Technologies

What is Micro-OLED? Apple Vision Pro’s Screen Tech Explained

The microscopic version of the beloved display tech winds up the pixels per inch to insane levels. Here’s why Apple and others are so excited about this new version of OLED.

At WWDC 2023, Apple announced the Vision Pro AR/VR headset, which offered an impressive amount of technology and an equally imposing $3,500 price tag. Yet, one of the things that helps the Vision stand out from cheaper products from Valve and Meta is the use of a new type of display called micro-OLED. More than just a rebranding by the marketing experts at Apple, micro-OLED is a variation on the screen technology which has become a staple of best TV lists over the last few years.

Micro-OLED’s main difference from «traditional» OLED is right in the name. Featuring far smaller pixels, micro-OLED has the potential for much, much higher resolutions than traditional OLED: think 4K TV resolutions on chips the size of postage stamps. Until recently, the technology has been used in things like electronic viewfinders in cameras, but the latest versions are larger and even higher resolution, making them perfect for AR and VR headsets.

Here’s an in-depth look at this tech and where it could be used in the future.

What’s OLED?

OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. The term «organic» means the chemicals that help the OLED create light incorporate the element carbon. The specific chemicals beyond that don’t matter much, at least to us end-users, but suffice it to say when they’re supplied with a bit of energy, they create light. You can read more about how OLED works in What is OLED and what can it do for your TV?.

A chart showing the basic differences between OLED microdisplays and traditional OLED displays. — The basic differences between micro-OLED and «traditional» OLED.

Sony

The benefit of OLED in general is that it creates its own light. So unlike LED LCD TVs, which currently make up the rest of the TV market, each pixel can be turned on and off. When off, they emit no light. You can’t make an LED LCD pixel totally dark unless you turn off the backlight altogether, and this means OLED’s contrast ratio, or the difference between the brightest and darkest part of an image, is basically infinite in comparison.

OLED TVs, almost all manufactured by LG, have been on the market for several years. Meanwhile, Samsung Display has recently introduced OLED TVs that also feature quantum dots (QD-OLED), which offer even higher brightness and potentially greater color. These QD-OLEDs are sold by Samsung, Sony, and, in computer monitor form, Alienware.

Micro-OLED aka OLED on Silicon

A cutaway diagram of a micro-OLED display. — The layers of a micro-OLED display.

Shanghai University

Micro-OLED, also known as OLEDoS and OLED microdisplays, is one of the rare cases where the tech is exactly as it sounds: tiny OLED «micro» displays. In this case, not only are the pixels themselves smaller, but the entire «panels» are smaller. This is possible thanks to advancements in manufacturing, including mounting the display-making segments in each pixel directly to a silicone chip. This enables pixels to be much, much smaller .

Two Sony micro-OLED displays. They look like computer chips. — Two Sony micro-OLED displays. They look like computer chips because that’s what they’re based on.

Sony

If we take a look at Apple’s claims, we can estimate how small these pixels really are. Firstly, Apple says the twin displays in the Vision Pro include «More pixels than a 4K TV. For each eye» or «23 million pixels.» A 4K TV is 3,840×2,160, or 8,294,400 pixels, so that should equate to around 11,500,000 pixels per eye for the Apple screens.

Next, Apple partnered with Sony (or maybe TSMC) to create these micro-OLED displays and they are approximately 1-inch in size. To calculate the size of each pixel I’m going to use 32-inch 4K TVs as a comparison, and these boast about 138 pixels per inch (ppi). We don’t know the aspect ratio of the chips in the Vision Pro, but if they’re a square 3,400×3,400 resolution that would be a total of 11,560,000 pixels, so that’s a safe bet. So, if that’s the case, these displays have a ppi of around 4,808(!) and that’s more than almost anything else on the market, and that’s by a lot. Even the high-resolution OLED screen on the Galaxy S23 Ultra has a ppi of «only» 500. Regardless of the panel’s production aspect ratio, the ppi is going to be impressive. Apple didn’t respond immediately to CNET’s request for clarification.

AR and VR microdisplays are so close to your eyes that they need to be extremely high performance in order to be realistic. They need extreme resolution so you don’t see the pixels, they need high contrast ratios so they look realistic, and they need high framerates to minimize the chance of motion blur and motion sickness. In addition, being in portable devices means they need to be able to do all that with low power consumption. Micro-OLED seems able to do all of these, but at a cost. Literally a cost. The Vision Pro is the most high-profile use of the high-end of the technology and it costs $3,500.

A tiny monochrome micro-OLED display next to the tip of a mechanical pencil. — A monochrome micro-OLED display from the company Microoled, one of the largest manufactures of micro-OLED displays. On the right is the tip of a mechanical pencil.

Microoled

The Micro-OLED technology isn’t particularly new, having been available in some form for over a decade. Sony has been using them in camera viewfinders for several years, as have Canon and Nikon. Like all display techs, however, micro-OLED has evolved quite a bit over the years. The displays in the Vision Pro, for instance, are huge and very high resolution for a micro-OLED display.

A 7.8mm wide high-resolution Micro-OLED display. — A high-resolution color micro-OLED display by the company Microoled.

Microoled

How is micro-OLED different from MicroLED? Despite the fact that they’re written slightly differently, they are superficially similar in the way they are both self-emitting, or can make their own light. But on a more in-depth level, the differences between the carbon-based OLED and the non-carbon LED are sadly beyond the scope of this article. Suffice it to say right now, MicroLED is better suited for large, wall-sized displays using individual pixels made up of LEDs. Micro-OLED is better suited for tiny, high-resolution displays. This isn’t to say that MicroLED can’t be used in smaller displays, and we’ll likely see some eventually. But for now they’re different tools for different uses.

The future is micro?

The ENGO 2 eyeware with the tiny Micro-OLED display built into the nosepiece. — The ENGO 2 eyeware uses a tiny micro-OLED made by the company Microoled. The display reflects off the inside of the eyeware to show you your speed, time, direction and other data. Basically anything an athlete would need for better training, but instead of on a watch or phone, it’s projected in real time in front of you. Essentially, a heads-up display built into sunglasses.

ENGO

Where else will we see micro-OLED? At MWC 2023, Xiaomi announced its AR Glass Discovery Edition featured the technology, and future high-end VR headsets from Meta, HTC and others will likely use it. Currently, a company named Engo is using a tiny micro-OLED projector to display speed and other data on the inside of its AR sunglasses. I know I sure don’t need these, but I want them. Then there’s the many mirrorless and other cameras that have been using micro-OLED viewfinders for years.

Could we see ultra-ultra-ultra high-resolution TVs with this new technology? Technically, it’s possible but highly unlikely. Macro micro-OLED is just OLED. The resolutions possible using more traditional OLED manufacturing are more than enough for a display that’s 10 feet from your eyeballs. However, it’s possible micro-OLED might find its way into wearables and other portable devices where its size, resolution and efficiency will be an asset. That’s likely why LG, Samsung Display, Sony and others are all working on micro-OLED.

Will ultra-thin, ultra-high resolution micro-OLED displays compete in a market with ultra-thin, ultra-high resolution nanoLED? Could be. We shall see.

As well as covering TV and other display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, massive aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips and more. Check out Tech Treks for all his tours and adventures.

He wrote a bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines and a sequel. You can follow his adventures on Instagram and his YouTube channel.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 5 #642

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Dec. 5, No. 642.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one, and the theme is interesting. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Feeling peckish?

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Can I see a menu?

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BAKE, BAKER, BONE, BONES, SIRS, FUNS, FACT, BUTT, DIET, DIETS, GREW, STEW, GOUT, DINE, NEST, NETS, TEAK

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

BAKERY, CAFE, BISTRO, BUFFET, BREWERY, STEAKHOUSE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is DININGOUT. To find it, start with the D that is three letters to the right on the top row, and wind down.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Dec. 5

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 5.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Three of the clues involve a now-infamous Gen Z/Gen Alpha joke, so you might want to have a young person nearby. Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Beaver’s building project
Answer: DAM

4A clue: Unit of distance originally equivalent to 1,000 paces
Answer: MILE

5A clue: Number of dwarfs or deadly sins
Answer: SEVEN

6A clue: Extra-large film format
Answer: IMAX

7A clue: Crosses (out)
Answer: XES

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Difficult-to-work-with stars
Answer: DIVAS

2D clue: U.S. soccer star ___ Morgan
Answer: ALEX

3D clue: Roughly half of the adult population
Answer: MEN

4D clue: 5-Down-5-Across, for one
Answer: MEME

5D clue: Broadway musical about the wives of Henry VIII
Answer: SIX

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Technologies

The Mystery of the iPhone 17 Pro’s Missing Night Mode for Portraits

Is it a bug? Is it a technical issue? Or did Apple just yank a camera feature that wasn’t popular?

It’s a mystery. Night mode isn’t available in Portrait Mode on the iPhone 17 Pro, and no one seems to know why. Yet.

Night mode automatically brightens photos and captures more details, even in low-light conditions. You can adjust the exposure time manually. In Portrait mode, the camera focuses sharply on the subject you’re snapping and blurs the background, creating a depth-of-field effect.

The first clue that Night mode for Portrait mode was gone came from an Apple support document titled Take Night mode photos with your iPhone camera. It states what many iPhone aficionados already know: «Night mode automatically brightens photos and captures more detail in low light.»

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Night mode for the iPhone 17 Pro is listed in two separate parts of the iPhone online user guide (here and also here) for selfies and time-lapse photos. But it isn’t included on the guide’s list for snapping Night mode photos in Portrait mode. The feature is still available on iPhone Pro and Pro Max on the 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 series.

Upon investigation, CNET staffers verified that, indeed, Night mode is no longer an option in Portrait mode with the iPhone 17 Pro.

An Apple representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

When the iPhone 17 Pro was launched in September, Andrew Lanxon, CNET’s lead photographer in Europe, was impressed by the camera upgrades over the iPhone 16 Pro, including optical zoom that doubled to 8x, a telephoto camera sensor 56% larger than before and 48 megapixels of resolution.

Lanxon, a professional photographer and YouTuber, was excited to get shooting with the iPhone 17 Pro. But apparently, he will have to do without Night mode in Portrait mode.

Why did Apple do it?

Why was Night mode removed? «There doesn’t appear to be a hardware reason for it,» said CNET senior writer Jeff Carlson. «The Lidar camera that helps with low-light focusing and depth perception is still there. Perhaps it’s a software issue, but as of the iOS 26.2 release candidate, the feature isn’t present.»

Carlson found it curious that it’s taken three months since the launch of the new pro model before people noticed that it’s missing. He speculates that the feature was possibly removed because it «wasn’t being used and Apple could devote other processing resources elsewhere,» he said. «Perhaps something broke in the development of the new operating system and revamped Camera app, and it hasn’t been a high enough priority to fix in the regular release schedule.

«People have gotten used to having iPhone models that enable shots that are otherwise difficult for smartphone cameras, especially on a flagship like the iPhone 17 Pro,» Carlson said. «I hope the feature returns to give everyone the most control over the photos they capture.»

One parallel might be what Samsung did earlier this year — removing S Pen Bluetooth connectivity on the new S25 Ultra. Samsung said they removed the feature because not many people were using it. Is Apple doing the same thing with Night mode for portraits?

Some people miss it, some don’t

A subreddit on the topic appeared to be a mix of «who cares» and «oh darn.» Redditor kaoss_pad was «low key happy» that the feature had vanished, saying that «it would often surprise me and activate when I didn’t want it and ruin a moment.»

Some Redditors weren’t even aware of the feature. CultofCedar posted, «lol didn’t even notice that wasn’t a thing,» and Successful-Cover5433 wrote, «I didn’t even know you could.»

A couple of folks weren’t happy about the mysterious disappearance, including nsfdrag, who posted, «Kind of a bummer, I like the feature.»