Though the worldwide hardcopy peripherals market declined by 4.5% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2011 on shipments of 34.9m units, the global market experienced year-over-year a growth of 0.7% with shipments approaching 126m units¸ according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker.
The colour laser market continues to show growth in the overall hardcopy peripherals market as it posted an increase of 7% year over year to more than 1.9m units shipped in fourth quarter.
As colour makes inroads into the overall hardcopy market, the multifunction peripheral (MFP) market is able to cope with the current economy better than its single function counterparts, as it posted a 17% year-over-year increase compared to a 1% decline for single function printers.
IDC Worldwide Hardcopy Peripheral Trackers program manager Phuong Hang said IDC expects the overall inkjet, colour, and monochrome MFP markets will increase as the switch from single-function printers continues in 2012.
"IDC forecasts that the MFP market will increase in the high single digits in 2012," added Hang.
In the fourth quarter, inkjet captured a 66% share of the total hardcopy peripherals market with more than 22.8m units shipped, declining 6% year over year, followed by monochrome laser, which accounted for 25% of the total market, with close to 8.9m units shipped and colour laser grew 7% year over year to more than 1.9m units shipped, registering a 6% share in the total hardcopy peripherals market.
HP continued to maintain its lead in the global HCP market with more than 39% market share and more than 13.7m units in the fourth quarter, followed by Canon, which captured close to 19% share in the total hardcopy peripherals market with shipments of 6.5m units and Epson stood at the third position with nearly 17% share, as more than 5.8mn units were shipped.
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