Smithers report highlights boom in digital print
The global digital print market, worth USD 168-bn in 2025, will grow to USD 251-bn in 2035, according to Smithers a print and packaging intelligence firm. According to The Future of Digital Printing to 2035 report this is equivalent to a 54% rise in volume, it will result in an overall growth of 49% in expenditure.
28 May 2025 | By PrintWeek Team
Inkjet resolution will continue to improve and is expected to approach 3,000-dpi at 300-m/min
Smithers has estimated digital printing across inkjet and electrophotography, or toner, machinery will continue to create new value across almost all applications and are now the focus for many print OEMs looking to capitalise on the expected increase in digital print volumes will grow from 1.8-trillion A4 equivalents to 2.8-trillion in the next ten years.
Just over half of digital print’s growth will come from graphics and publication, most notably in the book sector, according to Sean Smyth, lead author and printing sector technical director for Smithers.
By 2035, Smithers has predicted that future generations of digital print lines will be able to compete directly with analogue in all sectors bar low-value newspaper, magazine and graphics work, and the highest-volume, low-graphics packaging jobs.
Inkjet resolution will continue to improve and is expected to approach 3,000-dpi at 300-m/min by 2035, with drop size falling to one picoliter for high-quality images.
Packaging print is set for particularly strong growth, having seen an annual compound growth rate (CAGR) of around 20% from 2020–25. Over the next ten years, Smithers predicted the vertical would generally see around 10% CAGR, except for metal packaging.
Metal packaging was picked out as an extraordinary growth area, having seen around 95% CAGR over the past five years. In the next five, it is anticipated to grow by around 54% CAGR, then from 2030–35 by around 23% CAGR.
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