OLED Microdisplays: learn more and find a supplier!

The New York State Attorney has arrested a Russian citizen called Maxim Marchenko, and two other co-conspirators, accusing them of buying $1.6 million worth of military-grade OLED microdisplays and smuggling these to Russia. The US export control laws forbid the sale of such components to Russian companies.

According to the prosecutors Marchenko hid the fact that these displays were going to Russia, and claimed that these will be used by Chinese companies for use in electron microscope for medical research. Marchenko was charged with seven criminal counts including wire fraud, smuggling, money laundering and four conspiracy counts.

LG Display has been developing OLED microdisplay technologies for several years (branding these as OLEDoS), and last year it was reported that LGD is planning to build its first production line, as hoping to supply OLED Microdisplay to Apple in the future. LG is reportedly started ordering deposition equipment from Korea-based OLED equipment maker Sunic System.

According to the Korean publication The Elec, LGD has decided not to build an OLED microdisplay production line, at least for now. The company will continue its $&D project, though.

According to reports, the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command has placed a $347 million order with Lockheed Martin for a specialized helmet for pilots of the F-35 fighter jet. The new helmet, developed in collaboration between Collins Aerospace and Elbit Systems, will feature an OLED microdisplay, to replace the currently-used LCDs.

In 2018, we reported that the current F-35 Joint Strike Fighter helmet uses an LCD microdisplay (produced by Kopin), which suffers from a green glow (from the LED backlighting) that prevents pilots from seeing a carrier's lights at night. In addition, the current LCD display suffers from optical blooming - light that spills from lit pixels to their adjacent area. Following these issues, the US Navy started testing OLED microdisplays to replace the LCD.

Apple first VR headset, the Apple Vision Pro, adopts dual 1.3" 4K OLED microdisplays made by Sony. According to reports, Apple is looking to replace Sony as its supplier and is testing displays made by Seeya and BOE. Apple seems to be aiming to adopt these in its next-gen Vision Pro model - and also in a future low-cost mixed-reality headset.

Sony officially launched its 1.3" 4K OLED displays last week, with an official price of $1,000 per unit. Some reports suggest that Apple is paying $350 per display - which is still very expensive, as the two OLED displays cost almost half of the total production cost of the Vision Pro (estimated at $1,500).

Back in 2021, Sony unveiled a 4K OLED microdisplay prototype. In June Apple announced the Vision Pro headset, which uses two Sony-made 1.3" 4K (3,552 × 3,840) OLED microdisplay, made by Sony. And today Sony finally officially introduced its ECX344A display, targeting VR and AR devices.

Sony says that in order to develop the new display it developed new miniaturization processes as well as a new pixel drive circuits and a high-speed driver circuit. Sony says that the display will ship by the end of 2023 and its price is set at 150,000 Yen, or just over $1,000 USD (it is estimated that Apple pays around $350 for each panel).

French OLED microdisplay maker MicroOLED announced that it has raised €21 million, led by Jolt Capital and with support from the French sovereign wealth fund Bpifrance via its Innovation Defense vehicle, alongside both historical investors, Cipio Partners and Ventech.

MicroOLED updates that it has been granted over 170 patents to date, through a close collaboration with neighbor CEA/Leti research centers. The company offers a line-up of compact products ranging from 0.2" to 0.6" in size, with high resolution and power as low as 1mW. MicroOLED will use to funds to accelerate its R&D, expand its production capabilities in Grenoble and grow its international sales teams.

Apple recently announced the Apple Vision Pro VR headset, with dual 4K OLED microdisplays produced by Sony. Sony's production capacity was known to be limited, and it was estimated that its entire capacity is around 900,000 units per year.

A new report by the Financial Times now suggests that Apple originally planned to produce around a million Vision Pro units in 2024, but it has scaled down its plan and now aims to produce only 150,000 units. The reports suggest that critical components are to blame, but it remains to be seen whether Apple will actually be able to sell a large number of these highly expensive devices.

OLED microdisplay developer Seeya Information Technology has ordered OLED deposition (evaporation) equipment from Korea's Sunic System, in a deal worth $25.15 million.

Sunic Systems will provide Seeya with 12-inch (300 mm) OLED deposition tools. Sunic is developing direct-patterning deposition equipment, but it is not clear whether this order is for such tools or whether these will be the standard white OLED with color filter deposition.

Today we published a new edition of our OLED and MicroLED Microdisplays Market Report, with all the latest information. The new edition offers more that a dozen new updates, new companies, new brochures and catalogs, and more. Global multinational companies are working hard to develop and deploy next-generation AR and VR devices, and these devices will all be based on OLED and microLED microdisplay engines.

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

• The advantages of OLED and MicroLED microdisplays
• The microdisplays that are available on the market today
• Information on all companies involved in this market
• Future technologies and roadmaps

The report package also provides:

• A list of all OLED microdisplays on the market
• A list of all OLED and MicroLED microdisplays makers
• Microdisplays spreadsheet
• Over 25 datasheets, presentations
• Free updates for a year

This microdisplays market report provides a great introduction to OLED and MicroLED microdisplays, and covers everything you need to know about the current status of the market and industry. This is a great guide if you're considering to adopt OLED microdisplays in your product, if you're looking to learn more about next-generation micro-LEDs and if you want to understand this industry better.

Apple announced its first VR headset, the Apple Vision Pro, and new details are starting to emerge on the displays adopted by Apple. According to Business Korea, the external display (used to simulate the user's eyes) are OLED displays, produced by LG Display. 
 

We do not know the exact display specifications yet. Business Korea says that these displays cost around $30 to make. They also say that the Sony 4K microdisplays cost around $350 each (which makes sense), and so together the OLED displays in Apple's headset cost over $700 - or almost half the total production cost (estimated at around $1,500).