The worldwide hardcopy peripherals market experienced a -5,9% decline in the second quarter of 2015 (2Q15).
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals (HCP) Tracker, 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 notes the following positive accomplishments in this large market during the second quarter of the year:
* The US 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 US and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan)(APeJ). HP enjoyed 4,5% year-over-year growth in the United States while Canon performed well in all the developed regions, with Western Europe delivering 12,2% year-over-year growth.
Inkjet still makes up the majority of the market with 58,7% share. The colour laser segment saw the smallest decrease, even though all segments posted a decline.
The total single function printer market declined -12,6% year over year in the second quarter, and total multi-function peripheral (MFP) shipments decreased by -2,9%. However, MFPs had a strong performance in all colour laser speed ranges, especially in 31-44ppm, growing 12,6% year over year.
Colour declined -u2.9% from a year ago to 20,7% share versus its monochrome counterparts. Meanwhile monochrome laser declined by -12,1% year over year. The strongest colour speed segment was the 11ppm to 20 ppm (32,3% share), where HP did particularly well with its Colour LaserJet Pro M277 MFP model family.
The 45ppm to 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%). The mono laser 45ppm to 69ppm segment’s strong growth was fuelled by the Lexmark MX611 family. In the colour market, the 70-90ppm MFP segment did well at 72,9% year-over-year growth, followed by 31ppm to 44ppm at 12,6% and 45ppm to 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 31ppm to 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.