Canon originally introduced its line of sheetfed inkjet presses with VarioPrint i300 in 2015, the i200 in 2017, and today with over 275 VarioPrint i-series (inkjet) machines installed around the world, the very successful sheetfed platform is the one that many of their competitors are constantly trying to emulate. The i-series evolved since its initial introduction in 2015 as a transactional and book press, with new inks, printheads, and “optional” ColorGrip (see below) which in aggregate raised the bar on the imaging quality, media compatibility, and overall performance. These updates have allowed many i-series owners to regularly produce direct mail and some general commercial work that would previously be produced with toner or offset presses. In fact, some of these same developments found their way into the ProStream, Canon’s premier production inkjet press.

In 2020 Canon introduced their new press on an updated platform. The varioPRINT iX series currently includes the varioPRINT iX3200 and the varioPRINT 1X2100, which builds on the experiences of Canon and their customers with the i-series platform. Since its introduction, Canon has placed over 300 iX series presses globally.

The emphasis in the development of this new platform was to create a commercial printing press that could produce high quality printing with readily available untreated commercial substrates and produce it at a very competitive cost. In this new platform, there are four main technology innovation areas: paper transport, quality control, ink innovation, and drying technology.