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).

During DisplayWeek 2023, BOE demonstrated a new OLED microdisplay. The panel is 1.3" in size, and it offers a 3552x3840 resolution (4031 PPI), a refresh rate of 90Hz, and a color gamut of 90% DCI-P3.

This is BOE's largest and highest-resolution OLED microdisplay to date. BOE's current OLED microdisplays, already in production, include a 0.39", 0.49" and 0.71" FHD panels (all of which are available on the OLED marketplace, by the way).

BOE has started producing a new OLED microdisplay - a 0.49" Full-HD panel that offers a relatively low brightness (up to 700 nits). This new panel joins other microdisplays by BOE, including 0.39" and 0.71" ones, all with the same FHD resolution.

This new OLED microdisplay is listed at the OLED Marketplace, and we have access to this display. Contact us if you are interested in this display. We also list BOE's 0.39" FHD panel, and BOE's 0.71" one.

DSCC estimates that the OLED market will contract 7% in 2023, by revenues, to reach $38.7 billion. In terms of shipments, there will be a 1% decline from last year.

The two main OLED markets, smartphones and TVs, will both decline - OLED smartphone revenues will decline by 8% in 2023 (shipments will remain the same), while OLED TV panel revenues will drop 15% (12% by shipments).

Sony's long-awaited second-gen VR headset, the PlayStation VR2, is finally shipping. Sony is offering the new headset for $549.99 in the US, and it is also available globally.

The PlayStation VR2 is based on dual 120fps 2000x2040 OLED displays that provide a 110-degree FOV. This is the first major VR headset based on AMOLED displays for a long time.

Today we published a new edition of our OLED and MicroLED Microdisplays Market Report, with all the latest information. The new edition, which includes our yearly report overhaul, offers more than 15 new updates, new companies, new brochures and attached files, more than 5 new devices and more.

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.

DSCC says that OLED panel revenues were $12.6 billion in Q4 2022, down 3% from Q4 2021. Shipments declined by 7% compared to last year.

For the full year 2022, revenues reached $41.7 billion, a 1% decrease from 2021. AMOLED for smartphones shipments (units) decreased by 1%, while OLED TV panel shipments decreased by 9%. Some OLED segments grew in 2022 - AR/RV, automotive, monitors, and tablets.

Market analysts from Omdia say that the XR market (which they define as a combination of AR, VR and MR) will grow from 24 million units in 2023 to almost 90 million units in 2028, a CAGR of 67%. In terms of revenues, the market (XR displays) will reach $1.15 billion in 2023.

As you can see from the graph above, VR applications still take up most of the market, and Omdia does not seem to think AR technology will reach mass markets soon, maybe only in 2028.

In early 2022, Shiftall (a Panasonic Subsidiary) launched the MeganeX lightweight VR glasses based on dual 1.3" 120Hz 2560x2560 dual-stack OLED microdisplays produced by Kopin and LakeSide Optoelectronics.

Panasonic aimed to start shipping the MeganeX in early 2022, but it was delayed and now it plans to ship it by March 2023 (which will mean that in total it took around 6 years of development). Panasonic further says that as Kopin's production (at Lakeside) suffers from very low yields, it had to increase the price of the display and so the cost of the VR headset increased from 100,000 Yen (around $750) to 250,000 Yen (almost $2,000).