Printer Product Introduction and Brand Market Analysis
Chapter 1 – Analysis of the main classification and application areas of printer products
1.Classification and characteristics of printer
In terms of printer principles, the more common printers on the market are roughly divided into inkjet printers, laser printers, and dot matrix printers. Compared with other types of printers, laser printers have several significant advantages, including fast printing speed, good print quality, and low working noise. And with the constant price reduction, it has been widely used in the field of office automation.
Laser printers can be divided into two categories: monochrome laser printer and color laser printer. The fade-out of dot-matrix printers from the business office field created a good opportunity for monochrome laser printers to become the first choice for enterprise information construction. However, it was hit by both sides of inkjet printers and MFPs. Exquisite print quality, low printing cost, excellent work efficiency and high print load are the most prominent features of monochrome laser printers, which also determines that it will still be the mainstream of the office printing market today.
Although the price of monochrome laser printers is higher than that of inkjet printers and has less functions than MFPs, it has absolute advantages in terms of single-page printing cost and printing speed, and it will still be a business office seeking efficiency Preferred. With the development of the Internet, the future monochrome laser printer will no longer be a simple independent peripheral product with printing functions, but will gradually develop into an intelligent, automated file processing output terminal device in the network.
2. Analysis of the main application areas of printers
From the application perspective, laser printers are broadly divided into personal home use, small and medium-sized business and high-end commercial use. Personal home laser printers focus on products that are inexpensive and do not place excessive demands on output quality. Small and medium-sized laser printers focus on print quality, network printing, and double-sided printing. Of course, the price is also a point that cannot be ignored. High-end commercial laser printers focus on output speed and output quality. This type of product is generally used in the professional output printing department.
In the past, color laser printers have always been oriented to the professional field, and the cost of color laser printers and consumables is also high. So far, the host and consumables of color laser printers are the main reasons for many users to choose lasers for inkjet. However, its printing color performance is realistic, safe and stable, fast printing speed, long life, low total cost of ownership, etc. It is believed that with the development of color laser printer technology and price decline, more business users will choose color laser printers .
The brands that have a large share in the laser printer market are: HP, EPSON, Brother, Samsung and other brands.
Chapter 2 – Brand Analysis of Major Printer Manufacturers in Global and Asia Pacific Markets
1. Printer global market share leader – HP
HP laser printers are mainly monochrome laser printers. The laser printer models include HP 1007, HP 1008, and HP 1505. There are also laser all-in-one machines, mainly including HP 1005 three-in-one, HP 1319F laser all-in-one and so on. Hewlett-Packard printers have always maintained the No. 1 market share in laser printers with excellent quality.
Features of HP printers
1.Network printing
To meet customers' growing network printing needs, many products in the HP personal laser product line have network expansion capabilities. Network printing can be achieved by attaching an internal or external print server.
2.High cost performance
Host cost: The new HP personal laser printer is less expensive to purchase than the original model.
True Consumables Printing: Consumables last longer under the same printing conditions.
High print load: Up to 5000-10,000 pages of print load per month, less manual intervention, maximizing work efficiency.
The main advantages of HP laser printers are their high speed, high accuracy and low printing costs. Lasers move very fast, so they can "write" content much faster than inkjet printers. In addition, because the diameter of the laser beam can vary, it can draw patterns more accurately without wasting ink.
Although HP laser printers are generally more expensive than inkjet printers, they are not expensive to use, toner is cheap and can be used for a long time, and inkjet printers' ink cartridges are not only expensive and they run out of ink quickly. This is why laser printers are often used as the first choice in offices, as they often print a lot of documents.
When laser printers were first introduced, they were too expensive to be used as personal printers. But since then, laser printers have become cheaper. A basic HP laser printer is now less expensive than a good inkjet printer.
As technology continues to advance, the price of laser printers will continue to fall, while performance will continue to increase. We will also see HP's many innovative designs and new applications.
2. Asia Pacific Printer Brands – Samsung
As a pioneer of the Wi-Fi printing boom, Samsung has been committed to discovering and meeting users' various office needs. Its Wi-Fi wireless printing products have comprehensively covered monochrome laser printers, black and white MFPs and color laser printers, The multifunctional color machine is functionally sufficient to meet the office needs of different users.
Product Features of Samsung Printer
1.Cost saving
Easy one-click economic printing function can complete all operations in one simple step, reducing toner, paper and power consumption while saving printing costs. Once you select Economy Printing, it will automatically become the default setting.
2.Simple and efficient
Use easy print management software to manage print tasks simply and efficiently. With this easy-to-use integrated EPM software, you can quickly start the device and monitor the printing status, and you never have to worry about the device running out of toner again.
3. Powerful performance
Available for both Android and iOS users to get the most out of your mobile device. No need to spend time switching devices or transferring files, you can print directly. This application enables a wide range of connections between printers and multiple smartphones and tablets. With Samsung's leading connectivity technology, your work becomes smarter and more efficient. It takes only three steps to complete everything: install, select, and print.
4. High efficiency
With the growing demand for space-saving office equipment, Samsung laser printers are compact, increasing the portability of the printer, and its functionality is not reduced in the slightest.
Chapter 3 – Printer Market Analysis and Future Development Trends
1. Asian and Global Market Analysis of Printers
According to the IDC quarterly tracking report, the global printer market in the fourth quarter of 2019 fell 4.8% year-on-year to 26.7 million units.
According to IDC data, the biggest highlight of the quarter was that HP ’s unit shipments increased 3.6% year-on-year, and the supplier achieved year-on-year growth in two major regional markets, the United States and the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan).
In this report, IDC mainly researched A2-A4 equipment and peripheral equipment including single-function printers, multifunction printers (MFPs) and single-function digital copiers (SF DC).
According to the IDC report, important highlights for the quarter include:
The Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) inkjet printer market achieved year-on-year growth for the 11th consecutive quarter, with shipments of 3.59 million units, the highest level since the second quarter of 2012. The region is the only region that has achieved positive annual growth.
All color laser MFPs in the United States have achieved growth, except for the 1-10 ppm and 11-20 ppm segments, which have been declining year by year.
2. Future development trends of the printer market
Three major trends in printer development: intelligence, mobility, and solutionization.
At the recent CES show, the giants of the two major printer industries, Samsung and HP, each came up with a portable printer-Samsung's Nemonic and HP's Sprocket.
These two products are more like personal consumer products. They have little connection with the enterprise market at present, but they have changed the cold impression of the printer's traditional "ToB". Through these two products, it is enough to see the future development direction of the printer industry.
Mobile is already the trend.
As everyone knows, there are often many experimental products showing cutting-edge technologies at CES. These products may not be suitable for the market, but they have rich imagination and also guide the direction of industrial development.
Nemonic and Sprocket may be such products. Both products are positioned as pocket printers, used to print personal photos, notes, etc., more like small toys for adults. Both Nemonic and Sprocket are far from printers that are truly geared towards the enterprise market.
This trend is irresistible, and printing products must adapt to the trend of mobile office. That's why Samsung's commercial printers have introduced convenient mobile printing solutions. It only needs to connect to mobile terminals such as smartphones and tablets via wireless networks. As long as the printer is connected to WiFi, the phones and tablets can remotely control the printer. Quickly and easily print what you need, whether at home or in the office, or even on the go. The significance of this function is that it can improve work efficiency, enhance and office collaboration.
The wave of intelligence is coming.
Movement must be accompanied by intelligence. In the past, printers could only print files. This was just a tool for printing files. But with the advent of intelligent waves, printers have been given more functions.
In fact, the current printers also achieve "permanent online" through intelligence in a sense. The Samsung MX7 printer series is such a printer designed according to the concept of the Internet of Things. This product can simultaneously connect the dual network card, NFC component, wireless direct connection, Bluetooth connection, etc. of the internal network and the external network to provide users with an "always online" connection.
Of course, the purpose of the connection is to intelligent office. For this reason, more and more printer products are being installed with touch screens. Samsung has even developed SmartUX, a smart printing operation platform, and has a special application store built in. Users can directly download workbooks, smart services, and smart jobs Apps for streaming, cloud printing and other related industries. Developers can also list more other applications according to the operating platform, and can develop different tools to meet different printing needs.
The printer is like a complete "computer" today, with a set of intelligent operating logic. Users can even browse and modify the files to be printed directly on the printer. This feature is very useful. Because small mistakes are unavoidable in daily work, these mistakes are often easily detected during printing. When mistakes occur, direct modification on the printer can often save a lot of time and costs. Eliminates the need to go back to the computer and continue to adjust files and other processes.
As printers become more and more intelligent, printers have become a tool to support the office. Not only can they be used to print paper and documents, they have also become a tool to increase productivity.
The solution harvests the market.
A printer cannot be just a printer, especially as a ToB product. The printer needs to emphasize the concept of collaborative office and must be closely integrated with enterprise operations and management.
For many companies, printer costs are a hidden cost. The price of a piece of paper is not expensive, and the cost of electricity is not high, but for large enterprises, these costs are often placed on products such as printers that have a working life of up to 5-10 years. The sand gathers into a tower. For large paper users such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and HSBC, the cost of printing paper a year may be as high as 10 million.
Therefore, intensive and refined management of printers is essential, both in improving work efficiency and saving corporate costs.
Conclusion
The printer seems to be a clumsy, silent product, often silent in daily work, but the change behind such a product is beyond our imagination. With the rapid promotion of cloud services and the Internet of Things, printers and PCs, smartphones and other devices will be more closely linked. Printers will become an important support for smart office enterprises in the future, promoting high-performance collaboration, improving work efficiency and productivity, save costs for businesses.
