Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at a news conference at the company's campus in Redmond, Washington, on May 20, 2024.
Chona Kassinger | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft The company will lay off some employees who work in mixed reality, a company spokesperson told CNBC on Monday. Although the cuts will affect the department that contributes to the HoloLens 2 augmented reality headset, Microsoft plans to continue selling the device.
The cut comes a year after the software company announced it would make changes to its hardware lineup as part of a round of layoffs that included 10,000 employees, including some in mixed reality. In the following months, Microsoft discontinued several keyboard models, frustrating some dedicated customers.
“Earlier today, we announced the restructuring of Microsoft’s Mixed Reality organization,” the spokesperson said in an email. “We are fully committed to the Department of Defense's IVAS program and will continue to provide cutting-edge technology to support our Soldiers. Additionally, we will continue to invest in W365 to access the broader mixed reality hardware ecosystem. We will continue to sell HoloLens 2 while supporting existing HoloLens 2 customers and partners.”
Microsoft has not achieved much success with HoloLens since its introduction in 2015. But the US Department of Defense awarded the company a contract to purchase a modified HoloLens called the Integrated Visual Augmentation System. Bloomberg reported that soldiers who used the devices reported suffering from nausea and other conditions. Tests indicated that the updated model looks promising.
Since then, Microsoft and its high-value technology peers have spent billions commercializing AI. Microsoft has raced to publish Nvidia GPUs so people can use Microsoft's popular Copilot chatbot and ChatGPT powered by OpenAI. Premium AI features in Microsoft 365 productivity apps can write memos, craft presentations, and summarize meetings.
In December, Microsoft reduced investment in augmented reality and virtual reality, which obscure the surrounding world, when it discontinued its Windows Mixed Reality system, which included tools to run applications in head-mounted displays.
The spokesperson said Microsoft would continue to sell the HoloLens 2 headset released in 2019, but did not indicate that a new model would be coming. Insider reported in 2022 that the company canceled a third version.
apple The company launched its augmented reality headset, Vision Pro, in January.
Microsoft continues to support a feature called Mesh that allows people wearing headphones to participate in 3D Teams video calls with their colleagues. At the Microsoft Ignite conference in Seattle in November, CEO Satya Nadella said the company is “reimagining the way employees meet and communicate using any device, whether it’s their computer, a HoloLens, or dead research.”
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