Samsung Display is now making Galaxy XR OLEDoS panels alongside Sony

Samsung released its highly anticipated Galaxy XR mixed reality headset nearly three weeks ago. It's the result of a collaboration between Samsung, Qualcomm, and Google, but the high-resolution displays had only one supplier: Sony.

Now, Samsung Display is reportedly ready to join the supply chain. The initial batch of Galaxy XR units, which went on sale a few weeks ago, is powered exclusively by Sony OLEDoS displays. However, the plan has always been for Samsung Display to eventually become involved.

That plan appears appears to be moving forward smoothly. The Korean media, citing industry sources, says that Samsung Display received its first order of OLEDoS panels from Samsung Electronics last month. And now, the Display arm has begun mass-producing the first Galaxy XR OLEDoS units.

Manufacturing OLEDoS, also known as Micro-OLED, is a complex task that somewhat resembles OLED manufacturing. It involves depositing organic materials on silicon wafers rather than on a glass substrate.

Through this process, Sony, and now Samsung Display, can create panels with very high pixel densities — a characteristic required for any virtual and augmented reality experience that aims to avoid the so-called screen-door effect.

The latter negative effect occurs when the pixel density of the displays is too low, and when viewed up close through the headset's lenses, a grid-like gap between the pixels becomes visible to the user.

The Galaxy XR headset uses two Sony 1.3-inch displays with a 4K resolution each. This results in a staggering pixel density of over 4,000 pixels per inch.

As for Samsung Display, industry sources say that the company has passed the rigorous reliability evaluation and has joined the supply chain for Galaxy XR.

Exactly how many OLEDoS units Samsung Display will manufacture is unknown, but the company hopes to expand the OLEDoS business by attracting new suppliers, including Apple. Whether Sony will eventually be fully replaced by Samsung Display is also unclear.

The Device eXperience division aims to bring the Galaxy XR experience to more users around the world next year, so having the Display arm as a supplier could be the key to this expansion.