CEO of Sapien Semiconductor, Lee Myung-hee, said at the 'Microdisplay Conference' hosted by The Elec last week, "Big Tech will release AR glasses using LEDoS (LED on Silicon - using Redos) within 2 to 3 years," adding, "If AI is combined with AR glasses, the AR glasses industry will expand," and predicted that it will grow explosively.

In AR devices, the light efficiency is only 1-10%, so the light from the light source must be bright to be used as an AR device display that adds virtual information to the real world. Although China's JBD is ahead in the Redos sector, there are many challenges that must be solved for Redos to become as popular as a microdisplay for AR devices. China's TCL's AR glass - TCL-Raineo, uses JBD Redos (Red on Silicon).

More specifically, representative Redos technologies include △Blue + Quantum Dot (QD) method △Red (R) Green (G) Blue (B) 3-panel method △Monolithic 1-panel method. Blue + QD method LEDOS is a method of forming B micro LEDs on a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) backplane and then implementing color through a QD color conversion layer. The RGB 3-panel method is a technology that creates three panels by forming R, G, and B micro LEDs on three CMOS backplanes. The monolithic 1-panel method has one panel. R, G, and B micro LEDs are stacked vertically on the CMOS backplane, or horizontally on the same layer.

CEO Lee explained, “When stacking vertically, R is at the bottom, and G and B are raised in that order.” He also added, "When configuring RGB in a horizontal manner, the R efficiency is low, so the overall balance is maintained with RRGB with two R's in a square shape."

Myung-hee predicts that the "The biggest challenge for Redos is mass production,” and added, “Problems of production yield and price will have to be gradually resolved.” He added, “AR glasses must have excellent user immersion, be efficient in power consumption, and satisfy design and transparency.”

“Big Tech is likely to first release AR glasses using Elcos in 1 to 2 years.” Elcos is a reflective display that changes the phase of incident light and outputs it, and requires an external light source such as a mini LED or laser. Smartglasses / AR glasses using Redos are expected to enter the market in 2 to 3 years.” Sapien Semiconductor, whose main product is CMOS backplane for Redos, is working on extended reality (XR) device projects such as AR with dozens of domestic and foreign companies.

CEO Lee expected that AI would become the killer app for AR glasses. CEO Lee said, “Until 2-3 years ago, AR glasses were the biggest topic of conversation as killer apps,” and added, “Recently, with the release of Open AI’s Chat GPT, areas that are relevant to consumers, such as real-time translation, object recognition, and internet search, have emerged.” . He said, “Personally, if I could tell who the person in front of me is with the camera of the AR glasses, I would buy the AR glasses right away,” and expected, “If AI and AR glasses are combined, the AR glasses market will grow explosively.”

Considering that Apple Inc is filing numerous patents regarding future smartglasses (01, 02, 03, 04 and more), staying on top of developments in the smartglasses industry can provide us with an overview of market trends that Apple may tap into over time.

TrendForce 2024 Micro LED Market Trend and Technology Cost Analysis
Release: 31 May / 30 November 2024
Language: Traditional Chinese / English
Format: PDF
Page: 160-180

TrendForce 2024 Near-Eye Display Market Trend and Technology Analysis
Release Date:2024 / 07 / 31
Languages:Traditional Chinese / English
Format:PDF
Page:164