Microsoft Reportedly Ordered Micro-OLED Displays to Use in New Mixed Reality Headset

After Microsoft pulled the plug on its Windows Mixed Reality platform last year, the company may be about to resurrect its mixed reality ambitions for consumers. The Korean website The Elec (via Road to VR) is reporting that Microsoft has ordered what could amount to “hundreds of thousands” of Samsung micro OLED displays to use in “next-generation mixed reality devices” that could launch as soon as 2026.

Citing industry sources, the report says that Microsoft’s new mixed reality headset is mainly designed for “enjoying or watching content such as games or movies rather than the metaverse.” Even though Microsoft has scaled back its own metaverse ambitions in recent years, the company did launch 3D meetings powered by Microsoft Mesh this year, which currently work in the Teams desktop app and Meta Quest VR headsets.

With Windows Mixed Reality, Microsoft tried (and failed) to create its own VR ecosystem despite early support from hardware partners like Acer, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung. Microsoft never released its own affordable Windows Mixed Reality headset and chose to focus its efforts on its enterprise-focused HoloLens product instead.

However, the software giant canceled the successor to the $3,499 HoloLens 2, which according to analysts had only sold around 300,000 units two years ago. In June, Microsoft said that it remained committed to supporting HoloLens 2 and the Department of Defense’s IVAS program right after laying off around 1,000 employees across its mixed reality group.

Meta is currently dominating the virtual reality and mixed reality headsets market with its affordable Quest products. Meta Quest headsets had a 66.6% usage share on Steam VR games in July 2024. Earlier this year, Meta also announced that it would let other companies create their own mixed-reality headsets with its own Meta Horizon OS. This is pretty much what Microsoft tried to do with its Windows Mixed Reality platform many years ago, but Meta managed to get substantial developer support with over 500 immersive experiences available on its range of headsets.

A separate report from Windows Central’s Zac Bowden has more details about Microsoft’s software plans for this next-gen mixed reality headset. “My own sources say it’s likely that Android, not Windows, will power a future Microsoft-made mixed-reality headset,” Bowden reported, adding that Microsoft is exploring how to make Windows apps available on the headset via a cloud-based solution.

“According to sources familiar with the project, Microsoft is working on a solution that will allow mixed-reality headsets to run full Windows desktop apps via the cloud,” Bowden explained. “Codenamed “Williams Bay,” this solution will allow users to place desktop Windows apps around their mixed reality space and interact with them as if they were running locally, similar to iPad apps on an Apple Vision Pro. Williams Bay will also enable developers to “enhance” desktop Windows apps with 3D extensions that can be displayed alongside them within a mixed reality 3D environment on the headset.”

Microsoft’s new mixed reality headset possibly using Android instead of Windows is interesting as Google is already working with Samsung and Qualcomm on a new platform for “extended reality products.” We still don’t know when this new Android-based platform will be ready, but Google and its partners may need to adjust their plans after Meta announced its open mixed reality ecosystem ambitions in April.

If Microsoft does plan to use a cloud-based solution to make Windows apps available on its new headset, this will likely come at a cost. The company’s Windows 365 solution already makes it possible to stream a full Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC on any device with a web browser, though the enterprise-focused solution starts at $31 per user per month. While Microsoft’s “William Bay” solution may work quite differently, there may still not be a lot of people interested in streaming Windows apps in a mixed-reality environment.