Apple Vision Pro rumored to get tandem OLED screen tech developed for new iPad Pro

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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in Apple Vision Pro

A future version of the Apple Vision Pro could end up with Tandem Mini OLED displays, a display panel stacking technique used on the M4 iPad Pro.

Close-up view of virtual reality headset lenses, with reflections of a room and red objects visible on the lens surfaces.
Inside the Apple Vision Pro



Apple's introduction of the M4 iPad Pro brought with it many changes, but one of the biggest is the updated display tech. Rather than mini-LED backlighting, Apple instead switched to a display system called Tandem OLED.

Now, it appears that Samsung and LG Display are working to make Tandem OLED work on micro OLED panels, in a Wednesday report from SisaJournal. The aim is to increase the technology gap between the two firms and rival outfits in China.

Tandem OLED is literally the use of two layers of OLED layers, with the stacking providing increased brightness and improvements to power usage. What Samsung and LG want to do is to apply the technique to Micro OLED displays.

As the name hints, Micro OLED displays are produced with extremely small pixels, with the pixel density soaring to the thousands of pixels per inch. This is the resolution level used by companies like Apple to produce displays for the Apple Vision Pro, which requires high resolutions in a tiny display.

Micro OLED uses a silicon substrate instead of glass to improve the resolution, but it doesn't necessarily help with brightness. Using the Tandem OLED technique with Micro LED should result in a much brighter display.

As for when we can expect Samsung and LG to introduce Tandem Mini OLED displays, the report says it will depend on when the companies invest to commercialize it.

LG apparently has an advantage in Tandem OLED, having used it for automotive products, as well as for the OLED iPad Pro models. Samsung Display is also mass producing Tandem OLED panels for Apple, and has gradually taken up more share in iPad Pro display shipments.

As for the current-gen Apple Vision Pro, the Micro OLED displays are supplied by Sony. Timetables on when this will happen are not clear, but are likely measured in years, if ever.



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    mikethemartianmikethemartian Posts: 1,456member
    How bright do you need a display to be when it is sitting right in front of your eye?
  • Reply 2 of 7
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,452member
    mikethemartian said:
    How bright do you need a display to be when it is sitting right in front of your eye?
    Apple is likely attempting to increase the dynamic range (contrast ratio of light to dark) in a an attempt to match human eyesight, but that's just speculation on my part.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    jSnivelyjSnively Posts: 433administrator
    How bright do you need a display to be when it is sitting right in front of your eye?

    A ton of the light is lost in the optics -- like 80%+ in a pancake lens. So to directly answer the question, way more than you would for say a TV
    beowulfschmidt
  • Reply 4 of 7
    thrangthrang Posts: 1,029member
    Despite the overall high quality of the panels being currently use, the AVP needs a lot more resolution TBH; the pixels per degree is way too low for clear text at smaller sizes. At least my experience in two separate demos. Its fine for gaming or media consumption, but will need that resolution to make deep forays into productivity use in many areas.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    currentinterestcurrentinterest Posts: 203member
    We begin to see some of the differentiation between Pro and a lower cost Vision version. Lower cost version will use current LED Panels. Vision Pro 2 will use these new OLED panels.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,431member
    currentinterest said:
    We begin to see some of the differentiation between Pro and a lower cost Vision version. Lower cost version will use current LED Panels. Vision Pro 2 will use these new OLED panels.
    Interesting that might open up other manufactures to supply?
    no point doubling up on a supply constrained part as any increase would halve the potential growth. Doubling up to allow 2 cheaper more abundant panels to do a better job would be interesting to increase growth and allow other r&d costs to spread over more sales. 

    I wonder if they will make both panels the same size. The outer regions of the eye only see light or no light with colour only in the middle. If they had light only edges to make the display bigger would the brain trick itself into thinking the whole display is colour like it just remembers the colour of stuff in the real world. 
  • Reply 7 of 7
    apple4thewinapple4thewin Posts: 191member
    mattinoz said:
    We begin to see some of the differentiation between Pro and a lower cost Vision version. Lower cost version will use current LED Panels. Vision Pro 2 will use these new OLED panels.
    Interesting that might open up other manufactures to supply?
    no point doubling up on a supply constrained part as any increase would halve the potential growth. Doubling up to allow 2 cheaper more abundant panels to do a better job would be interesting to increase growth and allow other r&d costs to spread over more sales. 

    I wonder if they will make both panels the same size. The outer regions of the eye only see light or no light with colour only in the middle. If they had light only edges to make the display bigger would the brain trick itself into thinking the whole display is colour like it just remembers the colour of stuff in the real world. 
    Wait so my peripheral is actually seeing black and white and color is a trick ?
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