Hisense said on September 15 that its C3 Ultra and C3 Ultra Max triple-laser projectors will go on sale worldwide this month, rated at 4,000 and 5,000 ANSI lumens respectively. A third model, the 3,000-lumen C3 Pro, was announced alongside them but only as “set to follow,” with no month attached. The release, datelined Qingdao, carried no prices. In the U.S., specialist dealer ProjectorScreen.com is already taking pre-orders at $2,797.97 for the C3 Ultra and $3,797.97 for the Ultra Max, with shipping expected in mid-September.
The announcement went out the same day in English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean, which is a fair signal of how wide Hisense intends this rollout to be.
Three bodies, one spec sheet
All three models share far more than they differ. Each uses a DLP 4K UHD engine lit by an R+G+B laser, claims 118% of the BT.2020 color space and a native contrast ratio of 5,000:1 (Hisense credits an iris in the lens for that figure), and projects anywhere from 65 to 300 inches. HDR coverage is broad: Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG, plus IMAX Enhanced certification. The smart platform is Hisense’s own VIDAA rather than Google TV, and the dealer listing names Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ and Prime Video among the included apps.
Gaming support is identical across the line according to the dealer’s comparison table: a 240Hz mode at 1080p with VRR, FreeSync Premium, ALLM and a 1ms latency figure (Hisense’s own release attaches the 1ms claim only to the Ultra Max). Every model gets a 56W 2.1-channel speaker system tuned by Devialet, two HDMI 2.1 inputs with eARC on the first, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. The laser is rated for more than 25,000 hours.
The Ultra Max is where the hardware actually changes. Its zoom goes to 2x (throw ratio 0.85 to 1.7:1) against 1.6x (0.9 to 1.5:1) on the other two, vertical lens shift widens from ±100% to ±120%, and horizontal shift from ±35% to ±47%. That extra range costs weight: the Ultra Max is 25.8 lb, against 17.6 lb for the C3 Ultra and 17.2 lb for the Pro. It is the one model in the family that reads as a fixed home theater machine rather than a projector you carry between rooms on its gimbal stand.
The price that already exists
The dealer also lists the C3 Pro for pre-order at $2,297.97, even though Hisense’s global release does not commit to a date for it. That number is worth sitting next to one that is live on Amazon today. The Hisense C2 Ultra, which launched in late 2024 at $2,999.99 and is also rated at 3,000 ANSI lumens, sells for exactly $2,297.97 on Amazon this week, holding a 4.2-star average across 189 ratings.
So the C3 Pro, on current dealer pricing, lands precisely where its predecessor’s street price has already drifted. On paper the buyer gets the newer optics, Devialet sound in place of JBL, Wi-Fi 7 and wider color for the same money. The C3 Ultra then asks $500 more for an extra 1,000 lumens, and the Ultra Max another $1,000 for 1,000 more lumens plus the longer zoom and extra shift. The step from Ultra to Ultra Max is the steeper one per lumen, which makes sense only if the lens flexibility matters to your room.
That also explains the awkward sequencing. Shipping a $2,297.97 C3 Pro now would sit directly on top of C2 Ultra stock still selling at the same price. Holding the Pro back while the two brighter models arrive gives retailers time to clear the older unit without Hisense cutting it further. That is our reading, not something Hisense has said.
What the lens says about where it came from
Hisense launched a C3 Ultra in China in May 2025 under the Vidda brand, priced from ¥11,999 and rated at 3,200 CVIA lumens, with a 1.67x zoom, JBL speakers and a MediaTek MT9681 chip. The global model is not simply that product renamed: the brightness rating, the audio partner and the color claim (110% BT.2020 then, 118% now) have all changed.
But the family resemblance is visible on the hardware itself. The official product render supplied to U.S. dealers shows the C3 Ultra’s lens bezel printed with “1.67X ZOOM,” while the Western spec sheet lists the zoom as 1.6x. The simplest explanation is that the optical block carried over and the export sheet rounded it down. It is a small detail, but it tells you the 16 months between the Chinese launch and this one went mostly into light output, sound and connectivity rather than a new lens.
Brightness is the claim to watch. Hisense’s recent track record on rated lumens is mixed: the XR10 held up to its 6,000-lumen rating in two separate labs, while the L9Q Pro story turned on how far measured and rated output diverge. The C2 Ultra measured 2,779 ANSI lumens in its brightest mode in independent testing at ProjectorCentral, about 93% of its 3,000 rating. If the C3 Ultra lands at a similar ratio, owners are looking at roughly 3,700 lumens, which would still clear the C2 Ultra by a wide margin and compete directly with the brighter RGB laser portables in the JMGO N1S Ultra class.
Whether the 5,000-lumen Ultra Max keeps the same ratio in a chassis this compact is the more interesting open question, and the first review units shipping later this month should answer it.
