San Francisco, Aug 21 (IANS): The worldwide hardcopy peripherals market expanded for the fourth quarter in a row in the second quarter of 2021 (2Q21) with shipments growing 13.4 per cent (on-year) to nearly 22.9 million units.

HP Inc. and Epson grew 11.7 per cent and 57.1 per cent year over year, respectively while Canon declined 5.9 per cent due to semiconductor shortages and stock issues, according to new data from the International Data Corporation (IDC).

As with Canon, Brother also experienced significant challenges regarding production and stock availability causing it to contract 4.9% year over year.

Shipment value also increased during the quarter with year-over-year growth of 31.2% to $10.2 billion signalling the return to office, according to IDC data.

Inkjet vendors continued to record high shipments to cater to ongoing demand and to fill order backlogs.

The Laser market also saw year-over-year growth, another sign that the return to office is underway.

Seven out of nine regional markets witnessed year-over-year expansion in unit shipments.

Similar to last quarter, the common theme for this quarter is that growth was driven by increased demand for low-end devices, the report said.