Google bought a MicroLED display company that could help make AR headsets better and cheaper

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Raxium, a five-year-old startup with MicroLED technology that could be used in a new generation of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality headsets, has been acquired by the company.

This adds to the evidence that the next big augmented reality move is growing closer, as evidenced by the acquisition of the glasses maker North in 2020. The Project Starline high-res video chat demo was shown at the I/O event last year, and we learned in January that the same management is behind the new augmented reality headset called Project iris.

Image: Raxium

When The Information first reported the Raxium purchase last month, it said that MicroLED tech could be useful for building more energy efficient displays that still look colorful. The Information reports that Raxium is working on monolithic integration for MicroLEDs, which would mean manufacturing them out of the same kind of Silicon used for most processors, potentially driving the price down significantly. Apple, Vuzix, and Oppo are some of the companies working on MicroLED augmented reality hardware.

Microsoft has already delivered an augmented reality device, while Apple, Meta, and others are investing heavily to create their own hardware that puts information and images on top of the real world.

Raxium's website states that a Super AMOLED screen on your phone has a 50-micron pitch, while its MicroLED could manage around 3.5 microns. It is more than five times better than any world record.

In his post about the future display technologies Raxium might build, Osterloh mentioned both the size and efficiency. He said that the company will join the Devices & Services team at Google, and that its technical expertise will play a key role as we continue to invest in our hardware efforts.