OLED Microdisplays: learn more and find a supplier! - Page 5

Last updated on Tue 09/07/2024 - 11:50

IPValue buys 200 OLED patents from Seiko Epson

IPValue Management announced that it has acquired around 200 OLED patents from Seiko Epson. We do not know the nature of these patents, and whether IPValue bought all of Seiko Epson's OLED IP portfolio or just a part of it. IPValue says that the patents will be owned by its subsidiary Lumitek Display Technology.

Espon 14-inch Inkjet processed OLED
Espon 14-inch Inkjet processed OLED prototype (2009)

 

Seiko Epson has been working on OLED technologies for many years - and it has been involved mostly with soluble OLED materials, ink-jet printing and OLED microdisplays. In 2013 Samsung Display bought several OLED patents from Seiko Epson

Read the full story Posted: Dec 19,2023

Updated: TrendForce says Apple chooses Seeya and BOE to supply its Vision Pro OLED microdisplays over Sony

Last week we posted the following article, but it turns out that our information was not correct. We mentioned that this was a strange report - and indeed it turns out that Trendforce analysis was misquoted, and the company did not say that Apple will stop using Sony's OLED microdisplays. We are sorry for posting this!

Apple first VR headset, the Apple Vision Pro, will use dual 1.3" 4K OLED microdisplays. Apple has been working with Sony, that produced the first OLED microdisplays, but later reports suggested that Apple is looking to replace Sony with Seeya and BOE as its suppliers to reduce costs (and also likely to increase potential supply as Sony has limited capacity). 

According to a new report by TrendForce, Apple has made some changes to its Vision Pro supply chain and has decided to already stop using Sony's OLED microdisplays - and indeed go with Seeya and BOE.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 03,2023

Russian citizens arrested in the US, claimed to have illegally bought OLED microdisplays for Russian customers

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.F-35 helmet HMD photo

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.

Read the full story Posted: Sep 19,2023

Reports suggest LG Display decided to postpone its OLED microdisplay fab

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 R&D project, though.

Read the full story Posted: Sep 09,2023

The US Navy placed a $347 million order to replace the F-35 helmets, to adopt OLED microdisplays in the new design

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.

F-35 helmet HMD photo

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.

Read the full story Posted: Aug 31,2023

Apple aims to adopt lower-cost OLED microdisplays at future Vision Pro products, in talks with BOE and Seeya

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.

Apple Vision Pro

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).

Read the full story Posted: Aug 30,2023

Sony officially launches its 1.3 4K OLED microdisplay product

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).

Read the full story Posted: Aug 24,2023

OLED microdisplay developer MicroOLED raised 21 million Euro to accelerate its R&D and expand its production capacity

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.

Read the full story Posted: Jul 13,2023

Apple said to reduce its planned Vision Pro production volume as Sony cannot ship enough OLED microdisplays in 2024

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.

Apple Vision Pro

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.

Read the full story Posted: Jul 04,2023