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Meta unveils Ray-Ban Display LCoS smart glasses and presents PIC-based LCoS research at SID 2025

Meta unveils ‘Ray-Ban Display’ smart glasses with LCoS, following up with a photonic integrated circuit (PIC)-based LCoS at SID 2025

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At Meta Connect 2025 on Sept. 18 (local 17), Meta announced its first display-bringing consumer smart glasses, the Meta Ray-Ban Display. The product is an intermediate step between the existing Ray-Ban AI glasses and the Orion AR glasses unveiled last year and will be available in the U.S. market later this month.

The new glasses feature a monocular display at the bottom of the right lens, which the company says was designed with practical factors such as price and battery life in mind. The display features OmniVision’s single-panel full-color LCoS, with a 600×600 resolution, 42 PPD, 20° monocular field of view, and up to 5,000 nits of brightness. Combined with Lumus’ Waveguide, it delivers a crisp visual experience even outdoors. These specifications fulfill the requirements of an informational AR device (20-35° FoV, high brightness, low power) and provide excellent visibility, especially in outdoor environments. Meta’s choice of LCoS over green LEDoS was a strategic decision based on technology maturity, power efficiency, and the ability to implement full color.

At SID 2025, Meta Reality Labs also announced its work on a photonic integrated circuit (PIC)-based ultra-compact laser microdisplay. The technology offered the possibility of shrinking AR light engines to less than 1㎤, demonstrating a 50-degree viewing angle and high color uniformity. Despite the advantages of mature technology and competitive pricing, LCoS has been limited by the need for bulky optical modules. PICs replace traditional polarizing beamsplitters (PBSs), focusing lenses, and dichroic mirrors by implementing core optical functions such as light gathering, color separation, and polarization control on a chip. PIC-based laser lighting has great potential to scale as a platform for next-generation display technologies. It remains to be seen if the Meta Ray-Ban Display utilizes PICs.

LEDoS is not expected to be fully competitive until 2028 or later, and until then, full-color LCoS is likely to be the key solution for the AR glasses market. OmniVision, as well as Himax Display, Avegant, and Raontec, are working on the next generation of high-brightness, high-contrast LCoS engines, which will make them even more competitive in the near term.

The significance of this announcement is that Meta simultaneously unveiled OmniVision LCoS in commercial products and PIC-based ultra-compact laser microdisplays in research achievements. This demonstrates that the next generation of AR displays is rapidly evolving around the three pillars of miniaturization, efficiency, and quality, and is expected to accelerate the growth of the AR industry ecosystem.

Comparison of conventional LCoS projector and PIC-based LCoS presented at SID 2025 (Source: SID 2025 Digest)

Comparison of conventional LCoS and PIC-based LCoS structure (Source: SID 2025 Digest)

Changho Noh,  Senior Analyst at UBI Research  (chnoh@ubiresearch.com)

▶UBI Research’s Micro Display Report

Living Interface in Vehicles: The Future of UX Changed by Stretchable Micro LED

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As displays have become a core interface that influences the overall user experience beyond a component of the vehicle interior, technological evolution is also reaching a new turning point. The technology at the center of this is ‘Stretchable Micro LED’. This display, which can be freely applied to curved surfaces as well as implemented with elasticity and three-dimensional physical manipulation, is drawing attention as the future of digital interfaces, especially in the automobile industry.

Initially, stretchable OLED based on organic materials was studied as a promising technology candidate. OLED has strengths in thin film and self-luminous structure, and is also relatively advanced in terms of yield. However, OLED has a structure that is vulnerable to moisture and oxygen, so TFE (Thin Film Encapsulation) is essential, and it is difficult for this encapsulation layer to secure both flexibility and stretchability. In particular, in an environment where the display is stretched, the encapsulation layer may crack or it is difficult to maintain uniformity, so the actual stretch ratio of OLED that can be stretched is limited to 10% or less. Accordingly, the industry has recently shifted its focus back to Micro LED, as research on stretchable displays that was once conducted based on OLED.

Stretchable OLED & Micro-LED

Stretchable OLED & Micro-LED

Micro LEDs are composed of inorganic-based components, so they can operate stably even in harsh environments inside a vehicle, such as high temperatures, vibrations, and ultraviolet rays. In fact, in 2023, Samsung Display unveiled an 11-inch stretchable micro LED prototype and demonstrated a stretch ratio of 25%.

However, stretchable micro LEDs are not yet technically complete. The most important challenge is productivity. Micro LED chips must be accurately transferred in millions of units, but if the substrate is a stretchable soft material, it is very difficult to secure transfer precision. Another challenge is cover fusion technology for implementing touch and operability. Since stretchable displays are implemented on soft substrates such as silicone rubber, they are fundamentally limited in terms of touch sensitivity and durability. In particular, to implement precise touch recognition or physical operability, a hard cover layer like glass is required. Accordingly, the industry is focusing on developing hybrid cover materials that can simultaneously satisfy flexibility and rigidity, and high-elasticity hard polymers and film-glass composite structures are being considered as viable alternatives.

A representative example that showed the practical possibility of stretchable displays is LG Display’s ‘3D interface type stretchable display’ unveiled at SID 2025. This technology has a structure in which the surface rises in response to the user’s movements, and has garnered attention as an HMI that can provide not only visual information but also physical feedback. Also, at CES 2025, AUO unveiled a ‘3D stretchable display’ with a similar concept. This display is composed of stretchable micro LEDs, and when the user touches or raises their hand, the display locally rises, allowing it to be operated like an actual button.

LGD 12-inch Stretchable Micro-LED@SID 2025

LGD 12-inch Stretchable Micro-LED@SID 2025

AUO 14.3-inch Stretchable Micro-LED @CES2025

AUO 14.3-inch Stretchable Micro-LED @CES2025

Automotive interiors are gradually evolving into ‘digital sculptures’, and displays are playing a central role in delivering real-time responsiveness and emotional experiences. Stretchable micro LEDs are not simply displays that can be stretched, but are evolving into ‘three-dimensional interfaces’ that can organically connect the entire physical space of a car. Although there are still technical challenges to be solved, if cover substrates, touch integration, and large-area precision transfer technologies are completed, this technology will become an essential core axis in future vehicle interior UX design.

Changwook HAN, Executive Vice President/Analyst at UBI Research (cwhan@ubiresearch.com)

▶2025 Automotive Display Technology and Industry Trends Analysis Report

Progress of BOE’s 8.6-Generation OLED Line (B16) for IT Applications

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In March 2024, China’s BOE began construction of B16, an 8.6-generation (2290×2620 mm) OLED production line for IT, in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, with a total investment of RMB 63 billion (approximately KRW 12.4 trillion).

In April 2024, BOE ordered a horizontal evaporator from Sunik Systems, and in May 2025, the B16 line will receive key equipment, including Abaco’s evaporator logistics system and Sunik Systems’ horizontal evaporator.

Unlike Samsung Display’s glass substrate-based hybrid OLED process at its 8.6 generation line, BOE has invested approximately three times the amount of Samsung Display’s investment of approximately KRW 4.1 trillion to introduce a process design that can support both flexible and glass substrates. As a result, it was expected that the B16 line would be able to produce flexible OLED panels for smartphones as well as panels for IT.

However, BOE reviewed the economics of smartphone production on the B16 line and concluded that the 8.6th generation line is less efficient than the existing 6th generation line because it is difficult to secure yields in the high-resolution FMM (Fine Metal Mask) process of 450ppi or higher, and the cost of FMM has also skyrocketed. 

The first mass-produced product of the B16 line is expected to be a panel for a laptop for a brand in China, and development of a 14.8-inch MacBook panel for Apple is also underway. Meanwhile, the 11-inch panel for the iPad is being developed on the B12 (6G) line.

BOE is looking for alternative applications, such as automotive displays, as the B16 line is not efficient enough to produce OLED panels for smartphones.

Chang Ho NOH, UBI Research Analyst(chnoh@ubiresearch.com)

▶ China Trend Report Inquiry