Radu Reit | Display Training Center: What are the actual power consumption and volume trade-offs of the LCOS projector and camera in Meta's smart glasses?
23:23 - 25:21
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Summary of the clip:
What are the actual power consumption and volume trade-offs of the LCOS projector and camera in Meta's smart glasses?
LCOS is the route when you want power efficiency, full colour and good image quality. That produced the Meta Ray-Ban displays: talking to Jason at Meta, the trade-off was that image quality came first in production. The consequence is a huge projector volume again — a larger internal temple volume than the Inmo Air micro-OLED panel, even though it looks slightly more compact.
Inside that 5 CC volume sits only a 1.8 CC custom LCOS projector, a Gortek RGB LED and an OmniVision LCOS projector — the largest projector of the group. The dense circuitry is mirrored on both sides: the display occupies one temple, while the camera module and physical hardware interrupts sit on the opposite temple. It is deceptive, because the package reads as more compact than it is.
At 100% APL white the LCOS projector only draws about 500 milliwatts, despite being the largest. The camera, running at maybe 30 FPS and downsampled from a 12-megapixel maximum resolution to a 3-megapixel actual capture, consumed 1.7 watts. So we are no longer display power limited in many cases. The question becomes what other aspects you want to add to your system.
In this short video, you can learn:
* LCOS was chosen for power efficiency, full colour and image quality, which is why Meta's projector volume grew rather than shrank.
* In a 5 CC temple area Meta fits a 1.8 CC custom LCOS projector, a Gortek RGB LED and an OmniVision LCOS projector, mirroring the camera module and hardware interrupts on the other side.
* At 100% APL white the projector draws about 500 milliwatts while the camera at 30 FPS downsampled to 3 megapixels consumes 1.7 watts, so display power is no longer the limit.
📋 **Clip Abstract** Meta's LCOS choice trades projector volume for image quality: the front temple area is larger than the Inmo Air micro-OLED version, holding a 1.8 CC custom LCOS projector, a Gortek RGB LED and an OmniVision LCOS projector in 5 CC. Measured at 100% APL white the projector draws roughly 500 milliwatts against 1.7 watts for the 30 FPS, 3-megapixel camera, shifting the constraint from display power to added system features.
About the speaker:
* Speaker: Radu Reit
* Company: Display Training Center
* Event: Eindhoven 2026
* Location: High Tech Campus, Eindhoven
#MetaRayBanDisplays, #LCOSProjector, #RGBLED, #CameraDownsampling, #SmartGlassesOptics, #ARDisplaySystems
This is a highlight of the presentation:
Inside Smart Glasses: Displays, Optics & User Experience
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02:49 - 04:38
How should we actually categorize the three distinct types of AR glasses currently entering the consumer market?
How should we actually categorize the three distinct types of AR glasses currently entering the consumer market?
AR is a marketing term: two letters that fit marketing materials but mean nothing for today's products. The talk classifies AR as three separate consumer glasses types. First are display glasses, which Carl calls portable VR. You get no real world light through the lens; it is faked with cameras and called mixed reality. Essentially two micro-OLED panels bolt to a polarization optic that reroutes the image directly to your eye. Excellent image quality, terrible visual light transmission.
The next class is HUD glasses, or heads-up display glass. It is exactly what is worn here: the Even Realities G2. Monochrome green panels completely dominate the market because the industry has become so effective at producing them and because the use case is minimal but significant. Translation appears directly in your eyes while you talk to somebody in another language, and navigation is another example.
Finally, true AR is something like HoloLens, Magic Leap, and, if we are lucky tomorrow, maybe Snapchat Spectacles. This adds an additional level of complexity to system design. The display and the optic are nowhere near the most important part. There is additional burden on compute, SLAM processing and the cameras you must add, so this is no longer a smart glass factor.
In this short video, you can learn:
* Display glasses use two micro-OLED panels and a polarization optic, producing excellent image quality but terrible visual light transmission.
* HUD glasses use monochrome green panels for translation and navigation, a minimal but significant use case.
* True AR adds compute, SLAM processing and cameras, making the display and optic far from the most important part.
📋 **Clip Abstract** AR is a marketing term covering three distinct consumer glasses classes: display glasses, HUD glasses and true AR. The split depends on whether world light reaches the lens, which panels and optics are used, and how much compute, SLAM and camera burden the system carries.
About the speaker:
* Speaker: Radu Reit
* Company: Display Training Center
* Event: Eindhoven 2026
* Location: High Tech Campus, Eindhoven
#MicroOLEDPanels, #PolarizationOptic, #MonochromeGreenPanels, #SLAMProcessing, #ARGlasses, #SmartGlasses
08:46 - 10:19
What are the real-world resolution and color uniformity limitations holding back microLEDs in consumer smart glasses?
What are the real-world resolution and color uniformity limitations holding back microLEDs in consumer smart glasses?
Three display types are actually shipping today: microLED, LCOS and micro-OLED. MicroLED carries significant drawbacks on paper, and resolution ranks first. Panel sizes keep shrinking, yet a VGA panel inside a 30-degree field of view still delivers roughly 25 pixels per degree. For text applications that is certainly enough. It will not replace your monitor, but it provides valuable text-based output.
Where microLED will genuinely struggle is color. The pixel uniformity coming out of current processes essentially makes it a non-starter. The whites people expect from full-color RGB displays will not materialize, whether the comparison is a reflective LCOS architecture or a directly emissive micro-OLED. That uniformity gap, rather than resolution, is the barrier once color is required.
Cost compounds the problem. Making a good-quality color microLED solution is genuinely hard, and it is unclear whether it can be competitive with the other color solutions already on the market. LCOS color schemes are instructive: red, green and yellow are the primaries legacy display training emphasises. Against that benchmark, full-color microLED must clear uniformity, white point and cost simultaneously.
In this short video, you can learn:
* Only microLED, LCOS and micro-OLED are shipping in real products today.
* A VGA panel in a 30-degree field of view delivers about 25 pixels per degree, enough for text but not monitor replacement.
* Current-process pixel uniformity prevents the full-color whites expected from RGB microLED, and cost may keep it uncompetitive against reflective LCOS and emissive micro-OLED.
📋 **Clip Abstract** MicroLED, LCOS and micro-OLED are the only display types shipping today, and microLED's resolution penalty is survivable: a VGA panel over 30 degrees yields roughly 25 pixels per degree, enough for text. Color is the real barrier, since current-process pixel uniformity blocks the whites expected of full-color RGB, and cost may leave microLED uncompetitive with LCOS and micro-OLED.
About the speaker:
* Speaker: Radu Reit
* Company: Display Training Center
* Event: Eindhoven 2026
* Location: High Tech Campus, Eindhoven
#MicroLED, #LCOS, #MicroOLED, #PixelsPerDegree, #AROptics, #NearEyeDisplays
04:33 - 05:26
Why do display and optic choices drive nearly 70% of smart glasses' bill of materials and front-load weight?
Why do display and optic choices drive nearly 70% of smart glasses' bill of materials and front-load weight?
The discussion contrasts true smart glasses with systems burdened by added compute, SLAM processing, and cameras. That extra subsystem load means the device is no longer a smart-glass factor; it becomes essentially a headset as heavy as a Meta Quest. Display and optics are framed as the central driver of cost, user experience, and the reason this category exists at all.
Counterpoint's BOM analysis of display glasses, including the XReal ones, found nearly 70% of overall bill-of-materials cost in the display and optic engine—specifically the prism optic they use. That concentration explains why display and optics dominate design trade-offs. The same display-and-optic choice also places a majority of the device's weight front-loaded onto the face, shifting physical burden to the user.
The user-experience question returns to why the product is being made: why not just have glasses and use a phone? Display and optic selection helps answer that, because it enables the category's core function, but it simultaneously drives cost and facial weight. When added compute, SLAM, and cameras enter, the system can become a headset as heavy as a Meta Quest, undermining the smart-glasses premise.
In this short video, you can learn:
* Nearly 70% of the display glasses' BOM cost can sit in the display and optic engine, specifically the prism optic.
* Display and optic choices front-load a majority of device weight onto the face.
* Adding compute, SLAM, and cameras can turn smart glasses into a headset as heavy as a Meta Quest.
📋 **Clip Abstract** The clip explains why display and optics dominate smart-glasses cost and user experience, citing Counterpoint's BOM analysis of XReal display glasses. It shows that nearly 70% of BOM cost and a majority of front-loaded weight come from that display-and-optic choice, while added compute, SLAM, and cameras can push the design to Meta Quest-like headset mass.
About the speaker:
* Speaker: Radu Reit
* Company: Display Training Center
* Event: Eindhoven 2026
* Location: High Tech Campus, Eindhoven
#PrismOptic, #BillOfMaterials, #SLAMProcessing, #FrontLoadedWeight, #AROptics, #SmartGlasses