MicroVision Begins Shipping Samples to Customers of Its Small Form Factor Display Engine

I hadn't been expecting this announcement for a while. 

I take this as an indication that the efforts for mass production are on schedule as well, and customers are gearing up for mass production.

This is less than half the volume of the SONY engine.

At 0.6 centimeter's thick, it's can fit comfortably into a smart phone.

It is very clear from the verbiage of this press release that there are customers lined up for Microvision's products.

MicroVision Begins Shipping Samples to Customers of Its Small Form Factor Display Engine

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 27, 2016-- MicroVision, Inc. (NASDAQ: MVIS), a leader in innovative ultra-miniature projection display and sensing technology, today announced that it has begun on-schedule customer shipments of samples of its new, small form factor display engine.

MicroVision announced in November that it plans to sell a display engine beginning in the second quarter of 2017. This small form factor display engine is based on the company’s proprietary PicoP® scanning technology, a laser beam scanning (LBS) approach for pico projection and 3D sensing. MicroVision plans to be ready for mass production of this engine early in the second quarter of 2017.

The small form factor display engine, model number PSE-0403-101, is a compact laser beam scanning engine measuring just 3.6 cm wide by 5.3 cm long by 0.6 cm thick with a volume of only 11.6 cubic centimeters. The sleek form factor and thinness of the engine make it an ideal choice for products such as smartphones, portable media players, tablets and other handheld electronics. A short focal length version of the engine, model number PSE-0403-102, is well suited for aftermarket head up display (HUD) applications and other applications with a fixed, short focal length.

The PSE-0403-101/2 display engine is an all-in-one unit combining an integrated photonics module (IPM) containing MEMS and lasers and an electronics platform module (EPM) containing MicroVision’s proprietary ASICS and system control software. Some customers prefer a flexible solution of the IPM and standalone MicroVision ASICS that they can combine with the electronics of the device into which the engine is embedded. The form factor of the IPM, which measures only 4.66 cubic centimeters, is a critical attribute for OEMS considering incorporating pico projectors inside their consumer products.

In addition to the PSE-0403-101/2 engines, MicroVision plans to offer two other scanning engines: an interactive display engine that can support simultaneous projected display and multi-touch interactivity with the projected images and a sensing engine for mid-range LiDAR. Samples of the interactive display engine are planned for the second quarter of 2017 with production engines expected in the third quarter of 2017. The company expects to begin shipping samples of the mid-range LiDAR engine in the second half of 2017 with production units planned for first half of 2018 availability.

MicroVision’s business model and product line offering includes display and sensing engines, licensing its patented technology and selling components to licensees for incorporation into their scanning engines.