The worldwide production print market increased 5.2% year over year in unit shipments in the fourth quarter of 2015 (4Q15) to approximately 10,700 units, according to the IDC (www.idc.com) research group. Unit shipment value increased 0.9% to nearly $1.3 billion in the same time period.

Six out of eight regional markets saw positive year-over-year unit growth in the production print space. Key contributors to the worldwide growth were Western Europe, which grew 10.4%, Japan (22.9%), and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (6.4%).

Color laser grew by 19.1% on an annual basis. High-speed inkjet saw a 7.1% increase, while monochrome inkjet decreased by 8.7%.

"While production-class technologies saw an annual dip in the fourth quarter, 2015 showed itself to be a growth year for digital technologies. Digital vendors closed out the year of 2015 with 10% gains, with the highest increase coming from color laser, followed by high speed inkjet. While inkjet has the potential for high growth, especially post-drupa, IDC is not discounting the strength and vibrancy of color toner technologies coming from vendors like Xerox and HP Inc. Within inkjet, Canon and Ricoh remain the market leaders. Even monochrome technologies saw a boost as the strength of the on-demand publishing segment continues to grow," said Amy Machado, research manager, Imaging, Printing, and Document Solutions.