Following on from the Futuresource Consulting market report (see here) which said that projector shipments grew in the third quarter by 4% to 1.98 million, Pacific Media Associates (PMA) has published its own findings. These too indicate growth, but with substantially more positive figures at 13% year-on-year growth and 2.4 million respectively.
PMA divides the front projector industry into three brightness ranges, each associated with its own set of buyer types and applications: New Era, Mainstream, and High-End.
The New Era range was driven by personal projectors, highly mobile displays powered by “power bricks.” During the third quarter, sales of personal projectors jumped by 30% on a year/year basis. More than 15 brands, including many household-name ones, were active in this segment as brightness levels climbed to 500 lumens and more fully-featured models came to market.
In the Mainstream range, year/year growth turned positive in the third quarter with continued strength in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and a sharp rebound across most of Eastern Europe. While the third quarter also experienced upside surprises in several countries – Australia, France, Korea, Spain, and Switzerland – economic uncertainties, weak confidence indices, and austere corporate, government, and education budgets continued to impact demand in most developed countries around the world, says the report.
Among Mainstream product segments, interactive and ultra-short-throw projectors continued to outperform the overall market on both a unit and a revenue basis. More vendors continued to enter this space, and there was also significant activity in the market for interactive add-on modules and bundles. The third quarter also saw many new 3D-ready projectors enter commercial and consumer markets at price points similar to 2D models. As more 3D products roll out this holiday season, worldwide sales of 3D-ready projectors are expected to reach about 2.5 million this year.
Sales of High-End (5000+ lumen) projectors continued to outpace the overall market. During the quarter, the worldwide d-cinema market surpassed 60,000 installations. In the traditional market for super-bright projectors, the inexorable shift continued to Wide XGA and Wide UXGA models, particularly in developed markets. Sales of high-end models were also up in developing countries, though a significant portion of that growth was in standard resolution projectors.
