Transformed into a "screenless TV", can smart projectors project the future?

Taking advantage of the demand for watching football on a large screen during the World Cup, the XGIMI screenless smart TV launched by Chengdu XGIMI Technology has attracted attention this summer. Recently, XGIMI has successfully obtained 100 million yuan in round A financing, becoming the focus of industry attention.

The "Screenless Super TV" from XGIMI, which focuses on "no screen" and "large screen", is essentially a smart projector equipped with an Android system. After being packaged as a "screenless TV" that is popular among young people, this type of smart projector has become another choice for smart TV users. Currently, many manufacturers have invested in the research and development of micro-projectors or screenless TVs.

Another smart micro-projector recently launched by Haier is the "iSee mini 1S", which uses Silicon Valley LCOS silicon-based liquid crystal display technology, LED light source, and is equipped with a 1.5GHz Cortex-A9 architecture dual-core processor and 1GB memory. The system is built-in Android 4.2. The LCOS technology combined with the LED light source allows the iSee mini1S to integrate a large-capacity lithium battery in an extremely small size, and can achieve a resolution of 960×540 pixels and a brightness of 80 lumens.

In fact, the 540p resolution and 80 lumens brightness make iSee mini 1S only categorized as a "pocket micro-projector" or even a "toy projector". Some brands have launched such products before, but the market response was mediocre. The brightness of current mainstream home projectors has reached about 3,000 lumens, and resolutions above 720p are also the entry standard for mainstream home projectors.

Whether it is products or markets, although the reality is still "skinny", some industry insiders are still optimistic that smart projectors will become an important part of the smart TV market in the future. There are three reasons:

1. Small space occupation

The small size of smart projectors brings absolute advantages in space occupancy and mobility. No matter how thin the display screens of major brands of TVs are, they cannot compare with them. Being small and portable, smart projectors are no longer limited to living room entertainment, but have been extended to every corner of the home, such as bedrooms, study rooms, and dining rooms.

Of course, there are prerequisites for realizing such space occupancy advantages: users need to have at least one blank wall of the same size as the expected viewing size (of course, a projection screen would be better), as well as a large enough projection distance (for example, the XGIMI screenless TV can project up to 180 inches, but requires a projection distance of 4.7 meters).

2. High cost performance

"Smart projectors" under the concept of "smart screenless TV" need to face challenges from both TVs and projectors. Taking the XGIMI screenless TV as an example, the advertising theme of "Buy a 180-inch TV at a price of 2999" is very attractive, after all, the size of the Xiaomi TV at 2999 is only 40 inches. Looking at the projector market, it is not difficult to find that compared with professional projectors that cost 4000 or 5000 yuan, the price of this home device equipped with the Android system is not high.

3. Great market potential in the future

In order to differentiate themselves from projectors that were previously only seen on the ceilings of company meeting rooms, most smart projectors are marketed as young, home-use, and small-sized homes, and are marketed as convenient smart TVs designed specifically for those living in small homes. It is reported that since its launch on the e-commerce platforms JD.com and Tmall on May 15, 50,000 XGIMI screenless TVs have been sold (according to XGIMI data). Based on the user portraits of e-commerce platforms, young people will become the main consumer group for this type of smart projector.

Frankly speaking, current smart projector equipment is far from mature, and product specifications still need to be resolved in the future (brightness, contrast, resolution, power consumption, etc., need to reach or approach the level of professional projection equipment). On the other hand, the contradiction between "meeting the needs of young people living in small homes" and "projecting 180-inch images at 4.7 meters" also needs to be resolved in the future (ultra-short-throw projection technology is already very mature, but the cost is relatively high).

It is reported that at the annual "Tudou Image Festival", Tudou.com also released a smart close-up projection product: Tatoo (titanium potato), which was developed in cooperation with hardware manufacturer Esda and sold for 3,399 yuan. With the resolution of technical bottlenecks and the launch of more and more smart projection products, smart projection will also have a chance to get a share of the pie in the future.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.