Samsung has introduced its 8K Premiere ultra-short throw projector that CNN calls a “first-of-its-kind.” The projector, and update to the company’s 4K Premiere, supports a maximum picture of 150-inches for a massive screen. Native 8K remains a ways off, but the system artificially up-rezzes 4K content while future-proofing. Sitting just inches from a screen or wall, with Dolby Atmos, the unit minimizes wires and auxiliary equipment, which has been a trend at CES 2023. Due for release later this year, pricing was not announced, but the 2020 model that this one builds upon started at $3,500.

That upsell is based on convenience: “just put it down on the floor or a table at the right distance” and “you’ll get incredible detail, and a massively bright, almost 3D-looking image,” with “no hardware installation required,” writes CNN. Samsung’s January 4 presser was themed “bringing calm to a connected world.”

“Samsung has been tight-lipped on just about every other spec you can think of, like brightness, number/kind of ports, support for variable refresh rate (VRR), 120Hz, and Dolby Vision, but it has confirmed that it will have a built-in, Dolby Atmos-capable sound system,” Digital Trends says of the Premiere 8K.

The package will include Samsung’s smart TV OS, “so you get all your favorite streaming content from Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, etc.,” according to CNN, noting that beyond an extra 20-inches of projected image size, the 8K resolution — four times that of 2020’s Premiere 4K (pictured above) — resulted in a picture that “looked stunning, almost 3D, when Samsung played us a loop on the 150-inch screen.”

With native 8K content yet not widely available “all those extra pixels will just help everything look better when the projector automatically upconverts all your 4K content to 8K,” CNN reports, noting that “if you’re going to spend your money on an expensive piece of equipment, it only makes sense to future-proof your investment. There’s no doubt 8K content is coming, it’s just a matter of when.”

The 2020 Premiere 4K iteration “was $3,500 for the ‘120-inch’ version, and $6,500 for the ‘130-inch’ version,” writes CNET, noting that “since the only other consumer 8K projectors start at $11,000, and those are for traditional (aka not UST) designs, it seems safe to assume the 8K Premiere will cost at least what the previous model did, and probably a lot more.”

“Samsung has been on a roll at this year’s CES” writes Digital Trends, shouting out “a new QD-OLED TV with a 77-inch screen, its smallest microLED TV so far, and a new batch of thinner and brighter flagship Neo QLED TVs.”