Sony may supply OLED panels for 'Apple Glass' and VR efforts

AppleInsider · October 20, 2020 7:14PM

Apple is continuing to work on a head-mounted display of some form, a report suggests, with Sony said to be a probable supplier of displays for an Apple AR or VR headset that could arrive in 2021.

The Sony 3D Personal Viewer, a non-VR headset that used OLED panels.

Apple is believed to be working on a form of virtual reality or augmented reality headset, and has been for some time. While most rumors have pointed to Apple creating smart glasses under the name "Apple Glass," it is thought that there could still be some form of VR headset on the way.

According to a report from the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun spotted by Macotakara, Sony is likely to be re-entering Apple's supply chain with micro displays suitable for AR or VR. These small screens will consist of OLED panels, and are apparently destined to be used in a head-mounted display for release in 2021.

The headset is claimed to be one that can work for both AR and VR content, and uses a mechanism to project images from the display onto a lens in front of the user.

Sony's supply of the component is likely due to its previous history in creating headsets, including the Personal 3D Viewer. Launched in 2011 the Personal 3D Viewer was a headset that used OLED panels to generate a 720p display, which Sony said created a virtual screen equivalent of 750 inches when viewed from approximately 65 feet away.

While it offered a high resolution for the time, as well as 5.1-channel virtual surround sound, the headset wasn't a fully-fledged VR or AR headset, and served mostly as a display alternative.

Though Sony does offer a VR headset, the PlayStation VR, the device uses a different display technology, namely a single 5.7-inch OLED panel instead of the two smaller OLED screens used in the Personal 3D Viewer.

Previous rumors have suggested "Apple Glass" will release some time between 2021 and 2023, could offload processing to a nearby iPhone that it wirelessly communicates with, and may provide an AR experience in a lightweight frame.

beats · October 20, 2020 7:41PM

I hope so only so I hear less iKnockoff morons claim "Samsung makes Apple displays lol!"

mattinoz · October 20, 2020 8:42PM

From everything rumoured about mythical Apples glasses if seems odd they would have a panel type display.

arlor · October 20, 2020 10:24PM

The only thing I'm sure of about this product is that it won't be called Apple Glass. It would directly copy a competitor's product name, and the whole "Glasshole" coinage is available for Apple customers just as much as it was for Google customers.

Apple iGlasses (obviously my best name)
Apple Eyes
Apple Eyewear
Apple Sight
Apple iSight
Apple Shades
Apple Specs

jwsc · October 20, 2020 11:53PM

Like the Apple Watch Nike, or the Hermès or Gucci wristbands, I see Apple teaming up with the likes of Ray-Ban, Vuarnet, Prada, Gucci, REVO, etc. for a pair of stylish augmented reality glasses. Could even be a Geordi La Forge look and function for the blind with LIDAR. Pair it with EarPods and you’ve got sensory surround sound AR.

They’ll have some sort of camera for AR. But it won’t permit you to creepily record people on the sly, unless you jailbreak your Apple Glasses! 😱

spamsandwich · October 20, 2020 11:57PM

arlor said:

The only thing I'm sure of about this product is that it won't be called Apple Glass. It would directly copy a competitor's product name, and the whole "Glasshole" coinage is available for Apple customers just as much as it was for Google customers.

Apple iGlasses (obviously my best name)
Apple Eyes
Apple Eyewear
Apple Sight
Apple iSight
Apple Shades
Apple Specs

Let’s all say it together: “Apple Glasses”.

See how easy that was?

fastasleep · October 21, 2020 12:49AM

mattinoz said:

From everything rumoured about mythical Apples glasses if seems odd they would have a panel type display.

Yeah, I think this article is mixing up rumors as seems to happen with these: "The headset is claimed to be one that can work for both AR and VR content, and uses a mechanism to project images from the display onto a lens in front of the user. "

I'm not sure how you square this. The example Sony unit here uses micro-OLED screens which are just smaller/denser emissive OLED displays positioned in front of the eyes that are magnified by the lenses to enlarge the viewable area to the user. This is for like 3D movies and stuff and would potentially apply to a closed-off VR headset as well.

An AR headset would have to be an open-design headset with clear lenses with likely some kind of tiny micro-LED display being projected from the side onto waveguides in the lenses to superimpose imagery on real world scenery, similar to existing AR solutions.

These are not the same thing and I don't see how it's possible to have both functions in the same product, unless you have passthrough cameras on the front of the unit for mixing AR content with outside visuals, and I don't see that as fitting with any of the Apple Glasses rumors thus far.

Still seems like two products to me, and these screens would be for the closed VR type headset.

cloudtalkin · October 21, 2020 3:49AM

fastasleep said:

mattinoz said:

From everything rumoured about mythical Apples glasses if seems odd they would have a panel type display.

Yeah, I think this article is mixing up rumors as seems to happen with these: "The headset is claimed to be one that can work for both AR and VR content, and uses a mechanism to project images from the display onto a lens in front of the user. "

I'm not sure how you square this. The example Sony unit here uses micro-OLED screens which are just smaller/denser emissive OLED displays positioned in front of the eyes that are magnified by the lenses to enlarge the viewable area to the user. This is for like 3D movies and stuff and would potentially apply to a closed-off VR headset as well.

An AR headset would have to be an open-design headset with clear lenses with likely some kind of tiny micro-LED display being projected from the side onto waveguides in the lenses to superimpose imagery on real world scenery, similar to existing AR solutions.

These are not the same thing and I don't see how it's possible to have both functions in the same product, unless you have passthrough cameras on the front of the unit for mixing AR content with outside visuals, and I don't see that as fitting with any of the Apple Glasses rumors thus far.

Still seems like two products to me, and these screens would be for the closed VR type headset.

I agree. This article doesn't make sense. Why would Apple be getting OLED panels from Sony? Afaik, Sony doesn't even make OLED panels. The OLED panels for Sony TV's are sourced from LG. I think LG even makes the OLED panels for Sony's phones. ← IKR?!?! Who knew Sony still made phones? Getting the lenses for the Apple project from Sony? Makes sense. OLED? Not so much.

An LG OLED panel would seem to be the only viable choice if the claim of AR and VR from the same device is true. That duality would seem to require transparent OLED. Coinkydinkally, LG makes a transparent OLED.

I don't totally support the idea of a 2-in-1 AR/VR device either. The typical use cases are diametrically opposed to each other. But hey, I've been wrong before. Once, back in 2002. Didn't really like it.

razorpit · October 21, 2020 1:14PM

arlor said:

The only thing I'm sure of about this product is that it won't be called Apple Glass. It would directly copy a competitor's product name, and the whole "Glasshole" coinage is available for Apple customers just as much as it was for Google customers.

Apple iGlasses (obviously my best name)
Apple Eyes
Apple Eyewear
Apple Sight
Apple iSight
Apple Shades
Apple Specs

The only thing I’m sure about is that it won’t be any of those terrible names.

inspiredcode · October 21, 2020 2:34PM

fastasleep said:

mattinoz said:

From everything rumoured about mythical Apples glasses if seems odd they would have a panel type display.

Yeah, I think this article is mixing up rumors as seems to happen with these: "The headset is claimed to be one that can work for both AR and VR content, and uses a mechanism to project images from the display onto a lens in front of the user. "

I'm not sure how you square this. The example Sony unit here uses micro-OLED screens which are just smaller/denser emissive OLED displays positioned in front of the eyes that are magnified by the lenses to enlarge the viewable area to the user. This is for like 3D movies and stuff and would potentially apply to a closed-off VR headset as well.

An AR headset would have to be an open-design headset with clear lenses with likely some kind of tiny micro-LED display being projected from the side onto waveguides in the lenses to superimpose imagery on real world scenery, similar to existing AR solutions.

These are not the same thing and I don't see how it's possible to have both functions in the same product, unless you have passthrough cameras on the front of the unit for mixing AR content with outside visuals, and I don't see that as fitting with any of the Apple Glasses rumors thus far.

Still seems like two products to me, and these screens would be for the closed VR type headset.

Right. It feels like many of the rumors are mixing up the two devices. Among other things, we are hearing different tentative launch dates that are all over the place.

inspiredcode · October 21, 2020 2:42PM

Whenever this comes out, I hope they get Beat Saber despite it being owned by Facebook. Facebook doesn't seem to be interested in keeping it an exclusive, but it is hard to say. They may just see existing platforms as grandfathered in.

edited October 2020

fastasleep · October 21, 2020 5:45PM

InspiredCode said:

Whenever this comes out, I hope they get Beat Saber despite it being owned by Facebook. Facebook doesn't seem to be interested in keeping it an exclusive, but it is hard to say. They may just see existing platforms as grandfathered in.

It’s not exclusive now; it’s available on PSVR and SteamVR as well as Oculus.

steve_jobs · October 21, 2020 7:57PM

mattinoz said:

From everything rumoured about mythical Apples glasses if seems odd they would have a panel type display.

Imo to the current date/time there is no better tech for the AR "glasses" https://www.lumineq.com/blog/pros-and-cons-four-transparent-display-technologies-video-included , https://www.lumineq.com/applications/optics .

edited October 2020

cloudtalkin · October 22, 2020 4:26PM

PSA Update
If this article seems confusing or missing info (it is), please read this: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-glasses-will-reportedly-use-sonys-cutting-edge-oled-micro-displays-to-deliver-real-ar-experience.2262564/

More information on the tech from Sony: https://www.sony-semicon.co.jp/e/products/microdisplay/oled/product.html

This isn't OLED in the traditional sense that we know OLED (TV's, tablets, phones, or watches). After reading about the tech, it actually makes sense to consider AR and VR in the same application.

edit: It may not make sense after all. The original post from Ross has been updated to clarify that the tech is to be used for an AR only application, not an AR/VR application.

edited October 2020

Sony may supply OLED panels for 'Apple Glass' and VR efforts

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