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Worldwide Hardcopy-Peripherals Market Down 4.8 Percent in Fourth Quarter

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The worldwide hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market declined 4.8 percent year-over-year to approximately 26.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2018 (4Q18), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker.

According to IDC, the brightest spot for the quarter was HP’s positive year-over-year performance of 3.6 percent growth in unit shipments. The vendor expanded year-over-year in its top two regional markets – Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (APeJ) and the United States.

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

For third-quarter 2018, IDC had reported that worldwide shipments were down 1.2 percent, while for second-quarter 2018, it had reported that worldwide shipments grew 0.9 percent.

Notable highlights from the quarter include:

  • The total inkjet market in the APeJ region recorded its 11th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth with 3.59 million units shipped, the highest in a quarter since second-quarter 2012. APeJ was the only region to have achieved positive year-over-year shipment growth this quarter.
  • All speed ranges of color laser MFPs in the U.S. experienced growth except the 1-10 ppm and 11-20 ppm segments, each of which declined year-over-year. Canon had the highest year-over-year growth in the 21-90 ppm segment.
  • Increased shipments in inkjet ink-tank segment was observed in Latin America. Fourth-quarter 2018 marks the second-consecutive quarter in which ink-tank machines surpassed the unit volume of ink-cartridge inkjet models. All vendors in this space recorded year over expansion.
Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Market, Unit Shipments, Company Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, Q4 2018 (based on unit shipments)
Companies4Q18 Unit Shipments4Q18 Market Share4Q17 Unit Shipments4Q17 Market Share4Q18/4Q17 Growth
1. HP Inc.10,595,26439.6%10,224,55636.4%3.6%
2. Canon Group5,967,36822.3%6,485,11023.1%-8.0%
3. Epson4,734,93717.7%5,581,25119.9%-15.2%
4. Brother2,064,4287.7%2,118,4637.5%-2.6%
5. Kyocera Group523,3672.0%518,5641.8%0.9%
Others2,849,45010.7%3,162,14111.3%-9.9%
Total26,734,814100.0%28,090,085100.0%-4.8%
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, February 2019

Source: IDC

Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Market, Unit Shipments, Company Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, Full Year 2018 (based on unit shipments)
Companies2018 Unit Shipments2018 Market Share2017 Unit Shipments2017 Market Share2018/2017 Growth
1. HP Inc.40,069,72140.5%39,315,85139.3%1.9%
2. Canon Group20,368,26220.6%20,873,75820.9%-2.4%
3. Epson17,757,85517.9%18,248,09918.2%-2.7%
4. Brother7,475,2917.6%7,525,1267.5%-0.7%
5.Kyocera Group2,022,7972.0%1,959,2292.0%+3.2%
Others11,296,04311.4%12,124,68312.1%-6.8%
Total98,989,969100.0%100,046,746100.0%-1.1%
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, February 2019

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

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