CES, one of the biggest tech events of the year, is officially underway and has already yielded a lot of exciting announcements in the world of AV.
And one of the most tantalising comes with the release of Samsung's newest portable projector model – The Freestyle+. This is, as you may have guessed, the successor to Samsung's The Freestyle, which leapt onto the scene in 2023.
This older model was a strong performer when we had it in our test room, offering a bright picture as well as a compact design. Its below-par black levels and high price (it launched at £999 / $900 / AU$1299) held it back from five-star greatness, but there's the possibility of even greater success with its successor.
Samsung is sticking with The Freestyle's cute design, which is good news considering we rated its flexible build highly in our review. It is doubling the brightness of the older model, though, reaching a claimed brightness of 430 ISO lumens.
The company is also adding plenty of AI capabilities to the 1080p model, including the Vision AI Companion to enable "more natural, conversational interaction with on-screen content."
The technology includes 3D Auto Keystone that corrects distortion when projecting onto uneven surfaces, Real-Time Focus which continuously adjusts focus as the projector moves, and Wall Calibration which analyses the colour of the projection surface.
That's all clearly a step forward from the older model's offerings, but there's a feature that I would have loved to see integrated into the new product that doesn't appear to be on the cards – a built-in battery.
Considering the projector's compact body, the inclusion of a battery would make the model even more appealing for those looking to take movies on the go to make it truly portable.
Other models on the market have managed to successfully balance a small, compact body with the ability to hold an in-built battery. Take the four-star Xgimi MoGo 4, for example. It offers a compact build with a rotatable body about the size of a large flask while still making space for a battery that offers up to 2.5 hours of life. It also launched at £509 / $499 / AU$1039, making it a tempting option for movie lovers on a budget.
The older Freestyle model can be connected to a battery pack that the base sits on that allows you to use The Freestyle anywhere you like, even if there’s no plug socket nearby. That comes at an extra cost, however, and adds more parts to consider when on the move.
There's no word on the price tag of the new Freestyle model, but the competitive pricing of models such as the MoGo 4 and the model's more comprehensive portable offerings could have already put the Samsung projector on the back foot.
We have yet to see the projector in action, but stay tuned to hear how Samsung's latest projector performs.
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Here's our review of Samsung The Freestyle
Samsung announces a new portable projector ahead of CES 2026 that bets big on AI
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