IDC: 45-PPM Color-Laser Segment Continues to Show Strong Growth in 4th Quarter

According to IT market-research firm International Data Corporation’s Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, the overall worldwide hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market decreased 10.8 percent year-over-year to 27.58 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015 (4Q15). High-end color laser devices (45 ppm+) continued to gain year-over-year momentum in 4Q15, with shipments growing to 182 thousand units. Inkjet experienced a decline of 9.6 percent year-over-year and the laser market saw a year-over-year decline of 13.7 percent. IDC says that consumers are still purchasing inkjet devices in the millions per quarter, but the overall trend is negative.

Note that in its research, International Data Corporation (IDC) tracks A2-A4 devices, and that hardcopy Peripherals include single-function printers, multifunctional systems (MFPs), and single-function digital copiers (SF DC).

Notable highlights from the fourth quarter of 2015 include:

• The contractual trend continues to grow year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2015 with more than 1.6 million units being shipped for managed print services.
• Epson outperformed all other vendors in the top five in the fourth quarter with approximately 4.9 million units shipped, flat from last year. The vendor’s L series remains strong despite now having competition from all other major vendors. Epson also enjoyed year-over-year growth in the business-inkjet segment with its large-capacity ink tanks.
• The Canadian HCP market grew 7.2 percent year-over-year to 2.7 million units shipped. Both inkjet and laser markets experienced year-over-year growth of 1.7 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively. The top three laser vendors (Brother, HP, Samsung) all showed positive growth in the quarter. Brother “moved a great deal of product”for back to school in the third quarter with remaining stock being sold off at Cyber Monday sales. Samsung grew through large Boxing Day promotions at Best Buy and Staples.

Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Shipments, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, 2015
Vendors	2015 Unit Shipment	2015 Market Share	2014 Unit Shipment	2014 Market Share	2015/2014 Growth
1. HP Inc	39,688,399	38.4%	43,358,569	39.2%	-8.5%
2. Canon	20,897,992	20.2%	22,309,073	20.2%	-6.3%
3. Epson	16,571,539	16.1%	16,361,861	14.8%	+1.3%
4. Brother	7,692,135	7.5%	8,234,612	7.5%	-6.6%
5. Samsung	4,417,173	4.3%	5,695,654	5.2%	-22.4%
Others	13,961,593	13.5%	14,548,529	13.2%	-4.0%
Total	103,228,831	100.0%	110,508,298	100.0%	-6.6%
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, March 9, 2016

For more information about IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, contact IDC’s Phuong Hang at phang@idc.com.

More Resources

• December 2015: IDC: Worldwide Printer/Copier/MFP Market Declines in Third Quarter, but Business-Inkjet Shipments up 16.3 Percent
• October 2015: New Epson WorkForce Force Pro Business Inkjets Compatible with Print-Management Solutions
• May 2015: IDC: Slight Decline in Worldwide Printer/MFP Market for First-Quarter 2015
• February 2015: Context: HP is Business-Inkjet Market Leader in Western Europe
• February 2015: IDC: Worldwide Printer, MFP Shipment Values Increase, Color Laser Makes Gains
• February 2015: IDC: Western Europe Printer, MFP Shipments Show Slight Decline, Business Inkjets Make Gains
• February 2015: Canon Launches Maxify Business-Inkjet Models in India, Aims to Reach 4 Million SOHO Customers
• January 2015: Epson Brings Business Inkjets with Replaceable Ink Packs for Printing Up to 75,000 Pages to the U.S.
• December 2014: IDC: Worldwide Printer,MFP Shipment Values Increase in Third Quarter, Slight Decline in Shipments
• March 2014: New HP Officejet Pro Business Inkjet All-in-Ones Feature Ink-Replacement Service; Mopria, NFC Mobile Printing; Cloud Storage