When Apple unveiled its inaugural wearable device, the Vision Pro, in June this year, CEO Tim Cook remarked, “Apple Vision Pro introduces us to spatial computing.”

The era of spatial computing entails redefining how users interact with digital content within the context of the real world. Apple’s ambition extends beyond mere immersive entertainment, aiming to seamlessly integrate personal computers and smartphones into everyday life and work scenarios, replicating the success it achieved in personal and mobile computing.

The launch of the Vision Pro has once again thrust new display technologies into the industry spotlight. Although the Vision Pro employs Micro OLED, the potential to achieve a portable, outdoor-capable mixed-reality headset rests on Micro LED, seen as the most promising option.

“Micro LED demonstrates balanced performance beyond average levels in terms of brightness, energy consumption, pixel density (Pixel per Inch, PPI), and optical module size,” noted Eric Chiou, Senior Research Vice President at TrendForce. He further emphasized Micro LED’s potential in the development of AR devices, stating, “This also explains why Meta, Google, and MIT are continuously evaluating and assisting in the development of Micro LED technology.”

The application potential of Micro LED in AR devices is evident from the number of companies investing in its development.

In the first half of 2023 alone, six companies—Raysolve, Porotech, Sitan, Kopin, GoerOptics, JBD—announced progress in the development of Micro LED micro-display products. Additionally, two AR glasses manufacturers, Rayneo Innovation and Nubia, unveiled products featuring Micro LED chips.

Certainly, Micro LED’s implementation is not confined to AR eyewear; it is making inroads into the realm of wearables, particularly in the form of smartwatches. Soon, consumers will find the first commercially available watch featuring a Micro LED screen on the market. Tag Heuer, a luxury watch brand, is leading the way with support from AU Optronics for Micro LED panels.

Anticipation mounts for an Apple Watch featuring a Micro LED screen, with rumors circulating consistently. According to earlier information from TrendForce, the release of the Micro LED version of the Apple Watch, originally projected for the second half of 2025, has been delayed to the first quarter of 2026. Initial reports suggested the supply of Micro LED chips would come from Epistar and Osram and that Apple would handle mass transfer at its Longtan facility. Recent reports, however, suggest that Apple might entrust mass transfer and subsequent work to its long-term collaborator, LG Display (LGD).

It’s rumored that LGD has visited Apple’s Longtan facility, indicating a potential handover of equipment to LGD, facilitating smooth mass transfer and back-end processes. Despite shifts in the supply chain, this alteration underscores Apple’s commitment to advancing the Micro LED version of the watch into mass production, with wearables continuing to play a pivotal role in the practical implementation of Micro LED.

The industry’s technological development and investment in wearables, particularly watches and AR glasses, demonstrate a shift towards small-sized sectors represented by headsets and wearables. This indicates that Micro LED is edging closer to large-scale commercialization and breakthrough applications.

Regarding the commercial development of Micro LED, the launch of large-sized products remains a critical indicator. Korean giants Samsung and LGD are pivotal players in this regard. Following Samsung’s introduction of the high-end 110-inch Micro LED TV, LGD’s plans to release a 136-inch Micro LED TV in 2024 have surfaced. Factoring in Samsung’s and LGD’s entries, a total of five companies, including AUO, BOE, and SmartKem, have announced developments in Micro LED display technology in 2023.

Considering the market trends mentioned above, based on TrendForce’s projections, the production value of Micro LED chips is expected to reach $27 million in 2023, showing a 92% annual growth. Looking ahead, driven by the expansion of current application shipments and the introduction of new use cases, the estimated chip production value is set to hit $580 million by 2027. This anticipates a compound annual growth rate of 136% from 2022 to 2027.

(Photo credit: Samsung)

Apple’s latest MR device, the “Vision Pro,” utilizes Micro OLED technology. This technology, along with Micro LED, is considered the next generation of display technology. So what are the differences between Micro OLED and Micro LED, and which one is better suited for AR/VR/MR devices?

According to market research firm TrendForce, ideal smart glasses must meet three major criteria. Firstly, to minimize the burden of wearing glasses, the display engine’s size should be below 1 inch. Secondly, in terms of content recognition requirements, the display brightness specification should reach at least 4,000 nits to ensure immunity to external factors such as weather or venue conditions. Lastly, the resolution should be at least 3,000 PPI to ensure clear projection and magnification.

Currently, Micro LED and Micro OLED are the primary technologies that meet these requirements. However, Micro LED is still in the early stages of AR technology development and faces several challenges that need to be overcome. Therefore, Micro OLED is currently the mainstream technology in the field.

Micro OLED technology enables full-color capabilities and has become the preferred choice for AR/VR manufacturers. According to TrendForce’s comparison of display engines, Micro LED outperforms Micro OLED in pixel size, luminous efficiency, and brightness. It appears to be the most suitable for AR glasses based on specifications. However, Micro LED is currently limited to a single green color, while Micro OLED can achieve full color. As a result, Micro OLED has a competitive advantage in AR/VR devices.

In terms of manufacturers, Sony remains the main supplier for Micro OLED technology. Due to their longer investment time and technological advantages, South Korean manufacturers Samsung and LG Display (LGD) are expected to join Apple’s MR supply chain in 2024.

Last year, reports suggested that Samsung initially considered Micro OLED a niche market and lagged behind its competitor, LGD. However, due to demands from Apple, Meta, and Samsung’s parent company, they began developing Micro OLED in the third quarter of last year. The latest news reveals that Samsung will acquire American Micro OLED display manufacturer eMagin for a price of $218 million.

Meanwhile, Meta will also collaborate with South Korean semiconductor giants SK hynix and LGD to develop Micro OLED panels for Meta XR (Extended Reality) devices. This partnership is expected to lead to more Micro OLED applications in AR/VR in the future.

Micro LED technology is still facing bottlenecks, but it has the potential to surpass Micro OLED in the medium to long term. TrendForce states that Micro LED AR glasses, due to the bottleneck in achieving full colorization, primarily display monochromatic information such as informational prompts, navigation, translation, and note-taking functions. Achieving higher resolutions requires chip miniaturization, reducing the size of Micro LED to 5 micrometers. In this situation, epitaxial processes are affected by wavelength uniformity issues, which impact yield. Additionally, smaller chips raise concerns about the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of red chips.

Overall, although Micro LED faces many challenges in AR glasses, it still outperforms Micro OLED in contrast, responsiveness, lifespan, power consumption, and other specifications. Considering the limitations of waveguide component technology in transparent AR glasses, which restricts optical efficiency from exceeding 1%, Micro LED remains an excellent choice in the medium to long term.

Therefore, if Apple wants to introduce Micro LED technology, it plans to start with the Apple Watch. However, the project’s launch has been delayed from 2024 to a later date, possibly beyond 2025, due to technological bottlenecks. In fact, over the past decade, Apple has invested significant funds in collaboration with ams Osram to develop Micro LED components. Once the technology is ready for mass production, Apple is likely to take charge of the critical “mass transfer” process, which may be carried out at its secret research and development center in Longtan, Taoyuan.

It’s worth noting that in addition to Micro LED, the Longtan research and development center is also where Apple collaborates with TSMC on Micro OLED technology for MR devices.

(Photo credit: Apple)

Microsoft are among the major technology companies that are now undergoing a major round of layoffs. Having released around 11,000 employees, Microsoft has downsized staffing across its numerous business operations, including gaming units Xbox and Bethesda. This round of layoffs has also seen the disbanding of the development teams behind Altspace VR and the Mix Reality Tool Kit. The VR social media platform Altspace VR is scheduled to shut down on March 10th this year.

Is Microsoft Exiting the Market for Technologies Related to AR/VR and Metaverse?

Microsoft acquired AltspaceVR in 2017, and the Windows Mix Reality headset was released in the same year. The plan was to have the newly acquired social media platform generate the demand for the headset, thereby spurring other hardware brands to continue investing in similar products.

However, fast forward to the current year of 2023, the Windows Mix Reality headset possesses almost no market share as AltspaceVR fails to hold a notable number of active users for this device. TrendForce believes Microsoft has no choice but to stop maintaining the social media platform that is not bringing in any significant economic benefits.

However, TrendForce has to point out that “platform system” is still the core of Microsoft’s strategy for the development of AR/VR technologies. Going forward, Microsoft intends to have applications related to VR social media integrated into the Microsoft Mesh, which is its new VR/AR communication and collaboration platform that can work on multiple types of devices.

Microsoft can also encourage third-party developers to build VR social media platforms that are compatible with its technologies. Bottom line is this: there is no need for Microsoft to operate its own VR social media platform. All in all, AltspaceVR is a component that Microsoft has taken out because it no longer fits into its strategy. Terminating the platform does not mean that the company has decided to sit on the sideline in the formation of the Metaverse market, as speculated by some outsiders.

The Metaverse Is Only a Medium, and Maintaining User Engagement on a VR Social Media Platform Depends on the Capability to Offer a Variety of Functions

The shutdown of AltspaceVR reveals the current challenges in the development of Metaverse communities. In the case of social media services, simply adding AR/VR technologies or some elements related to the Metaverse will not lead to long-term engagement by users. To get users to stay, these platforms need to rely on their own special interfaces, functions, and features.

Take the relatively successful VR social media platforms such as Roblox, Rec Room and VRChat as examples. They first enable users to self-generate content and express their creativity in various ways, and then they provide the avenue for social interactions and trading of virtual goods. Hence, TrendForce believes fulfilling the creative aspiration is the key to keeping users. Offering some AR/VR technologies and gimmicks associated with the Metaverse is just not enough.

On the other hand, functions that allow creativity tend not to be the reason why the majority of users join a particular social media platform in the first place. Also, a platform that has to work with an AR/VR device will be relatively difficult to access and operate, and this further limits the size of its user base. Taking the aforementioned factors in account, it is clear as to why AltspaceVR failed to gain traction. Positioning itself only as a social media platform, it did not really stand out in the competition even with AR/VR functions.

TrendForce’s takeaway from the closure of Altspace is that rather than building a social media service from scratch, Microsoft’s interests would be best served by acquiring an existing social media app or platform that already has a huge following. With the support from the Microsoft Mesh, such app or platform would be able to strengthen Microsoft’s service offerings for Metaverse communities in the future.

（Image credit: Microsoft LinkedIn）

According to TrendForce research, the global Metaverse market reached US$38.6 billion in 2021, an increase of 17.9% compared to 2020. The global Metaverse market is expected to reach US$47.5 billion in 2022, with a growth rate of 18.7% and a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) from 2022 to 2030 of 39.4%. With the rapid expansion of the digital economy to the Metaverse and its total addressable market (TAM), total revenue of the global digital economy will account for 22.3% of total global GDP in 2028. Initial estimates reveal that the potential market opportunity of the Metaverse is approximately US$3.8 to US$12.5 trillion.

Due to the vague concept and definition of the Metaverse, specific actions and orientations are mainly based on games and NFTs (Non-Fungible Token, non-fungible tokens). Potential areas of development and feasible markets are also relatively vague, forcing companies into a mostly wait and see stance. In the second half of 2021, countries successively introduced relevant policies for the Metaverse, solidifying a clear development vision, and attracting the participation and speedy investment of Acer, HTC, Microsoft, Tencent, Take-Two, and Lenovo. At present, Adidas, Atari, Ferrari, Gap, Hulu, Nike, Verizon, and Walmart are entering the virtual world in different ways to witness the immersive experience of the digital universe.

Since the Metaverse’s digital asset transaction and exchange program involves three inseparable structures of legal currency, cryptocurrency, and NFTs, it also reeks of issues on many levels including ownership and intellectual property rights, digital asset transfer pricing, system encryption, supervision mechanisms, money laundering prevention, and combating terrorism, resulting in different degrees of openness to the Metaverse in different countries. Take the United States and China as examples.

The U.S. Treasury Department released the “Study of the Facilitation of Money Laundering and Terror Finance Through the Trade in Works of Art” in February 2022. The report pointed out that, due to limited evidence of money laundering, the government temporarily refrained from taking immediate intervention measures against the self-regulating global art industry (including digital assets). However, if the current situation persists, there will be lurking future risks to the US economy and national security, such as an increase in the risk of entities using the soaring value of the digital art market to bypassing global legal norms. Whether or not to intervene will need to be discussed further.

In contrast, China has adopted stricter policies, such as prohibiting the circulation of cryptocurrencies in the market and prohibiting cryptocurrency exchange. From this point of view, if China wants to develop the Metaverse, it will be limited in terms of expanding into new application fields. On the whole, the world has the same development vision in AR/VR, advanced infrastructure (including communication technology), and AI/ML. However, China’s restrictions on “cryptocurrency” and “game bans,” will pose both the greatest challenges and new market opportunities to participants in games and digital assets. Metaverse development plans proposed from various regions in China and the aforementioned legal digital currency show that the Chinese authorities already have a set of plans, development goals, and operation frameworks.

（Image credit: Pixabay）

(TechNews) Google confirmed on May 4th that it has acquired Raxium, a start-up company with Micro LED display technology, which is expected to become key in Google’s mission to create a new generation of AR displays.

Google senior vice president of devices and services, Rick Osterloh, who leads the development of Google’s hardware products, stated that Raxium has spent five years creating a small, cost-effective, and energy-efficient high-resolution display that lays the foundation for future display technologies, adding, this company’s technology in this field could play a key role in Google’s hardware investments. Raxium, headquartered in Fremont, California, will be merged into Google’s devices and services group in the future but he did not disclose the purchase price or other details.

According to Raxium’s official website, the pixel pitch of s Super AMOLED screen on a mobile phone is approximately 50 microns but the company’s Micro LED technology can achieve approximately 3.5 microns and it claims to be able to create unprecedented display efficiency.

When foreign media, The Information, reported last month and first exposed Google’s plan to acquire Raxium, it pointed out that Micro LED technology can create AR displays that are more energy-efficient than other solutions while retaining vivid colors. In addition, Raxium is working on the monolithic integration of Micro LEDs, which is expected to significantly reduce costs.

This move makes Google’s plans for subsequent AR hardware products increasingly clear. Google acquired glasses startup North in 2020 and is reportedly recruiting engineers to develop an operating system for AR displays. It was revealed by foreign media in January this year that Google’s laboratory is developing a head-mounted AR device code-named “Project Iris” which is under the same management as “Project Starline” shown at the Google I/O 2021 developer conference last year.

(Source: https://technews.tw/2022/05/05/google-acquires-raxium/)