CES’s best screen may be less than an inch wide

Sure, next-generation 97-inch OLED TVs are eye-catching and gorgeous, but I was blown away by something no more than a quarter the size: LG’s 0.42-inch Full HD OLEDoS.

The company unveiled its itty-bitty OLED on silicon (OLEDoS) mini display this week at CES 2023 in Las Vegas. I saw it as part of a behind-the-scenes tour of all of LG Display’s OLED innovations, of which there are plenty. Got a big kick from the flexible OLED’s Televisions with motors and moving speakers (Opens in a new tab). However, this little OLEDoS got me going.

It’s small enough that, from a few feet away, I’d mistake it for a smudge on the walls of LG Display’s round white venue. But as I got closer, I noticed that the blob was moving. I could see that it was a small 1024 x 768 screen. Next to the no-frills screen, LG put one behind the lens where I could get up close and see the amazing level of detail. LG’s display is packed into the small screen and is amazingly bright (7,000 nits). The resolution is up to 3500 dpi (pixels per inch) and is enhanced with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate.

I guess the bigger question is what are you going to do with a relatively small, bright, high-resolution screen like this? Augmented reality and virtual reality immediately come to mind and LG Display confirmed this is their target market but added that there are no existing partners.

The resolution will not be the highest in the virtual reality market. The Meta Quest 2 uses two 1920×1832 screens, but they’re now LCD, not OLED, and the 100 nits brightness pales in comparison to LG’s tiny OLEDoS. Meta VR monitors don’t match the refresh rate (90Hz vs. 120Hz).