Microdisplays are defined as very small displays, usually under 1-inch in diameter, used for near-eye applications. These displays feature very fine pixels and usually deliver very good image qualities. Microdisplays are used in markets such as military (HMDs, rifle sights, etc.) and industrial markets.
Most microdisplays on the market today are either LCD/LCoS displays or OLED displays. MicroLED technology is highly promising for microdisplay applications as it promises the high image quality of OLED displays coupled with very high brightness, high efficiency and long lifetimes. While the microLED industry is still emerging, the microdisplay sector is relatively mature and some displays are already deployed on the market.
If state-of-the-art OLED microdisplays could potentially offer 10,000 to 20,000 nits of brightness, microLED developers have already shown prototypes of 1 million and even 3 million nits (and companies claim it will be possible to reach even 10 million nits). This extremely high brightness and efficiency will be highly desirable in many applications, including outdoor consumer AR.
MicroLEDs are seen to be superior to OLEDs in almost all parameters – expect perhaps the high production costs. This is still an early stage technology, where commercial production started but in limited quantities – and only for monochrome display panels (although full-color microLED solutions has been commercialized using 3 separate monochrome panels) . It is likely that it will take several years to finalize the development and establish full-scale microLED microdisplay production fabs.
Following is a list of microLED microdisplay developers. As you can see, there are over 20 different developers, ranging from early stage startups, to leading display developers:
- VueReal
- Mojo Vision
- Jade Bird Display (JBD)
- MICLEDI
- Raysolve
- PlayNitride
- Porotech
- Samsung
- LG Display
- Meta
- Sitan Technology
- Rayleigh Vision
- Sundiode
- Kopin
- Raxium Semiconductor (Google)
- Q-Pixel
- Saphlux
- Innovation Semiconductor
- Foxconn
- Lumens
- Innovision
- Lumiode
To learn more about the microLED microdisplay market, consult our MicroLED and OLED Microdisplay Market Report, which details all of these companies (and all OLED microdisplay developers), their latest displays, technologies, roadmaps and prototypes, includes over 50 supplement materials (brochures, datasheets, roadmaps, etc.) and more.