HoloLens 2 will continue to receive "updates to address critical security issues and software regressions" until December 31 2027. As soon as 2028 starts, software support for HoloLens 2 will end.

Software support for the original lens will end after December 10 of this year, just over two months from now. Production of it ended back in 2018.

HoloLens 2 launched in 2019, three years after the original, with upgrades to almost every aspect: a wider field of view, higher resolution, eye tracking, vastly improved hand tracking, and more powerful computing housed in the rear of the strap to deliver a balanced, comfortable design.

It was a good product and dominated the enterprise AR market. However, while the headset's field of view was better than its predecessor's, it remained relatively narrow, and its displays introduced regressions in image quality.

However, HoloLens 2 hasn't been competitive with Meta launching viable passthrough headsets. A HoloLens 3 project was canned two years ago due to “confusion and strategic uncertainty” within the company.

In 2022, Vole’s long-time mixed reality figurehead, Alex Kipman, left the company, and its mixed reality division saw significant layoffs in 2023 and 2024.

While HoloLens 2 is being discontinued, Microsoft tells UploadVR it remains "fully committed" to the militarised HoloLens IVAS.

The US Army plans to run a company-level operational test of it in early 2025, before deciding whether to enter full-scale production by late 2025.