IDC: In the first half of 2025, the total shipment volume of inkjet and laser category products in the Chinese printing peripherals market was 6.564 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 5.5%.

The latest "China Printing Peripheral Market Quarterly Tracking Report (2025 Q2)" released by IDC shows that in the first half of 2025, the total shipment of inkjet and laser category products in the Chinese printing peripheral market was 6.564 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 5.5%. Among them, the shipment volume of inkjet printing products was 3.115 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 5.6%; the shipment volume of A4 laser devices was 3.177 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 5.0%; the shipment volume of A3 laser devices was 0.272 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 10.0%. Although the country has implemented policies such as "National Support" in hopes of stimulating market demand, the recovery of purchasing power is not significant according to market response, and the overall market continues to decline. Ink tank inkjet printers performed well, with shipments increasing in both the household and commercial markets. In the first half of 2025, the inkjet printer market decreased by 5.5% year-on-year, with ink cartridge ink products decreasing by 16.4% year-on-year and ink tank ink products increasing by 2.6% year-on-year, becoming one of the few product lines in printing peripheral products to show year-on-year growth. On the one hand, this is due to the steady increase in demand from the household market, as the ownership rate of printers among Chinese households still has room for growth compared to developed countries, and the replacement demand from student groups has also driven purchases by household users. On the other hand, an increasing number of commercial users are choosing inkjet printers over laser products, especially in the ink tank inkjet printer purchasing group, there is a noticeable migration. This is mainly because the print volume per device has declined compared to before, and more and more users are paying more attention to the cost per sheet rather than the speed of the printer. The impact of the internal and external economic environment has led to continued tightening of procurement budgets for commercial customers. In the first half of 2025, A4-sized laser products decreased by 5.5% year-on-year, with A4 black and white laser printers falling by 5.2% year-on-year, and A4 color laser printers falling by 2.2% year-on-year. A3-sized laser products decreased by 10.0% year-on-year, with A3 black and white laser products falling by 2.8% year-on-year, and A3 color laser products falling by 19.7% year-on-year. During the economic downturn, small and medium-sized enterprise users are paying more attention to operating costs and reducing budget expenditures, leading to a year-on-year decline in overall A4 laser product demand, with medium and large enterprise and government users also continuing to tighten budgets in the first half of this year. More and more domestic brands are entering the market, especially in the A4 laser market, making the overall market competition fiercer, and the average market price has also decreased. The shipment volume of A3 laser devices in the market has decreased significantly, as more customers are tightening budgets, extending the use and service life of machines, leading to a decrease in the installation shipments of new machines in the market. In addition, second-hand equipment such as refurbished and remanufactured machines also occupy a certain market share, which to some extent affects the sales of new machines. Wang Shana, Senior Research Manager of IDC China's Printing, Imaging and Document Solutions Research Department, believes that the demand for hardware devices in the overall Chinese printer peripheral market in 2025 will not see a significant improvement. The development direction of the market is expected to further accelerate the transition and migration towards services and software solutions. At the same time, the competitive landscape of the market will become more challenging, with competition from various brand camps becoming more prominent. The fundamental factor leading to the decline in hardware device installations in the market is the overall decrease in print volume, making the demand for document management and digital upgrades more important.