From the figures in 2019, the global export volume of printing equipment reached 110 million units. The printer has a longer service life than a mobile phone. The mobile phone may need to be replaced after two years. The printer is generally about 4.5 years. At present, there are nearly 500 million printers in the world, 1.9 billion printing supplies are exported each year, and the total global printing market revenue is 130 billion US dollars. Of course, this figure also includes the income of printers and supplies, not just the revenue of printers. The printer industry mainly relies on consumables to make profits, so about half of the 130 billion yuan comes from printer revenues and the other half is consumables revenues.
In terms of numbers, the entire industry is in a relatively stable period, and the data for 2018 and 2019 are basically flat. The number of inkjet printers is significantly higher than that of laser printers, but it is declining, and the growth of laser printers is very fierce.
Printer development trends:
The printer industry started in the 1980s and has developed for decades. Looking back on the development in recent years, it is not difficult to see such trends: the transition from single function to multi-function, the transition from black and white to color, the transition from inkjet to laser, from low speed to high speed, wired to wireless, and high power At the same time, the printer has introduced some information security factors, and the degree of encryption is getting higher and higher.
From 2018 to 2019, black and white multifunction printers have increased by 15 times, while single function has only increased by 1.3 times; color laser multifunction printers have increased by more than 900 times because the original starting point was too low. From the growth trend (PPT) of black and white, color laser single-function multifunction printers, it can be seen that the color A4 multifunction laser printers have caught up with the sales of single-function printers in 2014, and even surpassed them. The rapid decline in the price of multi-function printers is also one of the factors that caused its rapid sales growth. The global color holdings increased by 3.7%, of which China showed a double-digit growth, and the global black holdings are on a downward trend. It showed a negative growth of 0.3%. Among them, mature markets such as Europe, the United States, and Japan have seen a significant decline. Although the Asia-Pacific and South American markets have increased slightly, they have grown less compared to color laser printers.
The transition from inkjet to laser: inkjet printers print pictures relatively well, but the printing speed is slower and it is easier to plug. If not used for a month, the inkjet printer should be cleaned, and the noise is relatively loud. In home users, there is still a certain market for inkjet printers, but laser printers will be more popular in enterprises, including SOHO and large enterprises. Another trend is the shift from low speed to high speed. The printer looks like a small box, not so complicated. In fact, after disassembling, the internal structure is more complicated. To a certain extent, it is more like a precision instrument, integrating optical, chemical, mechanical, micro-electromechanical, chip microelectronics and other fields. It is a systematic product of multimedia disciplines. Every few years, printers will make a qualitative leap. From the past 10-20pdm to today's high-speed printers, it can print 120 pages per minute, and the printing efficiency has increased very quickly. In terms of user types, home user needs are generally concentrated at low speeds. SOHO and small-scale companies are about 20 to 30 pages, and the highest is 60pdm.
Since the rise of the WIFI Internet of Things, printers are no exception. Now with the concept of cloud printing, the entire printer is embedded in WIFI, and the compound growth rate in the past six years has reached 40%, and the development is also very fast. From the comparison of China's energy efficiency standard tables in the printing industry in 15 and 12 years, we can see another trend in the development of printers: the transition from high power consumption to low power consumption. It is mainly related to the power supply temperature of the laser printer toner. In the past, the temperature was about 150 degrees. The printed paper felt hot to the touch. The current power supply temperature can be controlled between 80 and 100. The energy consumption is It's down, and it's also relatively safe. Due to the heating factor, the printer may cause fire if it is not well controlled.
Printer Chip
Features of the printer industry:
Printers are currently mainly controlled in the three major countries of the United States, Japan, and South Korea. Brands such as Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Samsung, Hitachi and other international first-tier brands. Why has printers been monopolized in these three countries? One is that this is a high-risk, high-investment industry; the other is that this industry has relatively high patent barriers and high technical difficulties. The third characteristic of the printer is the hidden danger of information. According to investigations by foreign authoritative agencies, there are currently three ways to disclose information security, one is E-mail disclosure, the other is mobile storage disclosure, and the other is print disclosure. When we make our own domestic printers, we do not reserve loopholes, do not set back doors, do not include communication modules and information backup functions, do not provide firmware program host-side download functions, custom compression and encryption algorithms, and solve hidden security risks. This is an important reason why we do independent intellectual property rights and belong to Chinese printers. Especially in government, military, banking and other departments, we need a printer that is sufficiently secure.
Regarding printer leakage, here are three typical cases. One is the Israeli case, the second is the case of the University of Glumbia, and the other is from the US Computer Emergency Response Team, because a brand of laser printer also Information security issues caused by an account storing a backdoor printer. These cases can be searched online if everyone is interested, so I won't go into details here. This is a Chinese chip party, of course we have to talk about the chip. From the motherboard of this multifunctional laser printer, we can see which chips are needed for a printer's motherboard. The most important of these is the
ricoh printer chip, and of course there are many different chips such as scanning, storage, WIFI, USB Module. China's more than 10 million printers a year means that each printer needs one such
printer chip. So many printers need so many chips, as well as memory, and some Drivers, so the overall demand for chips is relatively large.
SOC chips have also shown a relatively clear development trend. First, because it needs to deal with more complex functions, it requires multi-core or multi-processor. Second, it will pay more attention to information security issues. Third, it will use more professional image algorithms. Fourth, it will support more powerful energy consumption. The treatment of energy consumption is more from external machinery and chemicals, and it is also a systematic project. In addition, GPU support can further improve the user experience. It is currently available on very high-end printers, but this is not necessary, and mid-to-low-end printer GPUs are currently not needed. In addition, there are various support such as WIFI, NFC, and mobile printing. These are the current SOC applications and future development trends.
