LG Unveils 4K Micro-OLED Show For “Subsequent-Era” VR

At SID Show Week 2024 LG Show unveiled a micro-OLED show with “4K” decision and 10,000 nit brightness.

Micro-OLED shows are manufactured with a really totally different course of to common OLED, and supply a lot increased pixel density than any present production-ready show expertise. This allows extremely excessive decision headsets with comparatively slim designs – and naturally OLED’s signature infinite distinction.

Presently 2.5K micro-OLED shows from Chinese language startup SeeYA Know-how are utilized in BigScreen Beyond, and three.7K micro-OLED shows from Sony are utilized in Apple Vision Pro.

Apple Vision Pro Extended Teardown Reveals Its Resolution

iFixit took a microscope to Apple Vision Pro’s OLED microdisplays to reveal their true active resolution.

Whereas Sony’s show in Imaginative and prescient Professional reportedly outputs a brightness of 5000 nits, LG is claiming 10,000 nits. However in the event you’re presently questioning “why on earth would anybody need or want a show that vivid close to their eyes?” there’s one thing crucial to know.

Pancake lenses, that are utilized in latest headsets to realize a slimmer design and wanted to amplify the smallest shows to a suitable area of view, have extraordinarily poor optical effectivity. Which means nearly all of the sunshine passing via them is misplaced, considerably lowering the considered brightness. For Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional’s lenses, this loss is on the order of 90%.

Worse, to keep away from movement blur all VR-style headset shows deliberately solely illuminate for a fraction of every body, often known as the responsibility cycle, remaining pitch darkish the remainder of the body, and with OLED shows this makes the efficient brightness even decrease.

When the poor optical effectivity of pancake lenses and intentional low responsibility cycle of the shows are each taken into consideration, the considered brightness of Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional is just round 100 nits, regardless of having 5000 nit shows.

Which means LG’s show in the same optical setup may obtain round 200 nits considered brightness. Alternatively headset makers may use a good decrease decrease responsibility cycle to cut back and even eradicate the show “movement blur” we criticized in our Vision Pro review, as a substitute of accelerating brightness.

Along with increased brightness than the Sony micro-OLED shows in Imaginative and prescient Professional, LG can be claiming increased pixel density and wider coloration gamut.

LG claims its show has round 4000 pixels per inch and a coloration gamut of 97% DCI-P3, which compares to 3386 pixels per inch and 92% DCI-P3 for Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional.

However What Will They Be Used In?

LG Show is a subsidiary of the LG Group. It makes shows for LG Electronics sure, however sells nearly all of its output to different firms. So what firm would possibly use micro-OLED show in an precise headset?

In 2022 South Korean information outlet SBS Biz reported Meta had entered talks with LG Show with the purpose of securing micro-OLED provide for future headsets.

Since then two different South Korean information retailers, Maeil Business Newspaper and The Korea Economic Daily, have launched stories citing “business sources” as claiming LG would construct future Quest Professional headsets, beginning with a $2000 headset within the first half of 2025.

Meta & LG Confirm “Next-Gen XR Device” Partnership

Meta and LG just officially confirmed their partnership, including “next-gen XR device development”. This comes after multiple reports LG will make future Quest Pro headsets.

In February LG and Meta officially confirmed an XR “strategic collaboration”, together with on “next-gen XR system improvement”, although neither firm was extra particular on what precisely this may entail.

When asserting Meta’s new Horizon OS strategy of supporting third-party headset makers, Mark Zuckerberg mentioned one of many Horizon OS headsets he may “think about” arriving from a third-party firm would have “the best decision OLED screens.” And the idea picture for Lenovo’s Horizon OS headset confirmed a design so slim it will seemingly require micro-OLED to realize.

So it appears doable LG’s rumored Quest Professional 2 may leverage the micro-OLED show it simply introduced. Alternatively although LG may merely be supplying it to different firms constructing Horizon OS headsets corresponding to Lenovo. We’ll preserve an in depth eye on all these firms for any subsequent era headset teases or bulletins all year long.