Magic Leap raised billions but its headset flopped. Now it's trying again

Magic Leap is no longer aiming the product at developers and other early adopters who it had hoped would come up with compelling uses for it (and then, perhaps, drive consumers to pick it up). Instead, it's focusing on a narrow range of companies that might find its AR offering more useful and also be less intimidated by the price tag, which has yet to be announced but will continue to run more than $2,000 per headset.

Now, the company is trying again, with plans to launch a new headset later this year. But this time, it's doing some things very differently. For starters, Magic Leap is no longer aiming the product at developers and other early adopters who it had hoped would come up with compelling uses for it (and then, perhaps, drive consumers to pick it up). Instead, it's focusing on a narrow range of companies that might find its AR offering more useful and also be less intimidated by the price tag, which has yet to be announced but will continue to run more than $2,000 per headset.

The company is also hoping its timing will be better in 2022. While the market for AR headsets is still tiny, a related technology — virtual reality — is growing at a rapid clip thanks to the popularity of Meta's Oculus Quest 2 headset. (While virtual reality headsets can give the wearer a sense that they're in an entirely different world, AR headsets mix the real and the virtual.) Growing comfort with headsets in general and interest in the idea of a "metaverse" — that still-squishy concept of an interconnected virtual world — could help Magic Leap gain fans.