Worldwide Large Format Printer Shipments Slide

A recent IDC report found that worldwide shipments of large format printers has declined by five percent in the third quarter of 2012.

According to the recent report, IDC Worldwide Quarterly Large Format Printer Tracker, despite an increase in the number of large format printer shipments to many emerging markets, the overall figures still showed a decline of five percent year over year to just under 73,000 units in the third quarter,

Despite the negative numbers, IDC remains optimistic about the future of large format printer shipments indicating that it expects it to remain a significant market in the future due to the need for large format printers in new applications such as graphics, according to the research firm.

In the technical application segment, 42,500 units shipped in the third quarter, yet declined 3.4% year over year. The graphics application segment fell 7% year over year with shipments of 30,400 units accounting for 42% of the market, down from 43% one year ago.

HP remained the global leader with a 42.4% market share, a drop of more than two points from this time last year. The report goes on to say that the vendor remains the clear leader in its traditional area of strength, the technical market, with more than three times the share of its nearest competitor. HP stands in second place in the graphics market behind market leader Epson.

Epson holds the second position in the large format printer market while leading in the graphics space. The vendor had a 20.4% market share overall.

Canon is positioned third in the large format printer market with 16.2% of the market, with its shipments showing a slight increase, unlike both HP and Epson who saw their numbers decline slightly over the same time period. Canon increased its market share in both the technical and graphics segments.