Worldwide hardcopy peripherals shipment declined 8.4% to 26.5 million units during the second quarter of 2012, from 28.9 million units shipped during the corresponding quarter in 2011, according to a new report from International Data Corporation (IDC).

The wireless segment of the worldwide hardcopy peripherals market however continued to show year-over-year growth in the second quarter of 2012.

Wireless volume increased 5% year over year to 9.1 million units in the second quarter while overall shipments declined by 8.4% to 26.5 million units.

According to the report, the wireless segment in mature markets outgrew emerging markets by 2 percentage points, showing 5.6% and 3.6% year-over-year growth.

IDC Worldwide Hardcopy Peripheral Trackers programme manager Phuong Hang said that the opportunity for wireless is expected to expand over the next three years.

"We also expect SMBs, small offices, and microbusinesses to be early adopters of built-in wireless laser printers and MFPs, while these devices in a large enterprise will continue to rely on existing WANs for wireless capability," Hang said.

Inkjet technology accounted for 60% share in the overall hardcopy peripherals market with about 20 million unit shipments.

The report found that shipments in Inkjet segment decreased 12.7% year- over-year, reporting steepest drop since the third quarter of 2009.

Both emerging and mature markets’ wireless inkjet segment increased 3.5% year-over-year.

Laser segment accounted for 36% share in the quarter, up by 4% over the comparable period last year, recording shipment growth of 0.8% to 9.5 million units.

Both emerging and mature markets increased 15% and 24% year over year in the wireless segment.

Color printer accounted for 16% market share in the quarter in the total laser space, resulting in 3.5% year-over-year growth.

Monochrome laser devices accounted for over 7.9 million units and 84% share of the total laser space, flat from a year ago.

HP had 39.6% market share in terms of worldwide shipments with 10.5 million units while the company’s unit shipments declined 12.7% year over year.