According to research firm IDC, the worldwide hardcopy peripherals market experienced a -5.9% decline in the second quarter of 2015 (2Q15).
Total shipments fell to 24.1 million units, while the corresponding shipment value dipped by -3.4% to $13.2 billion over the same period.
Even with these declines, IDC noted the following positive accomplishments in this large market during the second quarter of the year:
? The United States and Canada had year-over-year growth of 3.6% and 5.8% respectively in response to the recovering economy.
? High-end devices posted very healthy growth, with a double-digit increase in 45ppm+ speed segments.
? Epson outperformed all other vendors for the second quarter in a row, with continuous success in the inkjet segment. Most of Epson’s growth came from the United States and Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan)(APeJ).
Key market transitions taking place
Inkjet still makes up the majority of the market with 58.7% share. The color laser segment saw the smallest decrease, even though all segments posted a decline.
Single function to Multifunction: The total single function printer market declined -12.6% year over year in the second quarter, and total multifunction peripheral (MFP) shipments decreased by -2.9%. However, MFPs had a strong performance in all color laser speed ranges, especially in 31-44ppm, growing 12.6% year over year.
Monochrome to Color: Color declined -2.9% from a year ago to 20.7% share versus its monochrome counterparts. Meanwhile monochrome laser declined by -12.1% year over year. The strongest color speed segment was the 11-20 ppm (32.3% share), where HP did particularly well with its Color LaserJet Pro M277 MFP model family.
Move to Faster Speed Segments Accelerates: The 45-69ppm monochrome laser MFP segment exhibited the strongest year-over-year growth in 2Q15 at 17.3%, followed by the 45-69ppm printer segment (3.0%). The mono laser 45-69ppm segment’s strong growth was fueled by the Lexmark MX611 family. In the color market, the 70-90ppm MFP segment did well at 72.9% year-over-year growth, followed by 31-44ppm at 12.6% and 45-69ppm at 12.1%.
The A3/A4 battle in the mid-speed market segments slowed down in the second quarter. A4 MFP devices lost penetration in the 31-69ppm monochrome segment for the first time in the past five quarters, with a 76.9% share of the total monochrome A3/A4 MFP market in the same speed segment.
