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Korean mobile carriers have started to develop tech for holograms, which are expected to create a 100 trillion won (US$90 billion) market by 2025. With an increasing demand for 3D images, related industries are likely to grow fast as well.
Since 5G networks are expected to offer 100 times faster data transmission speeds than LTE networks, it will be possible to send enough information for mobile devices to make and use holograms regularly.
According to industry sources on June 23, LG U+ is working to develop the related technology. The carrier has already developed a method that can create holographic images quickly. In fact, the research findings were featured in journals covered by the Science Citation Index (SCI), including scientific journal Optik and the Journal of Information Systems and Telecommunication (JIST).
The newly-developed technology can make holograms very fast using less memory than existing methods by removing any redundancy in time and space. Specifically, the tech is able to reduce the amount of required memory up to 1/744th and improve speeds by 21.7 percent.
KT, on the other hand, opened a K-pop hologram performance hall called K-live in January, together with the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) and YG Entertainment. The K-live concerts are performed by a special method to make high-resolution images show like holograms. Those concerts have been met with a very positive reaction, since people can feel as if the images are right in front of them.
In other countries, there are numerous companies developing holograms. Following HP and LEIA, Ostendo Technologies has also successfully developed a tech to make a 3D hologram projector, which enables people to see images without 3D glasses. IMEC, a research center headquartered in Belgium, is gearing up to unveil 500 nm pixel pitch stationary images based on nanoscale Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS).
Sony is providing a combined solution encompassing screens, servers, and projection systems suitable for 4K digital cinemas. The Japanese tech firm has also developed a prototype of a holographic stereogram printer.
SeeReal already developed the world's first 20" holographic display equipment in 2007, and owns the related patents.
The global hologram market is expected to be worth about 100 trillion won (US$90 billion) in 2025, a fivefold increase from the current level, according to the MSIP. That explains why global companies are trying hard to develop holograms. There are still no standard technologies to make holograms, though.