Projectors' "AirPods Moment": How Samsung Freestyle Ignited the Market, and How Startups Can Navigate It

Cylinder + mini gimbal—this is becoming the most fiercely contested form factor in the industry.

When Samsung launched The Freestyle projector in early 2022, even they probably didn’t anticipate that this compact "cannon-shaped" device 

would be like a stone dropped into a calm lake, creating lasting ripples across the smart projector sector.

This all-in-one device combining projection, smart speaker, and ambient light struck a perfect chord with younger generations’ "nomadic lifestyle" pain points

—portability, flexibility, and multi-scenario use—thanks to its unique "cannon design + 180° rotating gimbal". 

It is no longer a serious piece of equipment requiring fixed installation; instead, it’s a "personal gadget" that can be casually placed on the bedside, 

taken camping, or even projected onto the ceiling to set the mood.

It’s exactly like how Apple redefined wireless earbuds with AirPods and sparked the smartwatch boom with Apple Watch

—a tech giant leveraged innovative product definition to ignite an entirely new niche market.

What followed played out to a similar script: Samsung educated the market with its brand power and innovation, 

while China’s highly responsive, agile supply chain quickly jumped on the trend, 

turning this innovation into a standardized public mold and rolling it out to the global market at staggeringly competitive price points.

Today, across major e-commerce platforms, a vast array of "cannon-shaped" projectors—priced from $30 to $100—has evolved into a massive product category. 

For startups caught in this wave, it’s both a golden opportunity and a brutal red ocean. 

What can we observe? And more importantly, how should we act?

01 Ignition: How Samsung Defined a "New Category"

Its design philosophy didn’t emerge from a conference room; it stemmed from deep insights into the lifestyles of millennials and Gen Z. 

The product team targeted "nomadic workers"—a generation that values freedom, mobility, and self-expression.

• Portability: Weighing just 0.8kg, its integrated cannon shape is easy to hold and carry with one hand. It transformed from a "piece of furniture" into a "carry-on item".

• Ease of Use: The 180° rotating gimbal, paired with auto-focus and keystone correction, delivers a "point-and-play, perfectly square image" experience. Watching movies on the ceiling evolved from a "hassle" into pure "enjoyment".

• Versatility: Beyond projection, it functions as a Bluetooth speaker and ambient light, and even supports power bank charging. It downplays the cold "appliance feel" and emphasizes the mood-enhancing "ambience" and user-friendly experience.

With its strong brand influence and industrial design capabilities, Samsung set a premium benchmark for the "portable smart projector" category. 

It showed the market: this is what a projector can look like, and this is how it can be used.

02 Public Mold Domination: China’s Supply Chain "Blitzkrieg"

Almost overnight, "cannon-shaped" projectors adopting identical or similar designs, equipped with low-cost 1LCD optical engines, 

mushroomed across the market. These products precisely filled the price gap left by Freestyle, 

offering 60%–80% of the core experience (portability, gimbal, auto-correction) at just one-third or even one-fifth of the price.

The supply chain disassembled and optimized the complex structure, quickly rolling out cost-effective "public mold" solutions. 

Any brand can slap its logo on these products and launch a "Freestyle-like" device in no time to join the competition. 

This drastically lowered the market entry barrier and rapidly expanded the overall market size of "cannon-shaped projectors".

03 Breaking the Deadlock: A Three-Stage Product Strategy for Startups

However, the flip side of public mold domination is homogeneity and a cutthroat price war. 

For resource-constrained startups, jumping blindly into this red ocean is tantamount to suicide. 

A rational strategy, much like playing chess, should be divided into three phases, with dynamic adjustments based on market development stages.

Phase 1: Seize the Window—Leverage Public Molds Early

If you have a sharp enough nose for trends and spot the opportunity in the earliest stage (usually a 1–2 year golden window), speed is everything. 

At this point, market demand outstrips supply, and users are more drawn to the novelty of the form factor than to product differentiation.

Rapidly adopting mature public mold solutions, launching products quickly, and capturing the first wave of users and market share with cost-effectiveness is the lowest-cost, relatively low-risk strategy. The core lies in being "fast" and "accurate", profiting from the trend and the time gap.

Phase 2: Build Differentiation—Reshape Value in the Mid-Term

When public mold products flood the market and price wars start to emerge, startups must pivot to differentiation. 

Launching pure public mold products at this stage will yield little to no profit. Differentiation can be divided into "minor tweaks" and "major overhauls":

• Feature-added "minor tweaks": Add one or two standout features to the public mold to quickly create selling points. Examples include:

• Redesigning the round shape to square, adding a high-quality speaker base to boost sound quality (ByteSense G1)

  
  

• Upgrading to fully automatic focus + keystone correction

• Securing streaming certifications for platforms like Netflix

• Adding Type-C port to support power bank charging

• Incorporating RGB ambient light modes

• Upgrading from plastic to metal casing for a premium feel

  These are low-cost, quick-win micro-innovations.

• Form-optimized "major overhauls":
• Retain the core "portability + gimbal" experience but completely redesign the appearance and structure to create visual distinction from public molds.
• For instance, ByteSense’s P3C projector replaced the exposed gimbal with a built-in rotating axis, enhancing the product’s sense of integration;
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• other options include single-side rotating axes or detachable gimbals.
• Differentiation in form factor builds stronger brand recognition and may lead to structural or user experience improvements.
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Phase 3: Build a Product Matrix—Balance Offense and Defense in the Long Run

When the "cannon-shaped" form factor becomes intensely competitive and profit margins shrink, relying on a single product line becomes extremely risky. 

A healthy company should have a clear product matrix:

• Public mold cost-effective models: Stay as close to public molds as possible, with extreme cost control to drive sales volume and penetrate the market.

• Differentiated feature models: Such as the aforementioned P3C, which command a premium through design or functional advantages,

  targeting specific user groups.

• "Custom mold" profit models: It is imperative to develop proprietary mold products that are completely distinct from the public mold cannons.
• These products represent the brand’s design language and technological vision, serving to build brand image, capture users with higher demands for design and quality, and generate core profits.
• For example, ByteSense’s G3 (1080P cost-effective model + gimbal) and F3 Projector (1080P flagship model + metal heat dissipation) series offer entirely new form factors beyond the cannon shape to meet diverse needs, building a sustainable competitive moat.
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It precisely captured the core needs of the new generation of young people (freedom, portability), anchored a new usage scenario (ceiling projection), and brought it to life with impeccable design and accumulated technological expertise. What followed—China’s supply chain "blitzkrieg"—showcased its formidable capability to quickly scale and democratize innovations.

For latecomers, especially startups, the real takeaway is this: not only must you be able to sensitively identify and 

capitalize on the trend dividends brought by "public moldization", but you must also know when to break free from homogeneous competition, 

building a sustainable survival space through differentiation and matrixization.

From blind following, to breaking the deadlock with micro-innovations, to constructing a proprietary product system

—this is perhaps the most valuable lesson that every entrepreneur riding this wave can learn from the projectors’ "AirPods moment". 

Spotting a rising trend but choosing to do nothing, clinging rigidly to the original product roadmap and missing out on traffic opportunities, 

is equally detrimental to startups. While diving into the red ocean may pose risks, sitting on the sidelines means missing out on the chance to create a blockbuster product.

Therefore, for startup leaders, the top priority is to stay on top of industry trends (maximize information intake), 

make strategic decisions tailored to different market stages, and adjust flexibly—only then can they survive in today’s fiercely competitive landscape.