Global projector market to reach almost 8.5 million in 2010, says PMA

The global front projector market is expected to increase 34% on year to 8.49 million units in 2010, driven by demand for short-throw, high brightness and pico projectors, according to Pacific Media Associates (PMA).

The pico projector market increased significantly to over one million units in 2010.

Previous estimates of the global projector market were to reach about 6.9-7 million, a 15% increase on year. However, benefiting from procurement projects from the education market and purchase demand from enterprises, the global projector market is expected to reach 8.49 million units, and the better-than-expected sales in 2010 caused projector component supply to become tight in January 2011.

Within the 500-4,000 lumen mainstream products, vendors are most optimistic about the development of short-throw and interactive models, which are widely adopted in the education market. Of which, the short-throw market increased the most significantly and tripled in shipments on year in 2010. Shipments for high-brightness 5,000 lumen or brighter models also increased rapidly amid increasing demand from enterprises and for the digital cinema segment.

Epson accounted for 23% of the global market in the first three quarters of 2010, followed by BenQ with 8-9% share, and NEC and Optoma followed closely behind.