Samsung debuts the first transparent MicroLED screen at CES 2024

I can only see very limited market uses like possibly store window displays or some theme park attraction. I don’t know how that can justify the R&D expense.

It depends on execution, but I could see transparent screens being nice for a desk setup where privacy isn’t a concern. They could make for a cleaner, more open, less cluttered feel than could be had with traditional displays.

One could also more easily have arbitrary logical divisions of transparent screens. For instance one could set up a single transparent superultrawide screen to function as three separate displays if they wanted (useful for having multiple sets of virtual desktops) with transparency being used to create aesthetically pleasing divisions between each virtual screen (imagine each screen as a roundrect).

You don't have any interest in a TV that effectively disappears when it's off? You'd rather have a large, black monolith to look at?

I believe there are plenty of applications once they are cheap enough, but none of the applications are TV or PC monitor.

Car windows, regular windows, glasses, store fronts, fridge doors in stores.

I've seen these used to great effect in museum displays, such as the Ramses exhibit that recently toured worldwide. In that show, they used transparent screens in combination with other displays, lighting effects, etc. to create something more captivating for today's audiences than just a flat presentation or an item in a glass box.

Perhaps a stack of these could be useful as a volumetric display?

If this means we can make television screens that aren’t a big black rectangle when switched off, but, say, look like a picture frame with a glass screen in front of it, I see a market.

Tiny ones could be useful in smart glasses, if we ever find good use for them.

Youy know OLED's are transparent too right?

I was taking a phone apart and accidentally peeled the back painted copper layer off my OLED screen, and got a phone where I could see the insides of the phone while using it, through the screen. Screen fully worked, touch and everything afterwards.

I've personally seen transparent OLED displays in museum displays. So the market is definitely closer to that of video walls, than of 85-inch televisions made for the living room. I could see it coming to controlled conditions like supermarket freezer window panes, but not something architectural.

Sure, the signage business might not be high volume relative to consumer electronics. However, engineering entire new use-cases to target larger markets might not be worthwhile, if supply and pricing cannot meet market expectations due to yield constraints.

For anyone wanting to make a transparent OLED, you can just peel the backing foil off a regular OLED.

Beware that without the foil, the OLED is super fragile - the back touching anything will make rows/columns break, so if I were you I'd replace it with a sheet of clear plastic/glass for actual use.

That's clearly just a bumpy wall that extends past the TV?

I think the market will be basically more engaging (and annoying) advertising in all surfaces like windows on buses and commercial buildings.

The difference between micro LED and LCDs is that the LED displays actually emit light whereas the LCD displays only get darker. It's completely different, it's like comparing an original game boy and an OLED iPhone.

Are you kidding me? Transparent displays when scaled sufficiently will allow AR glasses that don't suck. Complex tasks will have AR overlays telling people exactly what to do and giving feedback on task performance in real time. Even better, all the VR side effects due to refresh rate/fps/etc will be non-issues because you'll be looking at the real world.

any time you need a window that can also display data

Since they're attention grabbing, I fully expect to see them in casinos.

cars? displaying stuff on a transparent surface, it might be something useful.

If they can make them small enough and cheap enough, they could be used in simple AR glasses maybe.

I'm guessing ads

I'd much prefer a TV that was transparent when switched off over the giant black rectangle of doom in my living room. I find myself switching it on to have the Apple TV screensaver instead, just because it's so imposing otherwise.

It's not transparent. It's a screen on the outside and you see what the cameras pick up on the inside. What is shown to people isn't even your real face/eyes, it's a a digital representation of it.

When you first setup your AVP, you make a 3D scan of your face, and that's what the AVP is displaying, together with eye tracking.