According to reports from Korea, Microsoft has signed an agreement with Samsung Display for the supply of OLED microdisplays for a future MX device, that Microsoft plans to launch in the future (likely 2026 or later).
Microsoft agreed to order a few hundreds of thousands of units of Samsung's OLED microdisplays. Samsung Display is collaborating with Samsung System LSI, that will design the CMOS backplane, which will be produced by Samsung Foundry. Samsung Display will handle the frontplane OLED deposition and encapsulation.
These OLED microdisplay will adopt a white-OLED with color filters design, and Samsung System LSI will deposit the color filters - and also an MLA layer to improve light output. SDC plans to handle the color filter deposition and MLA deposition in house in the future, but it will not be ready for this specific project.
A few months ago it was reported that Samsung Electronics have decided to adopt OLED microdisplay produced by Sony for its own future MX headset - which was a blow for Samsung Display. If the Microsoft report is accurate, this is excellent news for the Korean display maker.
In June 2024 we reported that Apple has sent an RFI for both Samsung Display and LG Display, seeking more information about the two companies capabilities regarding the production of OLED microdisplays. It is speculated that Apple is seeking to change its OLED supplier in a future, lower-cost VR headset.
In May 2024, during Displayweek 2024, Samsung unveiled its latest OLED microdisplay, a 1.03" one that is based on an RGB (direct-emission) architecture, developed in collaboration with eMagin (which Samsung acquired last year). It is likely that the company will not be ready to mass produce such displays by 2026.
