A new OLED panel from Samsung Display can dramatically increase the visual quality on a VR headset to 5,000 pixels per inch—more than four times what's possible on the Meta Quest 3. At the SID Display Week show in San Jose, Samsung showed off a bite-sized, 1.4-inch panel that's compact enough to fit inside VR products. This RGB OLED on Silicon (OLEDoS) tech promises to offer even more lifelike visuals and resolutions higher than 8K, the company says. At 5,000ppi, the panel can reach a brightness up to 15,000 nits at a 120Hz refresh rate, while offering up to 99% color gamut coverage. (Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)Although small, the panel can beam exceptionally sharp and bright images. The pixel density was so high that we couldn’t even see the grainy individual pixels across the screen, thus eliminating the “screen door effect” in VR. In another demo, Samsung showed that the OLEDoS panel can reach more than 20,000 nits in brightness, though it reduces pixel density to 4,200ppi. In addition to VR, Samsung notes that the 1.4-inch panel is the equivalent of a standard smartwatch screen.   Recommended by Our Editors(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)The OLEDoS technology works by placing the OLED panel on a silicon wafer, which suggests Samsung is using today’s chip manufacturing technology to miniaturize and place the tiny pixels. If all goes well, Samsung could begin mass producing the OLEDoS panel for VR by year’s end. So it's possible the technology could arrive on high-end VR headsets, such as Apple’s Vision Pro, which currently displays 3,386ppi.Rival LG Display has been working on a similar technology. It showed off its own “micro OLED" panel featuring an extremely high 4,175ppi density at last year’s Display Week show. 

Cutting corners: Now that Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy S25 Edge, attention has turned to Apple's upcoming ultra-thin rival handset, the iPhone 17 Air. The device is expected to debut this fall with a thickness almost half that of a normal iPhone. According to rumors, this doesn't mean every element will have compromises, but there will be areas that could disappoint, especially the battery life. Samsung has made a lot of headlines with the release of the Galaxy S25 Edge, which measures just 5.8mm thick, not counting the camera bump. But Apple's iPhone 17 Air – expected to launch this fall – is said to be even thinner at 5.5mm. That level of thinness means the Air won't be able to match the model it's replacing, the iPhone 16 Plus, in every area. However, it will have a 6.6-inch OLED display with LTPO, making it the first non-Pro iPhone to do so. There will also be features such as 120Hz ProMotion and always-on functionality. Elsewhere, the iPhone 17 Air is expected to pack the same A19 chip as the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup. It will also come with 8GB of RAM and MagSafe wireless charging. Finally, the price of the iPhone 17 Air is believed to be under $1,000, possibly around $899. But it was recently reported that Apple is going to increase the prices of its next generation of iPhones, though it will avoid blaming Trump's tariffs for the hikes, so this rumor may prove wrong. That's the good news. The bad news is that the iPhone 17 Air will have a single rear camera: a 48MP sensor with 2x optical zoom. Something else the iPhone Air will only have one of is a speaker. There will be a single, enhanced earpiece speaker as the phone is too thin for a second speaker to be placed at the bottom. // Related Stories Another potential disappointment is the iPhone 17 Air's lack of support for mmWave 5G. The handset will be one of the first iPhones to use Apple's in-house 5G modem, the C1. The iPhone 16 Plus uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon X75 5G modem, which supports mmWave 5G. Then there's what could be the biggest drawback of them all: the battery life. Reports state that between 60% and 70% of users will be able to use the handset for a full day on a single charge, whereas that figure is between 80% and 90% for other iPhones. Apple may use Apple Intelligence to improve the Air's battery life, and Cupertino plans to introduce a new battery case accessory specifically for the iPhone 17 Air.