross between Leslie Knope and Pam Beasley.
