Inkjet has been a prominent force in the printing market for decades, and the technology continues to evolve rapidly. Advances are driving improvements in image quality, substrate versatility and productivity, making inkjet increasingly competitive with both offset and electrophotographic (toner) printing.
Today, some production inkjet systems can deliver image quality comparable to offset. However, some limitations remain, particularly around substrate versatility and range. In addition, CMYK+ capabilities are still generally unavailable on inkjet equipment focused on commercial printing applications.
It is also important to recognize that not all inkjet systems deliver the same level of quality, productivity, or application flexibility. The market encompasses a broad range of equipment, capabilities, and capital investment levels.
In the color cut-sheet inkjet segment, solutions span a wide range of capabilities and investment levels. They range from RISO at the lower end, with a stronger focus on transactional applications, through Kyocera for mid-level volume, on up to high-production systems capable of delivering commercial-print quality output, including the Canon varioPRINT iX3200, Heidelberg Jetfire 50, Konica Minolta AccurioJet 30000, Ricoh Pro Z75, and Komori J-throne 29.
On the roll-fed inkjet side, the commercial printing segment is primarily served by high-production platforms such as the Canon ProStream, HP PageWide Advantage 2200, HP PageWide T250 and T400 series, Ricoh Pro VC80000, and SCREEN Truepress JET 560HDX. These manufacturers also offer roll-fed inkjet systems designed for applications beyond commercial printing, with a stronger focus on transactional and publishing environments.
Consolidation and shift from offset to digital
The most significant trends affecting production digital printing are volume consolidation and the shift from offset to digital printing.
Volumes are increasingly moving from lower-production color digital printing equipment and aggregating toward larger production platforms. Several factors are contributing to this transition, including more print buyers purchasing from large online printers, the growth of centralized production centers, and increased outsourcing by some print service providers (PSPs) seeking to reduce operating costs and limit the risks associated with capital investments. As the overall cost of print rises, this consolidation trend is likely to accelerate, driving additional outsourcing, centralized production, and online print purchasing.
Print buyers are also expected to consolidate their purchasing activities as they look to simplify procurement and reduce costs.
At the same time, offset print volumes continue to shift toward production digital printing, driven by shorter run lengths, increased demand for personalization, faster turnaround requirements, and expanding cost crossover points where large-production digital becomes more economical than offset.
Large-production color inkjet is well positioned to benefit from both of these shifts. Its combination of speed, capacity, improving image quality, and increasingly favorable economics enables inkjet systems to absorb volumes migrating from both lower-production digital equipment and offset.
Another important transition is the migration of black-and-white toner print volumes to inkjet, further expanding the addressable opportunity for color production inkjet.
Electrophotography vs. inkjet
Despite inkjet’s growth, electrophotography remains an essential part of the production printing landscape.
According to Keypoint Intelligence’s US 2025-30 forecast, an estimated 94% of installed color digital printing equipment in the U.S. is electrophotographic. However, when measured by A4 print volume rather than installed devices, inkjet is estimated to account for approximately 77% of color production. This illustrates an important distinction: although the installed base remains heavily weighted toward toner, a significant portion of production volume has already migrated to inkjet.
At the same time, there are approximately 23,000 commercial printers and in-plant establishments in the U.S. Not all of these organizations have sufficient print volumes to justify the substantial capital investment associated with high-production inkjet.
Lower-production toner equipment therefore continues to play an important role. Toner is also required for certain specialized substrates, CMYK+ applications, and applications requiring specific background or image-quality characteristics that inkjet may still struggle to reproduce consistently.
The future, therefore, is unlikely to be a simple question of inkjet completely replacing toner. Instead, each technology will continue to serve applications where its economics, capabilities, and production characteristics provide the strongest fit.
Market forecast
Commercial printing and publishing applications are expected to continue growing in both inkjet equipment sales and print volumes.
The differences between technology segments are significant:
- Color toner devices with capital investments (price points) up to $200,000 are estimated to see a 1% decrease in print-volumes CAGR from 2019 to 2030. Lower-production toner MFPs with a price tag of less than $50,000, which are also included in this CAGR, are estimated to see a substantially more negative decrease of 8% print volume.
- Large-production color inkjet, including cut-sheet and roll-fed systems, is estimated to achieve a 9.5% print-volume CAGR over the same period.
These projections reinforce the broader movement of color production print volumes coming from offset but also from lower-production printing equipment toward larger, more productive digital platforms, with inkjet positioned to capture a significant share of that transition.
Applications: The job determines the technology
Today, virtually any major print product or application can potentially be produced using offset, toner, or inkjet.
The more important question is not whether an application can be printed with a particular technology, but whether that technology represents the best production and economic fit for the specific job.
Factors such as run length, substrate requirements, image-quality expectations, finishing requirements, turnaround time, personalization, and cost will ultimately determine which printing technology is most appropriate.
This makes understanding the customer’s application details increasingly important. Technology should follow the requirements of the work rather than forcing the work to fit the technology.
The inkjet opportunity
The opportunity for production inkjet is significant. As inkjet print volumes continue to grow, so does the associated annuity business generated by those volumes.
However, effectively selling production inkjet requires considerably more than understanding equipment specifications.
Success requires strong knowledge of the overall market, including:
- Competitive equipment and positioning, including the potential entry and expansion of Chinese manufacturers
- The different business models and operating characteristics of print service providers
- Emerging market opportunities and threats
- The strengths and limitations of offset, toner, and inkjet technologies
- Workflow, software, and automation and their impact on productivity and profitability
Understanding PSP’s business models and “DNAs” is particularly important. A technology that creates significant value for one PSP may offer limited benefits to another, depending on its applications, customers, print volumes, workflows, and business strategy. It is also common to see PSPs that have all the available printing technologies to better serve all their customers’ applications and budgets.
Beyond tech: Expanding the value of print
Technology alone will not determine the future success of the printing industry.
Although inkjet is growing and is expected to continue capturing print volume, overall print volumes are declining and remain under pressure. Print continues to migrate toward electronic formats, particularly as production and distribution costs rise. At the same time, many PSPs struggle to justify higher print costs or communicate the incremental value that print can provide.
This creates another challenge: commoditization.
Print service providers (PSPs) continually seek ways to differentiate themselves while operating within the traditional purchasing criteria used by print buyers: print quality, delivery time, customer service, and price.
Competing exclusively on these criteria makes meaningful differentiation increasingly difficult, particularly as technology enables more providers to deliver comparable quality and turnaround times.
The larger opportunity is to reposition print within the broader communications ecosystem.
Instead of measuring print’s value only against other print technologies or providers, the industry needs to connect print more directly to the fundamental objectives of marketing and communications: capture attention; elevate perceptions of value; increase relevance; enable or influence purchasing.
When print demonstrates its ability to contribute to these objectives, the conversation changes. Print no longer competes only for a share of the declining printing budgets; it competes for a share of the much larger communications and marketing opportunity.
Growth brings opportunity, but technology alone is not enough
Inkjet represents one of the strongest growth opportunities in production printing. Improvements in quality, productivity, economics, and application capabilities will continue to drive adoption and shift volumes from both offset and toner.
However, technology by itself is not enough.
The companies most likely to succeed (both printing equipment manufacturers and resellers, and print service providers) will be those that combine technology with a deeper understanding of the market, applications, workflows, automation, customer economics, and the role of print within the broader communications landscape.
For equipment providers, this means moving beyond selling presses based primarily on speeds, feeds, and technical specifications. It requires helping customers identify where technology can improve productivity, lower costs, capture new applications, reduce operational risk; most importantly helping customers strengthen their businesses by implementing a more strategic approach while promoting and selling the value of print.
For PSPs, it means moving beyond selling print as a commodity and demonstrating how print contributes to their customers’ broader communication and business objectives.
The future opportunity is not simply about selling more inkjet. It is about combining technology and creative resources to better connect the value of print to the primary objectives of any given communication.
About the author: German Sacristan is group director of Digital Printing Production Services at Keypoint Intelligence. He worked in the fields of sales, marketing, and business development for over 30 years for such firms as Kodak and Xerox.
