These Smart Glasses Pack in Samsung OLED Microdisplays to Play Video

LOS ANGELES—A Samsung Display subsidiary is here at SID Display Week to demo waveguide smart glasses that play video through transparent lenses.

The device uses OLED microdisplays from eMagin, which Samsung Display acquired in 2023, to display pictures in both lenses. They use a waveguide structure, meaning the micro OLEDs are tucked away and beam video into the lens’ edges. The light is then directed to your eyes through etched patterns on the glass, which appear as tiny slits and can make the lenses look transparent.

(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)

But while waveguides could be the future of smart glasses, eMagin didn’t have an actual working prototype pair you could wear at the show. Instead, the micro OLEDs were built into the frame, which you can stand behind and look through (pictured above).

As a result, the demo renders a lot of issues, such as battery life, weight, and computing power, rather moot. But it played a looping video, showing how the micro OLEDs could overlay fairly detailed, transparent digital images on the user’s real-time view. 

(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)

The looping video showed how a user could watch YouTube clips, chat with friends, and even scan and look up the nutritional content of a meal they’re about to eat.

The glasses use 0.62-inch OLED microdisplays with a 1,280-by-1,024 resolution, reaching over 20,000 nits and up to 85Hz. Although the demo images were calibrated toward a yellow hue, the micro OLED features a 99% color gamut. In contrast, Meta’s Ray-Ban Display also uses a waveguide, but it covers only 20% of your field of view with a 600-by-600 image in the right lens.

(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)

EMagin is using the concept to demonstrate how its micro OLEDs can be used for not only consumer augmented reality and VR applications, but also for military, medical, and industrial purposes. Whether Samsung Electronics will ever adopt the technology is unclear, but the company has been working on its own pair of smart glasses, which are slated to debut later this year. (Samsung Display was spun off from Samsung Electronics in 2012.)

(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

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Experience

I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.

Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I’m now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

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