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Technology, Cost and Marketing Analysis of Projectors That will Retail for less than $300

Quick Facts

This report defines a low-cost projector as a stand-alone front projector where the retail price is under $300.  Projectors embedded in other electronic systems are not included.

The Need:
The prices of projection systems are being driven down by technology change and extreme competitive pressure.  This pressure comes from both within the projection industry and the rapidly declining prices of direct view displays, particularly LCDs.  As projector prices go below the $300 price point, new markets are created and volumes can rapidly increase.  This low-cost market must be understood by all projection industry participants, including mainstream projector manufacturers who are likely to see their prices eroding.

At still lower price points, the current generation of toy projectors that use film as an image source will be replaced by electronic projection systems.  The first toy projectors have already appeared on the market and this market is expected to expand rapidly

Report Objective:

The objective of this report is to identify the size and shape of the opportunities for low-cost and toy projectors, as well as identify the potential threat that low price can cause on the mainstream projection market.  The information developed will help product planners, technologists, managers, engineers and researchers to plan, design and market low-cost and toy projectors.

Highlights:

• Description of the existing market and technologies used in low-cost and toy projectors
• Evaluation of the existing low-cost and toy projectors, including both performance and technology used to achieve the low prices
• Detailed discussions of the various markets for low-cost and toy projectors
• Particular attention is given to the toy market, since this market has largely been ignored by projector manufacturers and analysts alike
• Design trade-offs that can be made to reach a $300 price point for the general market and a $150 price point for the toy market.
• Evaluation of the merits and problems of the technologies usable in projectors costing less than $300, including discussion of:

  • Light source technologies, including LEDs, HID lamps and incandescent lamps
  • Display technologies usable, including DLP, 3LCD, color sequential and color filter array LCoS and color filter array LCD
  • Architectures and optics of the various designs
  • Special requirements of the toy market
• Example BOMs for projectors targeted at the low-cost market are given through 2012.
• Unit sales forecasts for 4 major low-cost projector categories through 2013:

  • Value projectors, broken down into two sub-categories: Home Theater and Other low cost projectors.
  • Toy projectors, broken down into two sub-categories: Toys for younger children and toys for older children and teens
  • Companion picoprojectors
  • Ultraportable projectors, broken down into two sub-categories: Low-lumen (AKA Pocket) and Low/medium-lumen output ultraportables
• Optimistic, expected and conservative unit sales forecasts through 2013 broken down by category
• Optimistic, expected and conservative revenue forecasts through 2013, broken down by category
• Information on 52 companies with known interests in low-cost or toy projectors
• Detailed evaluation of three existing low-cost/toy projectors.

View the complete table of contents

The following graph is a sample of a figure from the projector Bill of Material (BOM) section of the report.

The following figure is from the forecast section of the 2009 Low Cost and Toy Projector Report.

This figure shows the expected unit volume forecast for low-cost projectors through 2013.  The original figure in the report also shows the optimistic and conservative forecasts, plus the forecasts broken down by projector category.  Note this figure and all the other forecasts in the report are worldwide sales and include only projectors selling for less than $300.

Three low-cost projectors were torn down for this report, with the particular goal of understanding how the optical systems operated.  The following photo is from the section on the tear-down of the Torpedo projector from Senario.

The report contains 131 figures and 29 tables.  In addition, many of the figures have attached data tables as shown in the sample forecast figure.

Methodology:
This Low-Cost and Toy Projector Report draws extensively on the Insight Media 2009 LED- and Laser-based Ultraportable Projector Report and the 2008 Pico-Projector Market Segment Analysis for information on low-cost ultraportable and low-cost companion projectors, respectively.  Updated information was used in evaluation of these two categories, plus all new information was used in the Toy and Value categories. 

This report draws on a variety of sources for information on low-cost and toy projector markets, market needs and technology.  These include:

• In-person, telephone and e-mail interviews with key people in the projector business. This included people in the component, projector system and distribution aspects of the business.
• Trade show visits, including both the show floors and private suites
• Forecasts and other information on projection systems and related topics from other industry analysts
• Information provided by industry trade associations such as the Toy Industry Association
• News reports in the trade and general press
• Press releases from component manufacturers, projector manufacturers and distribution channels
• Web-based information sources

All available data was correlated to settle discrepancies.  Forecasts, especially BOM cost estimate forecasts, were checked with experts in the industry with knowledge of the detailed cost structures of projection systems and components.

Who Should Buy:

• This report should be purchased by manufacturers of projection systems, especially if they mass-market projectors, including low-cost or toy systems.
• The report is of value to people planning research, development or products for the projector market.
• Toy industry personnel concerned with the replacement of the current generation of toy film projectors with electronic projectors
• Engineers and researchers involved in low-cost and toy projection systems
• Investors looking for information to support due diligence
• Anyone interested in the current or future low-cost or toy projector market.

Associated Reports:
2009 LED- and Laser-based Ultraportable Projector Report is a deep dive into ultraportable projectors, including those with retail prices above $300.

2008 Pico-Projector Market Segment Analysis is a deep dive into the picoprojector market, including both stand-alone companion projectors and embedded projectors.  It discusses all pico-projectors, including those with retail prices above $300.  This report would be of special value to anyone interested in toy projectors because the technology used in toy projectors in many cases will be the same as the technology used in pico-projectors.

Report Comparison Table

For an explanation of coverage in our Pico, LED- & Laser-based Ultraportable and Toy Projector Reports, please see below:

About the Authors:
The principal authors of the 2009 Low-Cost and Toy Projector Report are Matthew Brennesholtz and Dave Wares.

Deliverable:

The report is delivered as a PDF file under a site license agreement.

Pricing:

For custom market segment analyses and/or on-site presentation of the results of this report, please contact Insight Media.

More Information: info@insightmedia.info.

Report Details | Table of Contents