VR - Page 18

When LG Electronics announced that their 2016 flagship phone, the G5 will have an "always on" display, this spurred speculation that it uses an OLED display (which makes sense as an LCD will require much more power in such a mode) - but here at OLED-Info we estimated that LGD will not be able to produce enough OLED panels for a new LGE flagship.

LG unveiled the G5 today, and indeed it uses an LCD - a 5.3" 1440x2560 one, in fact. This new smartphone is exciting early reviewers with it good looks, high-end specs, removable battery and plug-in modules.

MagnaChip announced that since 2007 it has shipped over 160 million AMOLED driver ICs. Most of these ICs went to smartphones, but MagnaChip says they also shipped drivers to digital cameras and tablets. The company's latest AMOLED drivers target the VR headset and automotive markets.

MagnaChip says the company has a unique proprietary foundry model. This model allows MagnaChip to apply its own unique AMOLED process patents as well as other intellectual property, proprietary process design kits and custom design-flow methodologies using internal and external foundries. MagnaChip's technology current uses 55-nm process nodes, and is developing sub 55-nm processes.

According to Tractica, the market for VR headsets will grow quickly in the next few years, to reach over 76 million units shipped in 2020. Tractica says that this will mark the second VR market, and this time both the hardware makers and the content publishers are working to make sure they release appealing and fine-tuned products.

The VR market should be closely watched by OLED makers. This is one of those applications in which OLED displays have a clear advantage - and this time it is the fast response rate. LCD displays are simply not good enough - and so it is likely that most VR headset makers will adopt OLED displays.

OLED Microdisplay maker eMagin has been developing a new VR head mounted display (HMD) that use the company's latest high resolution (2K by 2K) OLED microdisplays and patented optics. The company announced that it has signed a non-exclusive IP licensing agreement for the HMD technology with an undisclosed company.

The deal includes an upfront $1 million licensing free, and a commitment to use eMagin’s OLED microdisplays in the company’s headsets.

OLED Microdisplay-maker eMagin announced the company will raise around $6 million in a registered direct offering of shares and warrants. eMagin will use the new capital to upgrade its manufacturing equipment, balance our production line and improve its yield.

An eMagin OLED microdisplay

eMagin requires the added capacity as it aims to enter the commercial headset market which requires much higher volumes than the current military and industrial markets it targets.

The Void, a virtual-reality amusement park that will be opened in 2016 in Midvale, Utah, just revealed the headset that will be given to players when they enter the park. Up until now they used Oculus Rift DK2 headsets for testing, but the final system will use a custom-designed headset called the Rapture.

The Rapture uses two curved OLED displays, each with a resolution of 2048x1556. The unique form factor will offer a 180-degree field of view (The Rift DK2 has a FOV of 100 degrees). The rapture uses custom designed dual-lens optics.

Everdisplay developed a 6" 4K AMOLED display - achieving 734 PPI. This is the first 4K 6" AMOLED prototype to be demonstrated. Everdisplay says that emerging applications such as virtual reality will demand such high-resolution displays.

Everdisplay started mass producing 5" 720p AMOLED displays towards the end of 2014. The company is also developing 5.5" and 6" panels for mobile devices, a 1.4" 400x400 circular AMOLED for the wearable market and an 8" AMOLED for the automobile market.

Oculus VR finally unveiled their first commercial/consumer VR HMD, the Oculus Rift which will be released in 2016. The Rift will use two 1080x1200 AMOLED displays to reach a total resolution of 2160x1200. Those AMOLEDs are produced by Samsung.

Oculus VR released several development-kits and prototypes in past years, with different displays. The first one used an LCD, but in the 2nd-gen HMD they adopted a low-persistence AMOLED display - in fact that was the same Super AMOLED display used in the Galaxy Note 3 (complete with the touch layer and all). Later on they switched to a dual-AMOLED design.

OLED Microdisplay maker eMagin recently announced a new VR head mounted display (HMD) that use the company's latest high resolution (2K by 2K) OLED microdisplays and patented optics. Last week eMagin announced it completed development of the new HMD, and here's how it looks like:

As you can see, this is a much more elegant solution compared to most VR headsets on the market which use cellphone-sized OLED displays. The display can be flipped to an up-position (shown in the image above).

Last year Oculus VR unveiled their 3rd-gen VR HMD development, named Crescent Bay. This HMD adopts an OLED display - but the company now reveals that it actually packs two displays, one for each eye.

Oculus adopted a low-persistence AMOLED display for their 2nd-Gen VR HMD - and it was later discovered that it is the same Super AMOLED display used in the Galaxy Note 3 (complete with the touch layer and all). It was a Full-HD display, which means 1920x1080 - for both eyes. The crescent cove uses two displays, and resolution per eye is probably a lot higher.