Global Production Printer Shipments Gains 9.9% Growth in 3Q15- IDC

The worldwide production print market continues to show year-over-year growth in unit shipments, gaining 9.9% in the third quarter of 2015 (3Q15).

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC ) Worldwide Quarterly Production Printer Tracker , unit shipments increased to approximately 10,500 units (printers and MFPs) and shipment value increased 5.9% to more than $1.2 billion in the same time period.

Market Highlights

All four of IDC's largest regional markets saw positive year-over-year unit growth in the production print space in 3Q15.

Key contributors to the worldwide increase were Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) with 15.7% year-over-year growth, the U.S with 15.3%, Western Europe with 12.1%, and Japan with 1.0%.

All categories in the production print market recorded year-over-year gains. Label & Packaging was up 15.0%, Production grew 12.7%, and Mid-Production increased 9.1%.

High speed inkjet shipments grew 8.8% year over year. Canon, Ricoh and HP are the top 3 vendors in this space.

Their combined market share accounts for more than half of the global high speed inkjet segment.

"All production-class technologies saw annual gains in the third quarter, showing the health of the worldwide digital production industry. As expected, after slipping in the second quarter, high-speed inkjet experienced a tremendous rebound in the third quarter, with system shipments growing 110% from the previous quarter and 9% annually. Hardware vendors are innovating — from monochrome laser to sheetfed inkjet — to create new applications for their customers, which is driving demand for new technology investments," said Amy Machado, research manager, Imaging, Printing, and Document Solutions.

According to IDC, Production Print Tracker includes single-function printers and multifunctional systems (MFPs). Data for all vendors are reported for calendar periods