Windows Mixed Reality was Microsoft’s attempt to bring its own spin on VR to the consumer market, asking third-party PC makers to create headsets based on the platform. It quickly died off.
Tomorrow, June 5, Apple will hold its annual WWDC developers conference. Unless the company makes a last-minute change, it’s expected to officially announce its mixed reality headset, which will be its first major hardware launch in a new category since the Apple Watch.
As we await that reveal, it’s interesting to look back just a few years ago when Microsoft revealed it had created a software platform for consumer mixed reality headsets. In fact, that’s what the platform was eventually called: Windows Mixed Reality.
These consumer headsets were a bit of a spinoff of Microsoft’s HoloLens AR headset, which was first announced in 2015. The first units were shipped in early 2016 for the price of $3,000, which ironically is also the rumored price of Apple’s mixed reality headset,
Originally, the HoloLens was being promoted for its gaming uses in addition to its business and enterprise features. However, Microsoft wanted to see the Windows Holographic platform used by third party hardware makers as well, so they could release headsets that would be far more affordable and available to regular folks.
In October 2016, Microsoft first announced Windows 10-based consumer mixed reality headsets would be created by a wide variety of PC makers, including HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer. Furthermore, the price for these headsets would start at just $299. Lenovo first showed off its headset a few months later at CES in January 2017. It had two 1,440 x1,440 OLED displays and two cameras.
