"Overall large format and industrial printer shipments declined slightly – less than 3% – in the second quarter, largely due to the presence of the COVID-19 delta variant and ongoing supply chain issues," said Tim Greene, research director, Hardcopy Solutions at IDC. "While these factors slowed the recovery that we had seen for three consecutive quarters, some segments still showed excellent growth in Q2 2021."

Worldwide Industrial Segment Highlights for Q2 2021

• Large format printer shipments were down 2.4% in 2Q21 compared to the first quarter but were still well above 90,000 units for the quarter on a worldwide basis.

• Direct-to-garment and direct-to-shape printer shipments declined by 7.6% and 5.0% respectively after a very strong first quarter.

• Label & Packaging printer shipments grew by more than 27% in the quarter.

• Industrial Textile printer shipments declined 26.3% in 2Q21 compared to 1Q21.

Regional Analysis

• Total shipments in North America grew 11.6% in 2Q21 compared to the previous quarter.

• Printer shipments in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) declined 8.5% compared to the first quarter. Within the region, slower shipments in Western Europe offset gains in the Central & Eastern European regions.

• Total shipments in Japan were down nearly 25% compared to 1Q21 as the country continues to deal with the coronavirus.

• Shipments in China showed modest sequential growth of 3% in 2Q21.