Fading iPhone LCD screen maker pivots to virtual reality

A file photo of an attendee demos the Oculus Quest wireless virtual reality headset in San Jose, California, US. To date, VR headsets have largely been a disappointment, promising to open a whole new content platform and ecosystem yet never quite achieving it. — Reuters

Japan Display Inc, once one of Apple Inc’s key suppliers, sees a new market for its liquid crystal displays after ceding the smartphones arena to rival OLED screens: the niche yet growing virtual reality business.

The Tokyo-based LCD specialist expects its favoured display technology to become the standard for VR because it can achieve higher resolution than OLED while keeping costs reasonable. That advantage is imperceptible in mobile devices but becomes critical in the more demanding VR scenario.