Google Glass to Use OLED Displays from Samsung

By Steve Symington | More Articles | Save For Later 
May 23, 2013 | Comments (1)

According to a Korea Times report today, Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) top brass has just approved a business proposal from Samsung Display to use high-end OLED screens in the commercial version of Google Glass.

Image source: Google.

Of course, it's hard to think of a more compelling use for OLED technology, which can be made flexible, nearly unbreakable and, most importantly in this case, transparent.

Such an OLED lens incorporated into Google Glass, then, is a perfect application for the tech, and fits beautifully with some of the concepts Samsung envisioned way back in 2011:

 

On one hand, the folks at Samsung have been demonstrating transparent OLED concept devices as far back as 2010, and the company is currently one of just a few with the necessary OLED manufacturing capacity to not only supply screens for other businesses' products like Google Glass, but also for its own OLED televisions (set to arrive in July), and existing Galaxy series smartphones and tablets.

Even so, if confirmed, today's news would represent one of the first tangible, wide-scale products to feature transparent OLED.

LG Display, on the other hand, is still focusing on increasing production yields for its own OLED televisions, as well as further developing its OLED lighting solutions. Then there's Taiwan-based AU Optronics (NYSE: AUO  ) , which helped bothSony and Panasonic build the 56-inch OLED TV prototypes showcased at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. AUO also claimed this week at the 2013 Society for Information Display conference that it has built the world's largest OLED panel to date, at 65 inches. However, AUO still hasn't perfected its mass production techniques, and continues to struggle with improving yields to build smaller-size OLED screens.

Here's how you play itHow can you, as an aspiring investor, benefit from this news?

You could certainly buy shares of Google, for one. While Google Glass has admittedly generated some negative publicity so far, Google seems absolutely determined to be an integral part of the potentially massive wearable computing revolution. Of course, that's certainly not the only reason to buy Google stock; fellow Fool Brian Stoffel recently made acompelling case to own the King of Search for the rest of your life, and I just love the fact Google truly sincerely wants to make our lives better.

Then again, if you want a more direct play on OLED technology, look no further thanUniversal Display  (NASDAQ: PANL  ) , which not only owns and licenses nearly every OLED patent that matters, but also supplies the host and emitter materials necessary for all of the above-mentioned companies to build their OLED-enabled devices. In the end, that's exactly why Universal Display currently stands alone as my single largest personal holding.

Luckily for anyone looking to open his or her own position in Universal Display, Mr. Market just so happened to unjustifiably pummel the stock after its perfectly decent first quarter earnings report. As a result, if you can be patient and maintain a long-term mindset with Universal Display, I think now's the perfect time to step in.

More expert advice from The Motley Fool
Universal Display has a powerful patent portfolio behind OLEDs, a technology poised to dominate the displays of the future. Its placement at the center of OLEDs makes the company an underappreciated way to play the enormous sales growth in tablets and smartphones. However, like any new technology, there are plenty of risks to Universal Display. Motley Fool analyst Evan Niu, CFA, has authored a new premium report that dives into reasons to buy the company as well as the challenges facing it. For access to this comprehensive report, simplyclick here now.