Elijah Fernandez
9 Oct 2022
After a tumultuous 12 years. Magic Leap sets themself up for a remarkable turnaround.
This consists of new management in Peggy Johnson and pivot toward the higher ticket enterprise AR market.
The Magic Leap 2 (ML2) is Magic Leaps next answer to AR glasses for enterprise.
ML2 will be available September 30th at 3 price points. These consist of a $3,299 "Base" package (headset plus restricted guarantee), a $4,099 "Programmer Pro" (added development software application), and a $4,999 "Business" plan (tool management tools).
The field of view (FOV) has jumped from 50 degrees on the Magic Leap 1 to 70 degrees on the Magic Leap 2. The ML2 now boasts 2000 nits of brightness. This will allow for more variability in environments that the device can be used. The trade-off for the brightness increase is that the device will consume more power and produce more heat. This is where ML2’s signature dimming feature comes into play. This feature minimises the amount of light the device lets in from the environment in order to make sure that the AR visuals are brighter in comparison with this larger contrast. This feature also addresses a common AR glasses issue: washing out graphics.
To address a variety of use cases, dimming happens in 2 ways, global and segmented dimming. Global dims the whole environment, while segmented dims a section of the display that contains digital elements. Global is typically useful for personal productivity use such as virtual monitors where it is no so necessary to see the surrounding environment. Rather segmented is useful when the surrounding environment is important to see, such as enterprise training that involves guided assembly.
Ergonomics have been improved in the device this year. The weight of the headset is now lighter at 260 grams. Magic Leap has also found a new way to address one of AR’s biggest issues: vergence accommodation conflict. If you have not heard of this before, this occurs when in AR a user's eyes naturally gravitate focus toward real objects, which makes AR virtual objects that are not rendered at the correct distance appear blurry and out of focus.
In the ML1 they tried to solve this by using two focus planes. In the ML2 they went a new route by including eye tracking using two interior cameras. The tracking interprets pupil dilation into accurate image rendering and focus matching. This allows for a comfortable way to view elements and switch focus on them without causing eye strain.
Sound immersion is one of the great benefits of the ML2 with spacial audio. Spacial audio simulates the position of a sound in a particular direction and distance. This is great for diverting a user's attention directionally and giving reality life to an environment through the spacial soundscape.
In the AR space, Microsoft has had a downfall and some set backs due to internal disagreements regarding a major contract with the U.S. Army and the strategic importance of the HoloLens 2. This release is coming at an opportune time for the competitor of HoloLens 2. Magic Leap 2 looks like they could be headed toward a large market share of enterprise sales.