Microsoft has confirmed the launch of its HoloLens mixed reality headsets in China. The device will debut in the country later in the month and will also mark its 10th market across the planet.
Meanwhile, this also pretty much puts paid to hopes that the Redmond giant will be launching a new HoloLens iteration this year. This particular variant has been in the market for over a year after all, and a new HoloLens from Microsoft wouldn’t have been particularly surprising. However, that does not seem to be happening at Build 2017.
Along with announcing the China debut, Microsoft also took the time to talk about VR headsets being manufactured by its partners – Acer for instance.
In hindsight, it actually would not have made sense to launch a new iteration when the original HoloLens was available in merely 9 markets globally – minus crucial markets like China. True, HoloLens isn’t exactly something you would be gifting your nephew on his 5th birthday (it is pretty darn expensive!) and as such, the company appears to be opening up fronts in some of the major tech consumer markets before moving forward.
HoloLens is an important part of Microsoft’s overall strategy. The company has always maintained that the future lies with HoloLens and mixed reality. By launching them in China, it is just re-stressing the same point.
