Magic Leap introduced this week on the Future Funding Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia its newest AR {hardware} plans together with a renewed partnership with Google.
The Information
Google and Magic Leap introduced in Might 2024 a “strategic expertise partnership” to safe key expertise wanted to make compact AR glasses. We’ve heard little concerning the partnership since, nevertheless now Magic Leap has supplied an replace.
The Plantation, Florida-based AR unicorn in the present day introduced it’s extending the partnership via a three-year settlement with Google that can place it as “an AR ecosystem accomplice to assist corporations constructing glasses,” together with work on show methods, optics, and system integration for AR units.
Moreover, Magic Leap and Google confirmed off an AI glasses prototype at FII, which the businesses say will function a prototype and reference design for Google’s Android XR ecosystem. Android XR is designed to run on a wide range of XR units, together with the lately launched Samsung Galaxy XR (ex-Undertaking Moohan), in addition to future AR glasses, and sensible glasses from a wide range of {hardware} companions, together with Samsung, Warby Parker, and Mild Monster.
“The demo exhibits how Magic Leap’s expertise, built-in with Google’s Raxium microLED gentle engine, brings digital content material seamlessly into the world,” Magic Leaps says. “The prototypes worn on stage illustrate how snug, fashionable sensible eyewear is feasible and the video confirmed the potential for customers to remain current in the true world whereas tapping into the information and performance of multimodal AI.”
Word: It’s unsure whether or not the prototype above is new, or really Google’s beforehand teased sensible glasses seen at Google I/O this yr. We’ve reached out to Magic Leap and can replace when it’s extra clear.
“Magic Leap’s optics, show methods, and {hardware} experience have been important to advancing our Android XR glasses ideas to life,” mentioned Shahram Izadi, VP & GM of Google XR. “We’re lucky to collaborate with a group whose years of hands-on AR growth uniquely set them as much as assist form what comes subsequent.”
Based in 2010, Magic Leap promised to revolutionize AR with its lightfield show expertise, elevating over $4 billion in funding from main traders like Google, Alibaba, Qualcomm, AT&T, Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund, and Axel Springer.
Its first headset, Magic Leap 1 (additionally stylized as ‘One’) nevertheless underperformed and struggled to discover a viable client market when it launched in 2018, forcing the corporate to pivot to enterprise and medical purposes. This got here alongside a management shakeup that might see founder Rony Abovitz step down as CEO in 2020, making manner for Pegggy Johnson, previously of Qualcomm and Microsoft.
A yr after the enterprise launch of Magic Leap 2 in 2022, Johnson would get replaced as CEO by Ross Rosenberg, beforehand of Bain Capita, Danaher, First Photo voltaic and Belden. Rosenberg presently leads the corporate.
My Take
On the launch of Magic Leap 1 in 2018, and consequently the peak of client PC VR headsets, Magic Leap held conferences, courted influencers and media, and funded a fleet of high-priced third-party apps aimed toward players and informal customers. The world didn’t actually have a viable standalone VR platform but, and Magic Leap hoped to kickstart AR headsets—not glasses—as the subsequent dominant client computing platform.
The corporate additionally presumably burned via a very good portion of its multi-billion greenback runway within the course of to launch one thing that the market, builders, and even Magic Leap itself didn’t actually appear prepared for. I, like most within the early days of XR, was skeptical. Too many pie within the sky (or ‘whale within the sky’) advertising and marketing movies. By no means sufficient substance or clear course to inform the place issues had been actually going for the corporate.
What’s extra, Magic Leap 1 didn’t even actually outperform Microsoft’s staunchly enterprise HoloLens AR headset, or ship on its guarantees of “lightfield photonics” to permit for a number of focal planes. Its first ‘Creator Version’ ML1 headset contained a waveguide-based show with two focal planes. Nothing revolutionary, and at $2,300, too costly of a platform for many consumer-focused studios to abdomen.
Nevertheless it did present Magic Leap 2 to enterprise in 2022, which is strictly the place it ought to have centered the complete time. However going that route from the get-go would have been much less flashy, and possibly much less able to attracting historic ranges of funding.
Barring all else, Magic Leap’s best sin was undoubtedly being a decade too early. Solely now plainly corporations are constructing out the requisite custom-made chips, waveguides, gentle engines, all the pieces, and slimming it down right into a digestible kind issue. And massive gamers like Meta, Google, Samsung and (doubtless, however unconfirmed) Apple are hoping to make use of sensible glasses first earlier than serving up something AR remotely focused at customers.
In the long run, there’s a very good motive Magic Leap remains to be kicking, even this late within the sport. The corporate’s newest funding spherical was a $590 million debt financing deal struck in January 2024, led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund. It appears to have the operational money readily available, and has been rightfully deflated to make higher use of it. That, and there’s nonetheless actual know-how at Magic Leap to go together with a real pile of patents, which I think the corporate is leveraging because it makes its second large transition: from enterprise headset platform creator to glorified AR elements provider to an organization that might actually play a giant half within the coming AR glasses revolution.
