IDC finds worldwide shipments fell five percent year-on-year during third quarter of 2012.
IDC reports that worldwide shipments of large format printers (LFP) fell to 73,000 units in 3Q12, a decline of five percent compared to the same quarter last year, despite some emerging markets reportedly seeing growth in the LFP market during the period.
Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East all saw single-digit growth in the LFP market in the quarter, but overall emerging markets declined 3.9 percent and mature markets declined 5.8 percent year-on-year.
The technical application segment remained the larger market segment, with a 58 percent share of the total LFP market – an increase of 57 percent from the previous year, despite seeing a decline in shipments of 3.4 percent. Meanwhile, the graphics application segment fell seven percent year-on-year, accounting for 42 percent of the market, with mature markets seeing a higher rate of decline than emerging markets in the segment.
In terms of vendors competing in the LFP market, HP remained the global leader with a share of 42.4 percent and three times the share of that of its next competitor in the technical market, Canon. Overall, Epson remained in second place in the LFP market with a 20.4 percent share in shipments, followed by Canon with a share of 16.2 percent.
Phuong Hang, Program Manager for Worldwide Large Format Printer Tracker, commented: “Although shipments have slowed over the past year, IDC expects large format printers to remain a significant market in the future. LFPs are moving into new applications, especially in graphics, that will help to offset losses caused by the sluggish global economy.”