XGIMI put two new projectors on sale in Japan on October 30: the Elfin Flip Pro (New), which swaps the old model’s LED for a Nichia-made RGB triple laser and lists at ¥99,800, and the Nova Air, a battery-free LCD gimbal projector at ¥36,900 that XGIMI’s own store and Amazon Japan are selling for ¥26,800 with a launch coupon through November 12. Neither model appears on XGIMI’s U.S. store, and the way they slot into the Japanese lineup says a fair amount about how differently the company prices the same hardware family on each side of the Pacific.
The launches were reported the same morning by AV Watch and Phile Web, and the specifications below agree across both unless noted.
The Elfin Flip Pro gets a laser and Google TV
The original Elfin Flip Pro arrived in Japan in 2024 as a 400 ISO lumen LED projector running XGIMI OS. The new version keeps the fold-out stand that rotates through 150 degrees, so it can throw onto a side wall or straight up at the ceiling, but raises output to 1,000 ISO lumens with the triple-laser engine and moves the software to Google TV with Netflix, YouTube and Prime Video. Resolution stays at native 1080p. XGIMI quotes a 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and its spec card claims 110% of BT.2020.
The body grows slightly thicker, from 6.4cm to 7.5cm, yet weighs less at about 1.33kg against 1.42kg before. Dimensions are 254 x 245 x 75mm. The supported image range widens from 80–150 inches to 40–200 inches, with 60–120 inches recommended, and XGIMI’s ISA system handles autofocus and keystone without interrupting the picture. Sound comes from a pair of 3W drivers. There is no battery.
At ¥99,800 including 10% consumption tax, the pre-tax price works out to roughly $575 at this week’s rate of about ¥158 to the dollar.
Where it lands in a crowded Elfin family
The new Pro is the fourth Flip-shaped model XGIMI currently sells in Japan, and the price ladder on XGIMI Japan’s store is tight. The Elfin Flip Plus (500 ISO lumens, DLP, Google TV) and the outgoing Elfin Flip Pro (400 ISO lumens, XGIMI OS) both sit at ¥69,800. The new Pro follows at ¥99,800. Above it is the Elfin Flip Laser at ¥129,800, which uses the same Nichia triple-laser source but is rated at 1,600 ISO lumens, and then the Elfin Flip 4K at ¥206,800.
So in Japan, the new Pro is essentially a cheaper, dimmer cut of the Elfin Flip Laser: 600 fewer lumens for ¥30,000 less. That is a reasonable step for buyers who mostly watch at night in a bedroom. The U.S. picture is different. XGIMI’s American store carries the Elfin Flip Plus at $319 (list $499), the Elfin Flip Laser at $639 (list $799) and the Elfin Flip 4K at $849 (list $999), with nothing between the Plus and the Laser. Strip Japan’s tax off the Elfin Flip Laser and it costs about $747 there, more than $100 above the current U.S. sale price.
Put plainly, an American buyer today pays roughly what a Japanese buyer pays for the new 1,000-lumen Pro and gets the 1,600-lumen Laser. Japan gets more choice in the middle; the U.S. gets the brighter machine for the money. Whether the Pro (New) eventually crosses over to fill the U.S. gap between $319 and $639 is the obvious question, and XGIMI has said nothing about it.
Nova Air: XGIMI’s LCD entry model loses its battery
The second launch sits at the opposite end of the range. The Nova Air is based on the Nova that XGIMI Japan introduced in January, an entry projector built around an LED light source and an LCD panel rather than the DLP chips the company uses almost everywhere else. Native resolution is 1080p, brightness is rated at 250 ISO lumens and contrast at 1,500:1. Phile Web lists a 45–120 inch image range while AV Watch prints 150 inches for the top end, so treat the larger figure with caution.
The headline change is the missing battery. Dropping it takes the weight from 1.4kg to 1.2kg and means the Nova Air always runs off the wall. The gimbal stand, which rotates through 300 degrees and doubles as a carry handle, is unchanged, as are the continuous auto keystone and autofocus and the 2 x 3W speakers tuned under XGIMI’s Sound by JBL label. The speaker can also run as a standalone Bluetooth speaker with a soft-light mode. Connections are DC in, one HDMI and one USB, with dual-band Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, DLNA and Miracast. Dimensions are 135.4 x 115 x 286mm, and the box includes a Bluetooth remote and a sheet of decorative stickers.
The less obvious change is the software. The battery-powered Nova runs Google TV, according to XGIMI Japan’s product page; both launch reports say the Nova Air uses XGIMI’s own OS instead, with Netflix, YouTube and Prime Video available. On the same day, then, XGIMI moved the Elfin Flip Pro from its own OS to Google TV and moved the Nova Air the other way. The pattern suggests Google TV licensing is something the company now spends where margins allow, not across the board.
Pricing makes the trade-off look thin. The Nova costs ¥39,900 and the Nova Air ¥36,900, a ¥3,000 difference for giving up both the battery and Google TV. The ¥37,900 bundle with an 80-inch screen is the better deal of the two Air packages, and the ¥26,800 coupon price, about $154 before tax, is where the Air genuinely undercuts its sibling.
What American buyers can get at that price
Neither Nova model is sold in the U.S. The closest equivalent on Amazon is the Dangbei N2 mini, another 1080p LCD projector on a tilting stand, which was selling for $199 on October 30 with a 4.4-star average across 270 ratings. It is rated at 200 ISO lumens against the Nova Air’s 250, but it comes with licensed Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube, automatic focus and keystone, and dual-band Wi-Fi in a package that American buyers can order today rather than import. For anyone in the U.S. who was drawn to the Nova Air’s form factor, the N2 mini covers the same bedroom-and-ceiling use case with officially supported streaming already on board.
The Nova line is also a sign of how far single-panel LCD has moved up the brand ladder this year. A company whose reputation was built on DLP and laser engines now sells an LCD model as its Japanese entry point, the same direction we traced in our guide to the best LCD projectors for 2026. For XGIMI’s U.S. customers, though, the more immediate story is at the other end of this week’s news: the cheapest laser-powered Elfin in America remains the $639 Elfin Flip Laser, and Japan has just shown that a cheaper one exists.
