LG Unveils 4K Micro-OLED Display For "Next Generation" Headsets That Supports Eliminated Motion Blur

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 completely different course of to common OLED, and supply a lot increased pixel density than any present production-ready show know-how. This allows extremely excessive decision headsets with comparatively slim designs – and naturally OLED’s signature infinite distinction.

At the moment 2.5K micro-OLED shows from Chinese language startup SeeYA Know-how are utilized in BigScreen Past, and three.7K micro-OLED shows from Sony are utilized in Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional.

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

Pancake lenses, that are utilized in current headsets to attain a slimmer design and wanted to amplify the smallest shows to an appropriate discipline of view, have extraordinarily poor optical effectivity. Which means the vast majority of the sunshine passing via them is misplaced, considerably lowering the seen 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, referred to 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 under consideration, the seen brightness of Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional is barely round 100 nits, regardless of having 5000 nit shows.

Which means LG’s show in an analogous optical setup might obtain round 200 nits seen brightness. Alternatively headset makers might use a fair decrease decrease responsibility cycle to scale back and even eradicate the show “movement blur” we criticized in our Imaginative and prescient Professional evaluate, 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 the vast majority 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 Enterprise Newspaper and The Korea Financial Every day, 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 Affirm “Subsequent-Gen XR Gadget” Partnership

Meta and LG simply formally confirmed their partnership, together with “next-gen XR gadget growth”. This comes after a number of stories LG will make future Quest Professional headsets.

In February LG and Meta formally confirmed an XR “strategic collaboration”, together with on “next-gen XR gadget growth”, although neither firm was extra particular on what precisely this can entail.

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

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