Tiny pico-projectors set for huge growth

Smartphones are getting smarter with new embedded projectors capable of showing up to 50-inch bright, diagonal images on any wall or surface. The first one – the Show Phone by Samsung – was unveiled earlier at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and is currently available only in Korea. But the tiny pico-projectors are expected to take off quickly in the international corporate market allowing business travelers to leave bulky laptops and full-size projection systems behind and make presentations directly from their mobile phone or PDA. And you can be sure consumers won’t be far behind, attracted by the ability to share their personal slide shows or YouTube favorites and even movies anywhere there’s a flat surface and a cell phone.

In fact, the sale and shipment of embedded pico projectors is expected to leap from less than 50,000 units this year to more than 3 million units in 2013, says market research firm iSupply. That’s a staggering 60-fold increase in just four years.

There are still some challenges that manufacturers need to work out before embedded pico-projectors can realize their full potential – like power consumption and size. But their ability to overcome screen-size limitations and project a large image from a small device makes embedded pico projectors a perfect fit for the smaller-is-better smartphone market. Expect projector-capable smartphones to start popping up everywhere soon, and get ready for the market to take off.