Microsoft is making a big comeback at Mobile World Congress this year. The company will hold a press event on Sunday with the presence of CEO Satya Nadella, CVP of Azure Julia White and HoloLens creator Alex Kipman.
The latter previously shared a video teaser suggesting the launch of a new product, which will likely be a next-gen HoloLens headset. The original version has been shipping to developers en businesses since 2016, and the absence of serious competition allowed Microsoft to take its time to release a successor.
The next-gen HoloLens is expected to be an Always Connected PC powered by a high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon ARM SoC, and it should have much better battery life than the original headset. Moreover, we expectt the new version to come with a new depth sensor providing a wider field of view, as well as an AI co-processor to bring AI to mixed reality.
We also expect Microsoft to debut new software on the next-gen HoloLens. We know that Microsoft is currently working on Windows Core OS, a modular version of Windows that we’ve already seen on the new Surface Hub, and it will be interesting to see if the software on the next-gen HoloLens will significantly differ from what Microsoft has created for the original version.
Mobile World Congress is the world’s largest event for the mobile industry, and we hope Microsoft is planning other exciting announcements. After Samsung unveiled its first foldable smartphone yesterday, we’re still wondering if Microsoft is finally ready to discuss its plans regarding dual-screened mobile devices. Anyway, the $1,980 pricing for the Samsung Galaxy Fold clearly shows that foldable phones won’t be for everyone. It was the same story for the first HoloLens which launched with a $3,000 price, and we hope the new version will be much cheaper.
We’ll be attending Microsoft’s MWC event in Barcelona this Sunday, and the press conference will also be streamed live on this page. Let us know in the comments what do you expect to see during the event.
