What Display Daily thinks: It seems like Samsung and the Korean display industry are starting to see LCoS as the preferred choice for microdisplays probably because it works for them. Whether it works for anyone else is anybody’s guess.
It’s actually interesting to see that the Korean display industry and its local partners have yet to put up a convincing product play in Alt Reality devices. I don’t think they are any more convinced than some people on these pages about the efficacy of smart glasses and MR headsets.
I like The Elec. It’s almost as if someone from a Korean display manufactturer gets up in the morning and has one of those old time phones that need an operator. They tell the operator, “Get me The Elec! Now!”
The Elec comes on the phone, and the Korean display industry says, “We like this LCoS thing. Run it up the flagpole and see if it flies. Use someone else, and keep my name out of it.” Click. Fade to scene of the presses running with the headline, “Raontech mass-producing smart glasses equipped with LCoS panels for US customers within the year”(actual translated headline).
Why not. Running things up a flagpole and seeing if they fly is the only way to get things done in the Alt Reality market.
Raontech Wants You to Know That Avegant Will Ship Spotlight LCoS Display Smart Glasses This Year
Around time of the SPIE conference, just over a month ago, Avegant, a self-proclaimed well-funded AR optical technology company, announced the launch of its Spotlight display technology, which. The technology, which the company claims is the world’s first adaptive LED illumination architecture for Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) microdisplays, promises to deliver up to 90% illumination power savings and a 10-fold improvement in local contrast compared to conventional LCoS displays.
Now Raontech, the LCoS supplier, is getting touted on The Elec because its North American customer, Avegant, will release smart glasses equipped with LCoS microdisplays later this year. The Elec, probably talking to the Korean display industry, says “the industry” regards LCoS with Spotlight technology as the optimal choice for on-device AI augmented reality smart glasses, as it overcomes the typical contrast ratio limitations while significantly reducing power consumption.
Avegant’s also collaborating with Applied Materials to combine Spotlight technology with the latter’s waveguide solutions to deliver enhanced consumer AR experiences.
