The 4K Ultra HD Projector Market is About to Explode

Are You Ready?

If you’ve been following our blogs, you know about 4K developments. To brush up, our latest two are Tackling HD Expectations—5 Basic HD TV Consumer Questions You Need to Answer and Everything You Need to Know About 4K TV Plus How to Prepare Your Customers.

But the time for prep is over. Now’s the time to act—because recent data shows the near-future sales potential for projectors is staggering!

4K Projector Sales Juggernaut

The projector sales forecasts for North America, as gathered by PMA Research Limited and released in June 2017, are amazing. 4K UHD projector sales are about to explode!

Table 1, Total Market:
2017: 38,000 units
2019: 164,000 units (4x+ more than 2017)
2020: 378,000 units (10x more than 2017)

Consumer Market (4,000 lumens or less):
2017: 36,000 units
2019: 143,000 units
2020: 307,000 units

Professional Market:
2017: 2,000 units
2019: 20,000 units
2020: 70,000 units

Based on these stats, you need to switch your projection clients to 4K Ultra HD NOW. Even if they are still operating in the Full HD/2K realm, they won’t be for long. 4K UHD is going mainstream. Future-proofing installations is an absolute must.

4K Consumer and Business Applications

• Home Theater. This is the main driver for Ultra HD displays. There’s a lot of content available, plus hardware like a 4K Blu-ray player, gaming systems and streaming devices.

• Offices that use detailed graphics such as engineering drawings, architectural plans, financial graphics and security videos.

• University classrooms. Although K–12 usage is there, it’s at the university level where most of the demand will be first, since the detail and large display size is ideal for large classroom use. Departments include science, math, engineering and finance.

• Huddle room & small meeting rooms. 4K UHD makes it easy to blow up the information and really see the detail.

• Control rooms. This even includes security details that use video displays.

• Digital signage. Although its mainly flat panels today, retailers are trending toward making shopping an experience. Projectors achieve a much larger display with higher definition and great color definition.

• Video production and post-production facilities.

• Telepresence. Can show a 1080p image within the 4K UHD larger image that’s filled with lots of details.

Seating Distance

Because 4K UHD has so many more pixels, people can sit closer to the screen for a more movie-like experience without sacrificing quality. Here is a suggested guide based on screen size and viewing distance. Of course, people can sit further back and may well have to, based on the application.

The Takeaway

Ultra HD flat panels have been out for several years. The consumer pump has been primed. And home theater installations are on the forefront of the 4K revolution.

Projectors are the ideal choice because they offer really large images at lower price points that other media can’t touch.

So, on your next project—think 4K UHD. For frequently asked questions about 4K and the UHD60, check out this Optoma PDF.

Even if your clients still live in a 2K world, just the ability to upconvert HD to 4K UHD alone makes the jump worthwhile, plus future-proofs them for years to come.