Samsung’s Freestyle+ projector hands-on: A lot brighter and impressively adaptable

Samsung introduced its latest transportable projector forward of its First Look showcase at CES 2026, however you might need been a bit of confused as to what’s modified. The corporate says the is sort of twice as vibrant because the 2022 Freestyle projector, rated at 230 ISO lumens, which was fairly underwhelming. The brand new Freestyle+ can output at 430 ISO lumens. If that is the primary you’re listening to of ISO Lumens, it’s an internationally standardized score for projectors, meant to standardize producers’ claims of brightness.

It nonetheless appears to be like similar to its predecessors, with 160 levels of rotation that makes it simple to arrange in most houses, Airbnbs or assembly rooms. Samsung added help for Q-Symphony, permitting you to attach it to the corporate’s soundbars, when you conveniently have one close by. Whereas the sound high quality of its built-in speaker was laborious to check in the midst of a post-keynote commerce present ground, you’ll most likely need to increase the built-in speaker, if solely as a result of it’s so small.

Imaginative and prescient AI, talked about a number of occasions throughout Samsung’s CES keynote, can also be constructed into the transportable projector. You may summon Bixby to regulate settings and no matter you’re watching. Based mostly on the demos I noticed, you’ll want to talk into the distant to entry Bixby.

Different enhancements deliver the projector into 2026, with keystone correction and focus. The Freestyle+’s AI OptiScreen can calibrate projections to completely different wall surfaces and colours to enhance visibility even in your most vivid partitions.

The up to date 3D Auto Keystone corrects distortion even when projecting onto uneven or non-flat surfaces, reminiscent of corners, curtains or angled partitions. It’s laborious to place into phrases, however pointing the Freestyle+ to a nook, or at an undulating curtain, and watching the picture morph and contort was nearly hypnotic. The premise is that you may level this at any space of your own home (and even, say, the facet of a tent), and the 3D Auto Keystone will flatten the picture in seconds.

There’s additionally Display Match, which routinely adjusts the picture to match a projector display dimension. The Freestyle+ can challenge as much as a 100-inch 1080p picture, at most. Nonetheless, Wall Calibration is perhaps probably the most technically spectacular in a tool this dimension. It detects and analyzes the colour of the projection floor and recalibrates the picture’s colour tone to reduce the impact. It could possibly even detect and match a wall sample to scale back visible interference, which labored properly in individual. The Samsung spokesperson used the aforementioned Bixby voice instructions to calibrate the display.

If there’s nonetheless one thing to deal with, it’s that this transportable projector have to be plugged in to function. When that may be both an influence financial institution or a wall outlet, it appears a bit cheeky to name it transportable.

Samsung usually broadcasts costs and launch dates as soon as the CES mud has settled, but it surely’s set to reach within the first half of 2026. Earlier iterations value round $900, however early impressions counsel it’s a flexible, petite projector.