IFA is always an excellent place to check out the latest bits of tech, from cool concepts to the latest innovations on the market. Projectors is one area that has received a lot of love at IFA 2025, particularly the 4K portable market.
When you’re thinking about the best projectors, you’re looking for bold brightness, solid contrast, and accurate colors. And in today’s world, it’ll ideally be smart too.
Thankfully, at this year’s IFA, there was no shortage of brilliant beamers, and from what we can see, there’s a theme of big brightness housed in a portable size. Here are the 6 coolest projectors we saw at IFA 2025.
1. Xgimi Horizon 20 Max
Starting off strong is the Xgimi Horizon 20 Max. The most premium model in the Horizon 20 lineup, the 20 Max is a 4K, triple-laser RGB projector that supports Dolby Vision, IMAX Enhanced, and Filmmaker Mode. It’s said to have a staggering 5,700 ISO lumens of brightness, far brighter than other 4K projectors such as the Hisense PX3 Pro, which has 3,000 lumens. It also carries an excellent list of features, especially for gaming, boasting a 1ms input lag time, up to 240Hz refresh rate, and VRR.
It also carries a useful digital lens shift tool that means picture adjustment is not only easy but accurate as well, resulting in no frame loss. The same is true of its optical zoom feature, which can zoom in without detail loss.
From what I saw of the Horizon 20 Max in person at IFA, it’s impressive. A demo of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows shows just how smooth and responsive the 20 Max is with intense gaming sequences. Its brightness, detail, and color are all superb as well, delivering a brilliant image. I even saw the lens shift and optical zoom tools in action, and they work surprisingly well.
With a $2,999.99 / £2,599.99 launch price, it’s at the premium end of the portable market. But, from what I’ve seen, it could be a real winner.
2. Valerion VisionMaster Max
The Valerion VisionMaster Max is a 4K, RGB laser projector with up to 3,500 ISO lumens of brightness. It supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+, IMAX Enhanced, and even AI picture features. Where the VisionMaster Max makes its biggest claim is that it’s ‘rainbow-free’, meaning you’re getting rich, accurate black tones.
From what I saw, the VisionMaster Max does indeed deliver deep black levels and strong contrast, even in the bright IFA showroom. It also demonstrated solid brightness and bold colors, with some white waves of the ocean delivering a nice, vibrant punch.
Due for release in October 2025, the Valerion VisionMaster Max will launch for $,4999.99, putting it at the top end of the 4K projector market. We’ll be eager to get our hands on it to see if it’s worth the money.
3. Anker Nebula X1 Pro
We’ve actually tested the Anker Nebula X1 and we loved it, awarding 4.5 stars out of 5 in our review, thanks to its crisp, 4K picture and high brightness, as well as its easy setup. We also rated its sound quality highly when the optional surround speakers were added.
Well, Anker decided to add a full sound system to the Nebula X1 that now makes it look like a party speaker. Introducing the Nebula X1 Pro. The resulting 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos system features useful detachable speakers that can be added back into the body of the main unit for easy storage. The unit also delivers 3,500 ISO lumens of brightness.
From what I saw (or heard), the X1 Pro delivers impressive sound with plenty of power that will work for decent-sized rooms. And, as expected, the X1 Pro’s picture was great too, with plenty of detail and brightness.
The X1 Pro is set to launch on Kickstarter at the end of September for $,2999.99.
4. Dangbei S7 Ultra Max
The Dangbei S7 Ultra Max is another 4K beamer that supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ HDR formats. What really caught my eye with this projector, though, was its brightness: 6,000+ ISO lumens, which Dangbei claims is class-leading. Not to be outdone by Xgimi, Dangbei has gone that little bit brighter.
In person, the S7 Ultra Max delivered solid brightness in the brightly lit showroom, as well as bold colors and accurate textures. Even its black levels were pretty good.
The S7 Ultra Max is due for launch first in China and will then be heading to the US in January 2026. Dangbei hopes to bring it to Europe several months after this. We don’t have pricing for this model yet, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on this one.
5. TCL PlayCube
Probably one of the most eye-catching projectors at IFA is the TCL PlayCube. An ultra-portable, 1080p projector, the cubed design of the PlayCube is unique. Its body can even be moved around like a Rubik’s Cube.
TCL touts this as a projector designed for camping trips. The PlayCube delivers 750 ISO lumens of brightness, roughly what you get from the best portable projectors such as the Samsung Freestyle Gen 2 and LG CineBeam Q. While not the most mind-blowing picture, it appeared solid enough in the demonstration, but really, it’s the PlayCube’s design that earns it a spot on this list.
Set to launch at €799, (roughly $930 / £693), it’s not a cheap portable projector, but we’re still curious to give this one a go.
6. Hisense M2 Pro
Next up is the Hisense M2 Pro, the brand’s most portable 4K projector to date. Capable of displaying up to a 200-inch picture, the M2 Pro has 1,300 ANSI lumens, and Hisense believes it’ll make an excellent projector indoors and outdoors.
The most exciting news here actually comes for our UK readers as it’ll be one of the first devices to receive tuner-free Freely support. No cable required, with totally cable-free Freely support. This is set to also come to other projectors in the form of a software update at a later date.
Launching at $,1299.99 (roughly £960), it’s a competitively priced 4K portable projector and another we’ll be eager to test.
Honorable mention: Hisense HTP80 Tri-Chroma
Now for something completely different. It was hard not to see the Hisense HTP80, a tri-chroma projector display in Hisense’s showroom, because it’s 300 inches. Yep, a 300-inch image.
Not only was this image massive, but it was bright, and HTP80 is said to deliver an eye-watering 15,000 ANSI lumens via its triple-laser light source. Colors were also very bold, with footage from various soccer games showing off the display’s color profile.
There wasn’t any pricing or release date info about this, but I couldn’t leave it out of the list. I mean, it’s massive!
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james.davidson@futurenet.com (James Davidson)
