Samsung offers a glimpse into the future of VR displays

Image: Samsung

Samsung has unveiled two cutting-edge OLED microdisplays that could be used in next-generation VR headsets.

OLED microdisplays are expensive to produce and are therefore found only in premium headsets, such as the Apple Vision Pro and Bigscreen Beyond 2. The mixed reality headset from Samsung and Google, expected to launch this year, will also use OLED microdisplays. According to reports, it will feature a 4K display from Sony.

At the ongoing SID Display Week in San José, Samsung Display is showcasing two new OLED microdisplays. These models offer significantly improved brightness and color gamut compared to previous versions. One of the displays also boasts an exceptionally high resolution.

• 1.3-inch OLED (4200 PPI): 3,888 × 3,888 pixels, 20,000 nits brightness, 99% DCI-P3 coverage
• 1.4-inch OLED (5000 PPI): 5,200 × 4,000 pixels, 15,000 nits brightness, 99% DCI-P3 coverage, 120 Hz refresh rate

By way of comparison, the Apple Vision Pro’s OLED microdisplays offers a resolution of 3,660 x 3,200 pixels, a brightness of 5,000 nits, 92% DCI-P3 coverage, and a refresh rate of 100 Hz.

Display technology from eMagin

Previous OLED microdisplays use a white OLED light source combined with RGB color filters to generate colors. Samsung refers to this technology as White OLEDoS. The new displays, however, produce colors using individually deposited red, green, and blue OLED subpixels, eliminating the need for color filters. Samsung calls this method RGB OLEDoS, and it enables significantly higher brightness and an improved color gamut.

The RGB OLEDoS technology was developed by display manufacturer eMagin, which Samsung acquired in 2023.

Most modern VR headsets use pancake lenses, which absorb a significant portion of the display’s light. As a result, the effective brightness of the new displays in these headsets would be around 300 to 400 nits. However, they would still offer three to four times the brightness of the displays used in the Apple Vision Pro and other VR headsets.

It is unlikely that the new displays will be used in commercial devices anytime soon. According to Samsung, the displays are still in the research and development stage, and producing them will be likely more costly than producing current OLED microdisplays due to the novelty of RGB OLEDoS.

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