The projector market was stirred up on May 29 as the chief product officer (CPO) of JMGO slammed XGIMI Projector Technology (688696. SH) for using cheap technology and misleading marketing to suppress innovators and hinder industry progress.

The CPO posted on his social media circle that “if the so-called ‘industry leader’ does not use the money from the users to promote industry innovation and advancement, then this industry is not far from death.”

Photo/WeChat screenshot

According to a report by International Data Corporation (IDC), China shipped 5.05 million projectors in the fourth quarter of 2022, up 7.4% year on year.

The top five projector manufacturers in the market are XGIMI, Epson, JMGO, Formovie and Dangbei, accounting for a combined market share of 45%. It is noted that GIMI alone holds 19% of the market share in China’s projector market.

NBD noticed that after the news of JMGO’s criticism spread, XGIMI quickly responded.

Several XGIMI's branding staff said on their social media that “it is unbelievable when we see the screenshots and links sent by some friends. XGIMI said that it is a listed company that publishes financial reports in compliance with regulations, and its sales and research and development expenses are clear. “It’s better to spend more time on research and development to grow the market.”

According to XGIMI's periodic report, the company’s research and development expenses were 139 million yuan, 263 million yuan, and 377 million yuan respectively from 2020 to 2022.

It is worth mentioning that behind the collision, there is also a disagreement over the projector light source technology.

Below JMGO CPO’s post was a link to a video posted by a Bilibili uploader about the different light sources of XGIMI RS Pro3 and JMGO i780. In the video, the uploader compared projector products using bulbs, three-color laser, and hybrid light technology, and said that three-color laser is currently the best (projection) technology.

A person close to XGIMI told NBD that there was no real machine of XGIMI RS Pro3 in the video. The projected picture of XGIMI products was different from other products’ evaluation camera parameters. Besides, the evaluation environment was also different. “This is an unfair comparison evaluation. The industry should not do comparison evaluation like this.”

Editor: Alexander