3D printer market set for growth explosion

Device shipments will double annually by 2015, Gartner claims

The 3D printing market is poised for unprecedented growth, according to Gartner, which claims device shipments will more than double every year between now and 2018.

Global shipments of 3D printers will reach 217,350 in 2015, the analyst claimed, double the figure expected for this year.

Shipments of the devices will then more than double again every year between 2015 and 2018, by which time global shipments will surpass the 2.3 million mark. Over the same period, end-user spending on 3D printers is expected to rocket from $1.6bn (£993.6m) to $13.4bn, Gartner predicts.

In the enterprise space, the primary market drivers will be improved quality and the machines' ability to print a wider range of materials. Consumer shipments will be driven primarily by lower prices, but the analyst warned that a spike in quality will come before a price plummet.

"Manufacturers will strive to add features and improve performance in the first few years rather than reduce the prices of printers," said Gartner research vice president Pete Basiliere. "Therefore, the average selling prices of a few technologies are expected to increase or to gradually decrease in the outer years after an increase in 2014 or 2015."

Gartner said firms wanting a slice of the 3D printing market are popping up "on what seems like a daily basis" but warned that whether such startups can find sufficient revenue to cover production costs, research and development and channel development "remains to be seen".

Basiliere said the market has come a long way since its inception.

"The 3D printer market is at an inflection point," he said. "Unit shipment growth rates for 3D printers, which languished in the low single and double digits per year throughout the 30 years since the first 3D printers were invented, are poised to increase dramatically beginning in 2015.

"As radical as the forecast numbers may seem, bear in mind that even the 2.3 million shipments that we forecast will be sold in 2018 are a small fraction of the total potential market of consumers, businesses and government organisations worldwide."