With so many massive new TVs on show at CES 2026 this week dazzling attendees, it’s easy to forget that you don’t actually need to invest in such ginormous, bulky bits of hardware to get a decent big-screen picture in your living room. The alternative is to snap up a compact projector and simply shine images in whatever direction is most convenient, and we found some interesting new ways to do this on show at the sprawling trade exhibition this week.
First up is Xgimi’s new Titan Noir Max, billed as the company’s most “cinematic and accessible pro projector yet”, and it is indeed quite something to behold. Xgimi, a Chinese brand, started out making cheap and cheerful portable projectors but has evolved to target the high end of the market with some seriously beastly projectors of late, including the Xgimi Titan and Horizon 20 Max models that launched in September.
The Xgimi Titan Noir Max is said to have compelling “precision-tuned optics” that promise to “bring out the kind of depth, contrast, and colour nuance once reserved for post-production studios.” That’s quite a claim, and the Titan Noir Max does have the specifications to support it. The 4K projector comes with what Xgimi says is its “most advanced dynamic IRIS system” to date and features a native contrast ratio of 10,000:1, while its new lens is said to enable better control of highlights and dark areas.
The company did not say anything about brightness, which is a key missing detail, and there’s no word on its gaming specifications either. However, Xgimi said it will sit between the Titan, which currently costs £3,499, and the Horizon 20 Max, priced at £2599, in its lineup.
That suggests it will be in competition with projectors such as the Leica Cine Play 1 Plus, which launched in November and boasts 3,500 CVIA lumens and 110% coverage of the BT.2020 colour gamut and has a £2,950 price tag. It will also go up against JMGO's O2S Ultra, which debuted in October and has 3,600 ISO lumens, covers 110% of the BT.2020 colour gamut, and a 4,000:1 native contrast ratio, priced at around £2,799.
Xgimi will face further competition from AWOL Vision, which is the parent company of the long-throw projector specialist Valerion. At CES it debuted two new ultra-short-throw models that are said to be the first in the world capable of throwing up 200-inch 4K resolution images. They’re extremely fast too, boasting sub-1 millisecond latency, making them ideal for gaming scenarios.
The new models are the Aetherion Max and Aetherion Pro, and they deliver 2,600 ISO lumens and 3,000 ISO lumens respectively. That’s basically the only major difference between the two. Both models feature a 6,000:1 native contrast ratio, 240Hz refresh rates, support VRR and ALLM, and they also have AWOL’s proprietary new PixelLock technology that’s designed to ensure “surgical” sharpness.
The company was eager to talk about PixelLock, and it sounds like a truly unique selling point. The technology aims to eliminate problems associated with pixel drift and colour separation, which are common issues found on UST projectors. It does this by merging various optical, digital and mechanical elements to compensate for what it says are “lens element tolerances, temperature-induced expansion and DLP sequencing artefacts”, which are the main reasons for these issues. The projectors use a sapphire glass lens and have a rare earth coating that reduces chromatic aberration to “virtually zero”, as well as a special optical film and motorised dust-seal lens cover to ensure the lens remains clear.
Other specifications include an MT9655 chipset featuring 8GB of RAM and 128G of ROM, an Enhanced Black level of 60,000:1 and a seven-level IRIS system featuring EVL shadow refinement to deliver superior blacks and clearer highlights.
The company did not reveal U.K. pricing just yet, but we can guess at the prices, for the Aetherion Max and the Aetherion Pro will cost $3,499 and $4,499 respectively, in the U.S. That works out at around £2,581 and £3,320. They’ll go on sale first on Kickstarter, with early bird offers and limited edition bundles set to be available in March.
Xgimi’s and AWOL Vision’s new projectors will also compete with another very fine UST model in the shape of Hisense’s PX4-PRO, which was on display at CES but was actually announced just before Christmas. We don’t have any idea yet how much the PX4-PRO will cost, but it’s a beast by every definition, with an all-new IRIS system, 3,500 ANSI lumens of brightness, IMAX Enhanced certification and a 6,000:1 contrast ratio that promise to combine to deliver “vibrant colour and crystal-clear detail” in all viewing conditions.
