Market research company TechSci released a new report in which they forecast fast growth (41% CAGR) in the next five years for the global pico projector market. Currently most pico projectors used DLP and LCoS microdisplays, but in the future laser-based projectors will be common, and in addition OLED technology will also play a "significant role" in revolutionizing the pico projector market over the next five years.
This is really interesting. While OLEDs for pico projectors were discussed in the past, the only real activity we're aware towards such a solution was a EU projector called HYPOLED back in 2008. That project, led by the Fraunhofer Institute, developed a VGA full-color OLED microdisplay coupled with pico-projector optics. Originally MED supplied the microdisplays, but the company went bankcrupt and they continued the work with MicroOLED.
An OLED is attractive for pico projectors as it can be much smaller than an LCoS with a backlight (LED or lasers). On the other hand, the OLED Of course has to be very bright and efficient. In the past OLEDs could not compete with LEDs on brightness, but recent advances in OLED microdisplays (especially, it seems, from eMagin) promises OLEDs which are much brighter and perhaps an OLED pico projector will indeed be a reality in a few years.
