PMA Research’s latest quarterly forecast for the worldwide projector market says worldwide projector shipments will reach 9.5 million units in 2013. While the overall market is likely to trend up modestly from 2012, there are some areas of anticipated higher growth.

In the Mainstream segment (1000 – 3999 Lumens), PMA boosted their outlook for ultra-short-throw projectors in large part due to expected tenders in the Middle East as well as steady gains in the rest of the world. Solid State Illumination (SSI) models are also expected to outperform the overall projector market as well. New entrants into the SSI market and second-generation models which target mid-level price ranges will contribute to SSI growth.

In the New Era segment (sub-1000 Lumens), pico projectors recovered strongly in the second half of 2012, gaining 35% vs. the second half of 2011. PMA expects similar growth for these models this year, particularly for the very popular iPhone “sled” models. The success of these models may inspire the introduction of similar projectors for Android Smartphones such as the Galaxy S IV.

Despite the sluggish economic recovery in 2012, conference room and large venue segments (excluding d-cinema) showed about 10% growth, and similar growth is expected to continue through 2013. Most of this growth was seen in the US and Western Europe. Even higher growth was seen in many developing countries, albeit on a smaller volume base. Since this segment remains somewhat immune to the competition from flat panels, expected improvements in corporate and higher education spending should benefit these projector segments in the coming year.

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