It’s been a great year for projectors so far, with high-quality projectors from companies like LG, Samsung, BenQ, and more. But as we reach the halfway point of 2024, it’s time to take stock of the changes we’ve seen in the projector market, as well as rumors and announcements for the second half of the year.
Projectors are changing; while they were once a niche TV alternative, they're now a serious replacement for a TV setup, whether you're a committed movie buff with a dedicated home theater room and projection screen, or a camper looking for an easy way to watch movies.
And the 2024 model lineup shows that the traditional benefits of most projectors (flexibility, scalability, portability) are improving, while common drawbacks (low brightness, limited blacks) are further away than ever.
Here's a quick overview of the great projectors we've seen launch in 2024 so far and a look at what could be coming next.
Projectors in 2024: What have been the biggest launches so far this year?
Our guide to the best portable projectors has undergone a major change for 2024. This year we've seen a flood of excellent 4K projectors with a portable mindset, ensuring buyers don't have to choose between flexibility and picture quality – so much so that in January we wrote that it could be “the end of home cinema as we know it”.
We've seen a second-generation Samsung Freestyle, a follow-up to the 2022 original for $800 or £650 that was already one of our favorite portable projectors. It incorporated improved compatibility with Xbox and Nvidia cloud-based gaming services, as well as the option to install it in a ceiling lamp holder.
Our review of the Samsung The Freestyle 2nd Gen noted that its brightness (230 lumens) and HD resolution leave a little to be desired, but it's still a fantastic option for those looking for a smart projector with a great interface, 30- to 100-inch projection, and the ability to easily move images around.
But LG is the main player, bringing its exceptional CineBeam range to the portable market with the stylish CineBeam Q (above), which achieves 4K resolution and 500 lumens brightness, as well as the excellent webOS streaming platform of LG’s higher-end TVs. At $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$2,499 it undercuts the cheaper Samsung Freestyle, but with a 4.5/5 rating in our LG CineBeam Q review it’s well worth the upgrade.
And for those looking for a truly brilliant experience, the JMGO N1S Ultra 4K is another new portable projector with Ultra HD resolution and up to 3000 ANSI lumens, along with a brilliantly compact design and a sturdy gimbal to tilt and rotate the projection with pinpoint precision.
There are also many new developments for fixed position projectors. The the assumption that projectors are doomed to produce dim images and have problems with dark scenes.
In our XGIMI Horizon Ultra review we praised the 2,300 lumen output and wrote that “the blacks are deep and the HDR performance brilliant, with great brightness even in good lighting conditions.”
At $1,699 / £1,749 / AU$3,499, the of the most important projectors. metrics.
Projectors in 2024: What releases can we expect for the rest of the year?
The main absence from the 2024 projector lineup so far is Samsung's The Premiere 8K, which was shown at CES 2024 (and CES 2023 before it), but has yet to officially hit the market, with no firm release date at hand. view.
This is the first 8K wireless projector, for incredible images with 8K resolution, 4000 lumens and projection of up to 150 inches with a wireless projector and ultra-short throw technology.
You’ll need Samsung’s One Connect Box to wirelessly stream 8K video to the projector, but that means you can keep extra hardware and cables out of sight on a cosy movie night. A built-in 8.2.2-channel Dolby Atmos sound system doesn’t hurt either, and marks a marked improvement over the high-end Samsung Premiere LSP9T, which is currently the best 4K projector we’d recommend for sound quality.
As an alternative to the best 8K TVs, the upcoming Premiere 8K is an interesting proposition. While the present of projectors seems to be in cramming high-end specs into portable models, the future seems to be (similarly) in bringing wireless technology to high-end models – and the winners are, without a doubt, us.
