Nearly four years after it was first teased to the world, the first Magic Leap augmented reality headset is now on sale to developers.
Magic Leap One, as the device is called, can be purchased through the company’s website as a Creator Edition for $2,295. Not only must you have have a US Zip Code to purchase one, but you need to be living in a handful of selected cities for this initial roll out.
The developer kit consists of a headset that resembles a pair of goggles. Similar to Microsoft’s $3,000 HoloLens, the device can project virtual images into the real world that you can interact with using a remote-like controller (though HoloLens uses gesture controls). A range of sensors fitted to the headset can track your location in a room, allowing you to move around with virtual images staying in place. A small companion device named the Lightpack is worn by the users at all times and powers the headset with Nvidia’s Tegra X2 mobile chip.
Developers have had access to Magic Leap’s software development kit (SDK) since it launched at GDC back in March. The device will support apps made on both Unity and Unreal game development engines. Recent leaks suggest the kit has a 40-degree horizontal field of view (FOV), which is slightly bigger than HoloLen’s 30-degree FOV.
It’s been a long road to the launch of hardware for Magic Leap, which has raised around $2.3 billion in funding since 2014 from the likes of Google and many more. The sheer scale of investment paired with the years of secrecy has created lofty expectations for the Florida-based company. Hopefully, as kits start shipping out to developers, we’ll find out if it’s really delivered.
As for a consumer launch, the company isn’t ready to talk about that just yet, but we do know that AT&T will be the exclusive carrier for the device in the US.
