LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kopin Corporation (Nasdaq: KOPN), a leading provider of wearable technologies for mobile virtual reality, augmented reality and wearable computing systems, will demonstrate the smallest, fastest, highest-resolution organic light emitting diodes (OLED) microdisplay for virtual reality (VR) systems at CES® 2017. Kopin’s Lightning™ OLED microdisplay has 2048 x 2048 resolution (4 million pixels) in a 1-inch diagonal size and operates up to 120 Hz with low power consumption, all of which are firsts for the VR industry.

Kopin’s Lightning OLED microdisplay addresses the most challenging technical hurdles with VR, including screen door effect due to insufficient display resolution, bulky goggles, and nausea or dizziness due to motion-to-photon latency, as well as heat-build-up caused by high power consumption.

Resolution: With today’s systems, insufficient resolution results in blurry images. Truly immersive life-like VR systems require 4 million pixels, which is 3-4 times the resolution of today’s VR systems. The Lightning OLED microdisplay provides a very smooth image without the bothersome screen door effect.

With today’s systems, insufficient resolution results in blurry images. Truly immersive life-like VR systems require 4 million pixels, which is 3-4 times the resolution of today’s VR systems. The Lightning OLED microdisplay provides a very smooth image without the bothersome screen door effect. Compact System: Combining the one-inch diagonal Lightning OLED microdisplay — which is less than 1/10 the size of direct view displays — with Kopin’s patented Pantile ™ optics (< 30 mm thick) allows much smaller and thinner mobile VR systems, less than half the size of commercial VR headsets such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or Sony PlayStation VR. This makes Lightning-based displays comfortable to wear even for extended periods.

Combining the one-inch diagonal Lightning OLED microdisplay — which is less than 1/10 the size of direct view displays — with Kopin’s patented Pantile optics (< 30 mm thick) allows much smaller and thinner mobile VR systems, less than half the size of commercial VR headsets such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or Sony PlayStation VR. This makes Lightning-based displays comfortable to wear even for extended periods. Latency and Image Lag: The Lightning OLED microdisplay has almost zero latency (about 10 microseconds). In addition, the fast 120-Hz frame rate of the Lightning OLED microdisplay, enabled by Kopin’s patented backplane architecture, refreshes each frame 33% faster than existing VR systems. This greatly reduces the image lag, eliminating the nausea effect typical with VR systems. At the same time, Lightning’s distinctive design enables low power consumption, even at 120 Hz.

“Kopin’s Lightning OLED display solves many problems of current VR systems, enabling much more realistic, comfortable and overall satisfying experiences for the user,” said Dr. John C.C. Fan, Kopin’s president and CEO. “We basically started with a fresh approach to provide the best VR experience to the market: developing super-fast OLED-on-silicon microdisplays coupled with very thin optics. With our 2k x 2k Lightning microdisplay and Pantile optics, we now enable VR product designs and performance for the mass market.”

“Lightning’s architecture, protected by 10 patents pending, has very unique features such as higher speed, lower power and random access,” added Fan. “The architecture is robust and extensible to even higher resolution and performance levels.”

Kopin’s OLED microdisplay was named a CES 2017® Innovation Awards Honoree, the prestigious CES Innovation Awards sponsored by the CTA, the producer of CES. CES is the annual global gathering place for the business of consumer technologies, to be held January 5-8, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Experience Kopin’s OLED Microdisplay at CES 2017

Kopin invites senior executives from virtual reality, augmented reality, wearables and smartphone companies to private demonstrations at Kopin’s CES 2017 suite at The Palazzo, located at 3325 S. Las Vegas Blvd., or in Kopin’s booth in the Augmented Reality pavilion in Booth #26035, at the Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall. To schedule a private meeting, please contact Kopin at events@kopin.com.

In addition to OLED microdisplays, Kopin’s Whisper™ Voice Chip, Solos™ smart glasses and Pupil LCD display modules will be among the Kopin products displayed on the CES show floor. Additional information about Kopin at CES is available at events@kopin.com.

About Kopin

Kopin Corporation is a leading developer of innovative wearable computing technologies and solutions. Kopin’s technology portfolio includes ultra-small displays, optics, speech enhancement technology, software, low-power ASICs, and ergonomically designed smart headset concept systems. Kopin’s proprietary components and technology are protected by more than 300 global patents and patents pending, with more than 95% related to wearable technologies. For more information, please visit Kopin’s website at www.kopin.com.

Kopin, Lightning, Pantile, Solos, and Whisper are trademarks of Kopin Corporation. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release may be considered “forward-looking” statements under the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include, without limitation, statements relating to our expectation that: Kopin’s Lightning OLED display solves many problems of the current VR systems, enabling much more realistic, comfortable and overall satisfying experience for the user; with our 2k x 2k Lightning display and Pantile optics, we enable VR product designs and performance for the mass market; and the Lightning architecture is robust and extensible to even higher resolution and performance. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: there may not be demand for our OLED microdisplay products; our OLED microdisplay technology may not perform as we expect; there may be issues that prevent the adoption or our OLED microdisplay technology; manufacturing, marketing or other issues may prevent either the adoption or acceptance of our products; the Company might be adversely affected by competitive products and pricing; new product initiatives and other research and development efforts may be unsuccessful; manufacturing delays, technical issues, economic conditions or external factors may prevent the Company from achieving its goals; we could be delayed in shipping some of our products; and other risk factors and cautionary statements listed in the Company’s periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the 12 months ended December 26, 2015, and the Company’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are based only on information currently available to the Company and only as of the date on which they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release.