Younger adults are more likely to be sporting a used or refurbished device than older adults. This is especially true in the US, Germany, and the UK. Some of this practice is due to current socioeconomic challenges among younger adults.
This MetaFAQ reports on the percentage primary devices that are used or refurbished, including a smartphone, feature phone, computer, tablet, or game console. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0203_refu] in TUP Lenses: Devices; PCs; Mobile Phones; User Profile; Game Consoles, Gaming PCs, and Game-Playing
Three-fourths of American Gen Z adults use an Apple device, up from two-thirds, while the UK has the reverse trend
Anchoring Apple’s market strength is its technology ecosystem, primarily when more than one Apple device is used with another. One of the most basic market metrics of Apple’s progress is whether an adult is using at least one Apple OS device – an iPhone, an iPad, or a Mac.
This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of online adults actively using at least one Apple OS device, split by country and age generation. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0202_appt] in TUP Lenses: User Profile; Technology Ecosystems; Devices; Mobile Phones; Tablets; PCs
The top American page makers
The most active users of printers are generations in the middle, even while overall printer penetration is higher among earlier generations. Older millennial Americans have the very highest share of those who print more than 100 pages per month. Socioeconomic groups with higher incomes, further educational attainment, or children in the household include some of the busiest printer users.
This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of Americans printing 100 or more pages per month, split by generation and detailing penetration among many historically advantaged and disadvantaged socioeconomic groups. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0202_page] in TUP Lenses: Printers; User Profile
Gen Z print with a little help from their friends
There are times when Gen Z Americans need to get something printed. They will find a way, even if they are economically challenged or so digital-first that having a printer is not top of mind. As compared to earlier generations, a much higher share of this generation relies on others for their printing. Many are the recipient of a home printer as a gift. When other Gen Z Americans print, they often rely on printers they or their employers do not own.
This MetaFAQ reports on the percentage of Americans who have a home printer that was received as a gift by generational group, and also the percentage who regularly use a public or other printer as their primary printer. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0201_pprt] in TUP Lenses: Printers; User Profile
Game console usage sags among each generation; not game over among Gen Z
Game consoles have been a fixture among a sizable portion of adults for decades, although each earlier generation continues to lose interest. Since 2018, fewer adults in later generations have actively used a game console with each passing year.
This MetaFAQs reports on the multi-year change in the percentage of online adults in the US, Germany, the UK, Japan, and China who actively use a game console, split by age generation. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0130_cont] in TUP Lenses: User Profile; Activities; Game Consoles, Gaming PCs, and Game-Playing; Home Entertainment
HP home printer share by generation
HP has long established its brand dominance among online Americans, especially for HP home printers. HP has more successfully captured earlier generations, such as Baby Boomers and the Silent+Greatest generations. However, among Gen Z adults, even among home printer users, HP has a much lower-than-average share.
This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of online Americans who use any printer, any home printer, any HP printer, any HP home printer, or any HP work printer by detailed age generations. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0130_prhp] in TUP Lenses: Printers; User Profile
Home printer brand user profile
The American home printer market is not monolithic, and there are, instead, differences in who uses home printers and how they use them. Some brands have targeted or attracted certain demographic groups. HP home printers, in particular, are being used by a higher-than-average share of older Americans and retirees, a group less penetrated by Canon. Brother and Epson have a higher-than-average share of college graduates or post-graduate users. Canon and Epson are used more often than average for printing photos and documents from tablets and mobile phones.
This MetaFAQs reports on the demographic profile of American home printer users, highlighting the distinct characteristics of Brother, Canon, Epson, and HP home printer users based on their age, gender, life stage, employment status, and educational attainment. It also identifies the unique printing activities for each major home printer brand. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0129_prep] in TUP Lenses: Printers; Activities; User Profile
Glimmers of growth and replacement for US home printers
Hopes of growth for the American home printer market are resting in the inertia of the majority who are in a holding pattern. Just over half of American home printer users have a printer and are not planning to buy another in the next year. However, those in the market to buy a printer for the first time or replace an existing printer make up close to 10% of online Americans surveyed. This shows a slow but steady progression of printer use and purchase plans, despite the many who are holding onto their existing printers.
This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of online adults actively using a home printer or who plan to purchase a home printer in the next 12 months. Growth and replacement plans are split by the active installed base of HP, Brother, Epson, and Canon home printer users. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0128_prre] in TUP Lenses: Printers; User Profile
Computer refresh rates keep on, buoyed by later generations
With the onset of the pandemic and related economic shifts, computer acquisition patterns did not spike substantially. After reaching a peak of new computer use in 2021, the share of Americans and Germans using a computer acquired in the prior 12 months has subsided.
This MetaFAQs reports the percentage of online adults using a computer acquired in the prior year, split by country and age generational group. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0125_newt] in TUP Lenses: Devices; PCs; User Profile
Printer market highlights and trends
The printer market enjoyed an early pandemic bump, but the long-term decline in printer use has returned, following the decline in computer use and the increase in smartphone, cloud, and social network usage. The latest generation – Gen Z – has not embraced printing, and when they do print, it’s often with a borrowed printer or printing service. A focus on certain groups of productivity and classic printing activities may renew attention to printing.
This TUPdate presentation highlights trends in the market demand for printers and printing, drawing on results from TUP in 2010 to the present, which are based on surveys of over 105,000 American online adults. In addition to printer-specific brands and printing activities, it includes the long-term trends affecting printers. These trends include: the growing shift to smartphone use, the declining use of personal computers, and the habits and preferences of later generations (Gen Z) versus those of earlier generations (Boomers and Silent Generation). It provides a review of printers in the market, who’s using them, why they’re using them (or not), and how forces in the economy and long-term trends in technology usage have an impact on the printer market. Report [TUP_doc_2024_0125_prtr] in TUP Lenses: Printers; Activities; User Profile