Worldwide hardcopy peripherals shipments continued to contract, declining by 7% YoY to 17,2-million shipments in the second quarter of 2026, according to the latest release of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker.
Value of shipments in the second quarter was $8,1-billion, a 5,8% decline from the prior year.
While inkjet shipments experienced a greater share of the decline in the second quarter, ink tank devices continued to grow worldwide, driven by growth in both emerging and mature markets.
Laser, meanwhile, saw a YoY decline, led by monochrome laser devices.
The Middle East War weighed on oil prices, placing stress on supply chains and causing end users to delay purchasing decisions, suppressing shipments in the second quarter.
“Q2 2026 was marked by geopolitical and economic volatility that left both consumer and commercial buyers cautious, dampening appetite for investment in new products,” says Maggie Tan, vice-president at IDC. “This headwind is likely to persist until the macro picture stabilises.”
Worldwide hardcopy peripherals highlights in Q2 2026 include:
- Ink tank shipments grew YoY, continuing to take share from ink cartridge models globally, as vendors continue to add ink tank models to their portfolio in this growing market segment.
- Laser shipments contracted again in Q2 2026, though their decline was less than inkjet. Weakness remained more pronounced in A3 configurations, but A4 declines narrowed the gap. Both colour and monochrome laser were down from the prior year, with monochrome posting a steeper decline than colour in the second quarter. Within the monochrome category, however, 45ppm to 90ppm models bucked the trend, showing slight YoY gains.
Regional highlights in Q2 2026 include:
- Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan and China) was the region with the strongest YoY growth in Q2 2026. This was driven by continued growth in India.
- China’s shipment contraction deepened materially in Q2 2026. Pull-forward effects from government subsidies, lower consumer demand, and restrained enterprise budgets dragged overall market demand down, with a rising share of A3 colour MFPs (multi-function peripherals) as the sole bright spot.
- Latin America returned to YoY growth in Q2 2026, driven by a recovery in the laser market and continued strength in the inkjet segment. While overall shipment growth remained modest, market value increased at a significantly faster pace, reflecting a more favorable product mix and stronger demand in higher-value categories.
- In the US, both laser and inkjet shipments experienced steep YoY declines in Q2 2026, as weakness due to consumer and business uncertainty was exacerbated by supply chain issues affecting product availability during the quarter.
- Western Europe’s YoY market contraction deepened in Q2 2026. Inkjet’s decline was steeper than laser’s, with nearly all major segments contributing to the decline. The one bright spot in Western Europe was ink tank, which posted strong annual growth in Q2.