Shipments Up for Worldwide Printer/MFP Market

Good news for the office-imaging industry: the worldwide hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market saw overall shipments grow 5.6 percent year-over-year to approximately 27.0 million units in the fourth quarter of 2020 (4Q20).

(Note that IDC tracks A2-A4 devices whose primary application is document printing for its Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker. Hardcopy Peripherals include single-function printers, multifunction printers (MFPs), and single-function digital copiers.)

However, shipment value during the quarter declined 5.1 percent to $11.1 billion, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker.

Strong shipment growth in the second half of the year was responsible for the 0.4 percent overall unit growth for full-year 2020. Market value declined 12.3 percent for the whole year, however, due to low shipments of high-end office devices.

Notable highlights from the quarter include:

• Year-over-year shipment growth was observed in six of the IDC’s nine regional markets, with China leading the way at 18.4 percent. Similar to last quarter, the common theme in 4Q20 was the increased demand for low-end consumer inkjets and monochrome laser devices, which were readily available toward the end of the year at competitive prices.
• Both inkjet and laser markets posted year-over-year gains with shipments increasing 7.9 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. In the laser market, low-end A4 monochrome laser shipments grew year-over-year due to working from home and home education needs.
• HP Inc. outperformed all other companies in the top-five in terms of shipment growth. The vendor delivered a year-over-year increase of 13.7 percent with worldwide shipments of nearly 11.2 million units in the quarter.