Magic Leap has yet to announce an official release date, but anonymous alleged insiders told Bloomberg that the company may be able to release its first batch of hardware within six months, and that it may cost somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000. The hardware itself is supposedly going to be between the size of a pair of glasses and a normal VR headset, and rather than putting a screen between users and the world around them, will project images directly onto a user’s eyes, eliminating many of the traditional challenges faced by both AR and VR rigs. The computing oomph is reportedly going to be provided by a round, smartphone-esque device that will connect to the Magic Leap headset wirelessly.
Part of the reason that the company is supposedly going to be able to move forward with production so quickly is because it’s in the middle of a brand new funding round, which is supposed to be aimed at bringing in $500 million. Interestingly, Singapore’s state-owned investment outfit Temasek is rumored to be thinking over investing in Magic Leap during this round of fundraising, though no specific amount was named. For the time being, neither Magic Leap nor Temasek wanted to issue any official comments on the situation, including confirmation or denial of the anonymous information.
Magic Leap’s mystical hardware has been shown off in a sleek promotional video, as well as in a bulky prototype. The description of the hardware given by the anonymous sources fits far closer to the promotional video, which could very well mean that final production has indeed begun. The company has had a few times in the past where production was reported to be gearing up to begin, and if these anonymous tips are true, then those times were indeed the real deal. The company is worth around $6 billion, between assets, previous funding rounds, and other aspects, but with so little known about a product that’s supposedly going to be hitting the streets in a scant six months, only time will tell if that valuation will grow or shrink once the market at large has its way with the Magic Leap headset upon release.