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Slight Uptick for Global Printer and Copier/MFP Market in Third Quarter

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The worldwide hardcopy peripherals market grew 1.0 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2017 (3Q17) with shipments reaching nearly 25.3 million units, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker. Inkjet units experienced 4.0 percent year-over-year growth while the laser market saw a decline of 1.2 percent compared to the same quarter in 2016. Shipment value declined 4.9 percent year over year to almost $13 billion.

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

Notable highlights from the third quarter of 2017 include:

  • HP Inc. remained the top company in the worldwide hardcopy peripherals market with shipment growth of 3.3 percent year over year producing market share of 38.7 percent for the quarter. Second-ranked Canon and third-ranked Epson had the weakest results among the top-five vendors with year-over-year growth of 0.6 percent and -1.0 percent, respectively. Brother gained some market share in the number 4 position with shipment growth of 3.9 percent while fifth-ranked Samsung outperformed the other companies in the top 5 with year-over-year shipment growth of 6.5 percent.
  • The contractual segment recorded year-over-year growth of 3.6 percent to over 1.7 million units shipped.
  • Business inkjet shipments also grew 3.3 percent year-over-year to approximately 2.5 million units with inkjet MFPs accounting for 90.0 percent of business inkjet shipments in 3Q17.
  • The laser and inkjet markets in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) posted year over year growth of 10.5 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.
Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Market, Unit Shipments, Company Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, Q3 2017 (based on unit shipments)
Companies 3Q17 Unit Shipments 3Q17 Market Share 3Q16 Unit Shipments 3Q16 Market Share 3Q17/3Q16 Growth
1. HP Inc 9,785,933 38.7% 9,472,036 37.9% 3.3%
2. Canon Group 4,940,285 19.6% 4,911,139 19.6% 0.6%
3. Epson 4,530,958 17.9% 4,575,905 18.3% -1.0%
4. Brother 1,841,550 7.3% 1,772,768 7.1% 3.9%
5. Samsung 878,865 3.5% 825,028 3.3% 6.5%
Others 3,286,430 13.0% 3,449,437 13.8% -4.7%
Total 25,264,021 100.0% 25,006,313 100.0% 1.0%
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, November 2017

IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker provides market data on the global hardcopy peripherals (single function printer, multifunction printer, and single function digital copier) market. Historical data are provided by vendor, distribution channel, end-user segment, speed range, price band, configuration, model family, and format size. Forecast details include units, value, ASV, price band, and speed range by product by country by region.

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

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