It has been quite a while since Microsoft first announced HoloLens. Since then, other companies in the market have caught on to the world of virtual reality and wearable headsets. With this in mind, one analyst has downgraded Microsoft’s HoloLens supplier, HiMax, and has stated that AR is not likely to be ready for 12-24 more months (via Barrons.)
According to the Barrons’ report, Senior Research Analyst, Anthony Stoss from the Craig Hallum Capital Group, believes that augmented reality technology is not developing as quickly as expected. As a result, Anthony cut the target price of shares to Hold from Buy and downgrade targeted prices of shares from $10 to $7. It is explained:
We believe the AR revenue ramp investors were expecting will likely not materialize in 2017 as AR devices such as MSFT’s HoloLens are still in the developmental stage as companies work to improve the Field of Vision in devices. Consumer AR devices will likely not be ready for another 2 years in our opinion given technological complexity and costs associated with AR….
Citing concerns about pricing on the AR devices, it is explained by Barrons that Northland Capital Markets’ Tom Sepenzis also had a similar concern:
We believe that this will limit the number of new AR devices for the next 12-24 months, and put Himax at further risk of losing its customers to new technologies that may arise to deliver more cost-effective see through displays. We believe that all of the major AR offerings from Google, Microsoft, Apple and others will remain on the drawing board throughout CY17, with new attempts delayed until CY18/19.
Microsoft’s HoloLens remains in a development stage, although the company recently announced that its OEM partners would be manufacturing Windows Holographic headsets at affordable prices. Do you agree with these financial analysts? When do you see HoloLens being fully ready for the consumer market? Let us know what you think of this latest news by dropping us a comment below!
