When it comes to the displays of consumer electronics and mobile devices, it can feel like we've reached the zenith of bright, eye-popping LED lights. A shiny new iPhone can make you feel dizzy in the middle of the night, and that great TV you just bought is doing its best to reliably project the brightest possible image.

Still, the quest for brighter, more detailed, and more reliable OLED technology continues. This time, researchers seem to have discovered a new OLED architecture. This architecture is not only brighter than any other product in the field, but also offers higher resolution than any of the latest TVs or cell phones available today.

The new OLED architecture can achieve 10,000 pixels per inch. It is based on technology originally designed for solar panels and is the brainchild of researchers at Stanford University and the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), and utilizes "metaphotonic" materials that control light in a different way than current OLEDs.

SAIT scientist Won-Jae Joo is one of the leaders when it comes to using so-called "metamaterials" to manipulate light in ways similar to solar cells. Joo understood the implications of the same application for OLED panels and forged a partnership between Samsung and a research team at Stanford University.

The new OLED architecture is known as an "optical metasurface" made from reflective metal. From there, pillars manipulate the unique wavelengths of red, blue, and green light. White light hits the pillars and is given a specific color matched to the opposing diode.

Researchers have already created proof-of-concept pixels to demonstrate this new method. It is quite promising because it offers better and purer colors and significantly improved luminous efficiency. This new architecture has the potential to enable brighter TVs and smartphones with less energy consumption. The 10,000 PPI that this new OLED architecture can achieve is about double the 400-500 PPI that current smartphones can achieve, according to data on the new technology published by Stanford University, which is also detailed in the October 22 issue of Science.

Most OLED screens in televisions and other displays light up when current flows through them. Pixels on the screen display colors between red, green, and blue, producing shades that are visible to the human eye. In the case of a typical OLED screen in a smartphone, each individual light-emitting element produces a primary color, which is sorted and attached to a sheet containing all the diodes of the correct composition.

The real advantage, however, may be felt in VR headsets. This is because high pixel density displays are especially important when the screen is close to the face.