Rony Abovitz has never been one for direct information. Over the past few years, the Magic Leap[1] founder has confounded people with not-exactly-updates about his company’s not-exactly-vaporware mixed-reality system—especially on Twitter, where he’s been given to statements[2] like “We are not chasing perfection - we are chasing 'feels good, feels right'. Tuning for everyday magic.” So last week, when he dropped this teaser, many assumed it would lead to just another YouTube video of frustrating breadcrumbs[3].
Not this time.
On Wednesday, the obsessively secretive company finally revealed[4] the first solid step on its journey to spatial computing. Or at least pictures of the hardware that will enable it, along with some scant details.
The Magic Leap One system comprises a head-mounted display (which the company calls Lightwear), a wearable processing unit that connects to it (Lightpack), and a handheld controller (Lighthand—kidding! It’s called Control). There’s no announced cost, no specs, no release date, just moonshot language and accompanying hero shots of what looks like a set of space-age steampunk goggles.
What's immediately most intriguing is the headset's form factor. It’s also remarkably lightweight, relatively speaking; while you’re never going to mistake it for not-steampunk goggles, its silhouette makes it damn near invisible compared to other AR/MR systems like Microsoft’s HoloLens[5] and the Meta 2[6], and even a slimmer VR headsets like PlayStation VR[7] or the Oculus Rift[8]. The company has also confirmed with WIRED that the images it released aren’t renders, but fully functioning “PEQ,” or product equivalents.
But that raises a thorny question: Given that low-profile form factor, and the bulky, bench-mounted prototypes from whence it sprung,...