Katarzyna Petru
Millions of people around the world spend entire days staring at the monitor screen. But what if instead of a black sheet of plastic, there was… transparent glass, through which you could see the world outside your window? It sounds like science fiction, but the startup Visual Instruments claims that this is exactly what they have done – they have created the world's first fully transparent monitor, called Phantom. And intriguingly: it does not use OLED.
Not OLED, but… pure optics
Transparent displays are nothing new. LG already has the Signature OLED T on sale, and Xiaomi showcased the transparent Mi TV LUX back in 2020. The problem is that these panels were never 100% transparent – the light transmittance was around 40%, so the effect resembled looking through fog rather than glass. Phantom addresses this differently. The screen is made entirely of glass, and the image is not displayed in pixels, but projected onto a specially coated surface.
The light source is located in the base of the monitor and projects the image upwards, so it reflects off the glass panel at the perfect angle. The effect? The graphics literally “float in the air”, allowing the user to see a connection between the digital and real worlds.
It’s a bit like a hologram – you can simultaneously look at the screen and through it, for example, at a window with a view behind the desk.
Transparency on Demand
Interesting fact: transparency can be turned off. Phantom allows you to change the level of “transparency” just like dimming the windows in an aircraft. If you need to focus, you set it to 0% and have a classic, non-transparent screen. The company claims that the transparent mode reduces eye strain because it allows you to shift your gaze to the background from time to time – unlike standard monitors, which force the eyes to maintain constant focus on a close distance.
Technical Specification
Size: 24 inches, aspect ratio 16:9
Resolution: 4K UHD
Brightness: up to 5000 nits in HDR mode
Colours: 100% coverage of the sRGB palette
Ports: USB-C, DisplayPort, HDMI
(no information on HDMI version or refresh rate – so probably not for gamers)
Price and Availability
Initially, only 10 copies of the Founders Edition will be available.
Currency | Price |
|---|---|
🇺🇸 USD | $1,599 |
🇦🇺 AUD | A$2,470 |
🇪🇺 EUR | €1,485 |
🇬🇧 GBP | £1,270 |
🇵🇱 PLN | ≈ 6,800 zł |
*Reference rates (November 2025): 1 USD ≈ 1.54 AUD / 0.93 EUR / 0.79 GBP / 4.25 PLN.
What’s it for?
Does a transparent monitor actually make sense? Hard to say. It’s certainly a striking gadget that will attract attention in an office or design studio. It may indeed help the eyes to rest. But it could just as well be a beautiful experiment.
One thing is certain – Phantom shows that the future of monitors doesn’t have to be bleak. 🌫️
