Major corporations, including Meta and Apple in the United States and Huawei, Rayneo, and Pico in China, are expected to roll out new Extended Reality (XR) devices this year. As a result, the market for "near-eye displays" used in Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR) devices is forecast to grow about threefold from a year earlier. In particular, with OLEDoS (OLED on silicon) set to be applied to most new XR devices this year, analysts say it will drive market growth.
OLEDoS refers to a technology that deposits organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) onto a silicon wafer instead of conventional glass. It is small and light, offers excellent battery efficiency, and can deliver sharp image quality. It is considered a suitable display for XR devices, where the distance between the user and the screen is short. Both Samsung Display and LG Display have secured the fundamental technology, but they differ in mass production. Samsung Display is supplying OLEDoS panels for XR devices to Samsung Electronics, but LG Display has yet to secure a clear customer and is watching for the right timing to enter the market.
According to market research firm Omdia on the 24th, the near-eye display market, which shrank sharply last year, is expected to show a clear improvement this year. The market reached $717 million (about 1.0363 trillion won) in 2024, but last year it stood at $392 million (about 566.6 billion won). The market size shrank by about 45% in a year. Analysts cite the lack of content available on XR devices and high prices that dampened consumer accessibility, leading to an overall market contraction. Some corporations also delayed the launch timing of next-generation products.
Omdia said major brands such as Meta, Apple, Huawei, Rayneo, and Pico plan to release MR devices this year. With OLEDoS to be installed in most of the new products from these corporations, the overall near-eye display market is forecast to reach $1.2 billion (about 1.7347 trillion won), up 200% from a year earlier. Omdia also projected shipments this year will reach 20.20 million units, up 57.9% from last year.
Omdia in particular expects Meta's new product to drive XR market growth this year. According to the industry, Meta plans to release an MR device in a head-mounted form factor similar to Apple's Vision Pro this year. There is talk that it will feature a 0.91-inch OLEDoS panel, smaller than the Vision Pro's. Meta reduced the panel size to cut weight and improve convenience while also achieving expense savings.
Meta's new MR device is likely to use China-made OLEDoS panels. Omdia said Meta is negotiating OLEDoS supply with BOE and SeeYA. Japan's Sony is expected to supply OLEDoS panels for Apple's second-generation product following the first-generation Vision Pro.
In Korea, Samsung Display has established a mass production system for OLEDoS panels. It is supplying panels with 1.3-inch size and 4K resolution for the Galaxy XR, which Samsung Electronics released in Oct. last year. The panel is made using a White OLEDoS (W-OLEDos) method, which deposits a white emitting layer on a silicon substrate and then adds red (R), green (G), and blue (B) filters to render color. At the initial launch of the Galaxy XR, Samsung Electronics sourced panels from Sony and later diversified its suppliers.
Samsung Display has named OLEDoS as one of its five key businesses this year and is pursuing new technology development and process investments. According to the industry, Samsung Display's OLEDoS process has moved beyond the initial mass production Production yield (about 30%) and entered a maturation phase. At CES 2026 earlier this year, it also unveiled for the first time a headset demo product equipped with RGB OLEDoS, which is technologically more advanced than White OLEDoS. It deposits red, green, and blue OLEDs individually to produce color without a color filter.
LG Display continued to showcase OLEDoS technology at various exhibitions through 2024, but has not done so since last year. It also did not unveil related technology at CES 2026. As the XR market has been slow to blossom, the company is pursuing a "selection and concentration" strategy by focusing first on areas with sufficient market potential, such as in-vehicle displays. In this year's New Year's address, LG Display President Jeong Chul-dong said, "We must secure a stable revenue structure and a foundation for future growth across all business areas and set ourselves firmly on the path to full normalization of management."
A display expert who requested anonymity said, "While China is rapidly catching up, there is a market perception that Korea remains superior in the OLED sector. However, in the OLEDoS segment, securing market leadership has been slow," adding, "It is positive that Samsung Display, albeit in small volumes, is mass-producing products and building process-optimization know-how."