Every year, Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends publishes its digital printing forecast to identify placements of digital devices, installed base, print volumes, and revenues achieved. Although these forecasts are issued on an annual basis, there is always something new to discover within the many facets of the digital print market, which includes humble light production printers all the way up to ultra-high volume rollfed devices.

After the launch of the first Indigo and Xeikon presses, heavy-production color was the eponymous segment of the digital printing market for many years. Only in recent years has the market become more diverse, causing some areas to thrive while other long-established product classes began to decline. Production devices like the Canon imagePRESS 10000VP, the Ricoh Pro C9000 Series, and the Xerox Color 1000i (as well as the new Iridesse device) came in at the lower end of the market, essentially launching what we now call the high-production market. These products greatly expanded the existing placement numbers, but they are now competing against the “classic” A3 based Indigo, iGen, and NexPress devices. Moving forward, we expect to see even more devices introduced at the lower end of the market, and this will likely have a detrimental effect on some long-established products in the segment. Furthermore, a number of A3-based inkjet printers have recently entered the market and more are expected to come. The A3 high- and heavy-production markets would actually be in decline if it were not for the newer A3-based inkjet devices that have recently come into the market or are expected to be released soon.

The more established A3-based heavy production presses face even more competition, primarily from B2 digital devices. Faster digital B2 devices first entered the scene during drupa 2008, but the market didn’t really take off right away—a rather disappointing two dozen units were sold in the U.S. on an annual basis for a number of years. Finally, in 2016, placements suddenly tripled to 80 units (even excluding packaging presses) as the devices matured and the market began to capitalize on the new opportunities. 2017 saw some more growth for digital B2 devices, although the rate was slower. This was to be expected after the rapid growth that occurred in 2016. Moving forward, placement growth is expected to continue at a more moderate pace of about 15%. Despite the growth in the B2 segment, A3-based devices are expected to account for the majority of placements for many years to come. These devices will also see some growth, albeit at a slower rate of about 4%.