XYZprinting Shipped More 3D Printers This Year Than Any Other Company

For anyone keeping a close eye on the Taiwanese 3D printer manufacturer it should be no surprise that XYZprinting has risen to the top of the sales charts this year. The company is only a few years old and they have already released six successful and affordable 3D printers, with three more models, including a food 3D printer, on the way soon. Their successful Da Vinci line of printers has quickly become popular as a starter 3D printer for consumers looking to jump into the world of 3D printing without leaving massive holes in their bank accounts. The wide variety of printer options available include a basic model, a model with two 3D printing heads, a simplified Junior version and soon a Professional model that will not require the company’s proprietary filaments.

According to the independent 3D printing industry analyst company Canalys, worldwide 3D printer shipments rose a staggering 52% this year just in the first half of 2015. All in all, sales totals combined showed that all of the industry’s 3D printer vendors together shipped over 88,000 printers worldwide. XYZprinting took the top spot by representing a whopping 22% of all of those shipped units. According to Canalys, their multiple varieties of 3D printer models using both FDM and SL printing technologies is the primary reason for their rapid success.

“This follows a trend in the 3D printing industry where many small and medium-sized businesses are experimenting with switching from larger, more established players to smaller local vendors, which promise the same product quality and substantially lower prices,’ explained Canalys’ Joe Kempton.

The Canalys 3D Printing Analysis service is designed to inform and support new vendors looking to include 3D printing into their businesses. They provide both qualitative and quantitative analysis of trends in the 3D printing industry, including market sizing, forecasts, vendors, analytical reports and industry support. The data is tailored to help businesses make sure that they are making the correct additive manufacturing technology choices to maximize their profits.

According to the most recent analysis from Canalys this year’s higher sales numbers are representative of the ongoing demand from both the consumer market and notably the business market looking to find ways to integrate 3D printing into their businesses. This caused the total market value derived from 3D printer sales, 3D printing materials, filaments and 3D printing services to grow by 21%. Just in the first half of 2015 the 3D printing industry has grown to $1.8 billion and Canalys expects that the worldwide 3D printing market will grow to $20.2 billion by 2019.

“The compelling price points have helped these products become increasingly popular among consumers and some have seen remarkable success in the education market too. Several of the major 3D printing vendors struggled in the first half of 2015, some as a result of lackluster product offerings. This allowed smaller vendors to perform exceptionally well. Various market forces also contributed to this dip, including the falling value of the yen and euro against the US dollar, with many large customers delaying purchasing decisions,” continued Kempton.

The lessons here are pretty obvious, industry leaders dropped the ball this year by continuing to stifle 3D printing innovation and offer no real, substantive improvements on their products. When your competitors offer 3D printers at less than half of what you offer them at, you’re going to need to give consumers a reason to spend more on your products. Obviously XYZprinting’s line of 3D printers are priced, and manufactured, as an inexpensive alternative to higher-priced 3D printers and the quality and capabilities of the printers will naturally reflect that. So while da Vinci printers don’t have some of the bells and whistles that many of the larger printer manufacturers tout, it is evident that for a large selection of new consumers, the bells and whistles aren’t really what they are interested in.

Do you have an XYZprinting 3D Printer?  What are your thoughts on these recent numbers?  Discuss in the XYZprinting forum thread on 3DPB.com.