Organic micro-OLED displays have been used in television sets and smartphones, but they are also found in augmented and virtual reality glasses. Apple recently presented their Vision Pro glasses, which use two micro-OLED displays from Sony with a resolution of 4K and over 3500 dpi. A flexible OLED is also used in the glasses to project the eyes. Other VR glasses, such as the PlayStation VR2 and Meta for the Quest, have larger OLEDs or LC displays that are directly in the user’s field of vision.
Organic micro-OLEDs have a high resolution and compact dimensions, making them ideal for VR glasses. Inorganic micro-LED displays produce bright images, which are used in AR headsets and smart glasses, where the projected image needs to be legible in bright sunlight. However, micro-LEDs are expensive to produce, and micro-OLEDs are often used for AR glasses due to cost.
Micro-OLED displays are manufactured on small wafers, while OLED TVs are manufactured on substrates measuring several square meters. The small displays are often called SiOLEDs and are mostly manufactured on silicon wafers with a diameter of 200 millimeters. Sony’s micro-OLEDs have around 50 per wafer, and they use a white glowing OLED stack, while color comes into play via color filters.
The light in micro-OLED displays is bundled, which makes it easier to guide through the lens system in the glasses to the user’s eye. Apple will have specific requirements for the micro-OLEDs for their Vision Pro glasses, and with the high price of the glasses, the costs per OLED will not matter. Market researchers expect prices of around 100 US dollars per micro-OLED. With Apple’s entry into the eyewear business, sales of micro-OLEDs have increased considerably.
