With digitisation, enterprises and consumers are printing lesser and lesser. Invoices, documents and images are increasingly being shared digitally rather than in hard copies.
It is unsurprising that printers and printing peripherals are not as hot as before.
According to IDC, the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market dropped 15.2 percent in H1, compared to the same period last year.
From January to June 2024, total HCP shipments amounted to 13.5 million units across the region. In terms of sequential semiannual performance, the dip was 7.8 percent.
The decrease is across the board with inkjet printers sliding by 16.1 percent, laser devices by 12.1 percent, and serial dot matrix printerb by 29.4 percent.
Based on IDC’s prior forecast assumptions, the post-election dynamics did turn out to have a negative impact on the Laser A3 market in countries such as India, Indonesia, Korea, and Taiwan. The total Laser A3 segment declined by 17.5 percent due to the political volatility which caused businesses to hold their spending and government put on hold their projects and tenders until the situation became more stable.
In the Laser A4 segment, the market recorded an 11.5 percent drop. Entry-level Laser A4 segment continued to lose its market share to ink tank products as inkjet continued to grow its presence in the market.
HP held on to its pole position in the total HCP market. However, its total shipments dipped by 13.5 percent in H1, a clear sign that both consumer and commercial demand had softened.
Epson came in second and continued to dominate the inkjet market with about 2.5 million shipments, a drop of 9.8 percent, across the region. The migration rate from laser A4 to ink tank had slowed down in several matured countries but still showed signs of opportunity in a few developing countries.
Canon held on to third despite a decline of 21.8 percent. While its inkjet portion declined by 29.4 percent, the laser segment grew by 6.4 percent. This growth was largely due to strong shipments of mono printer-based devices, driven by corporate and government deals in multiple countries, similar to the previous quarter.
“In reality, the rate of decline for the total HCP market surpassed our expectation for H1. Other than the impact of macroeconomic factors, political factors played a huge role in suppressing demand . Just a few weeks into the second half of 2024, there had already been political turmoil happening in a few countries. Thus, such factors will produce a negative outcome for the coming quarters.” said Yi Karl Tai, Research Analyst of IDC Asia Pacific.
Entelechy Asia 