Epson, a Japanese manufacturer of electronic and printing equipment, has made a rather unexpected statement, announcing that by 2026 it will stop producing and selling laser printers, preferring inkjet models. Inkjet printers are said to be more environmentally friendly.
Image source: Epson
In many markets, Epson has already stopped selling laser printers, but they are still being offered to customers in Asia and Europe. In addition, even after the new equipment is no longer sold, Epson promises to provide existing customers with consumables and replacement parts.
According to a company representative, inkjet printers use less energy and fewer consumables. While laser models melt toner with concomitant heat, Epson inkjet printers use mechanical spraying of ink onto paper. In 2019, a company blog post reported that inkjet models use 85% less energy than lasers at comparable print speeds and generate 85% fewer carbon emissions. In addition, inkjet printers, according to Epson, use up to 59% fewer replaceable parts, ink only and waste ink bottles.
Typically, recently Epson introduced business inkjet printers and MFPs capable of printing 40-60 pages per minute. In other words, the manufacturer managed to cope with the main weakness of inkjet models and can now confidently compete with laser options in terms of printing speed.
Although the main reason for the complete switch to the release of inkjet printers at Epson is their increased environmental safety, relatively recently the company has been criticized for not particularly “green” behavior: it stopped working with L360, L130, L220 still working, L310 and L365 printers with a firmware update, in fact, under the far-fetched pretext of the end of their life cycle. According to The Register, users had two options: have the printer repaired at an authorized Epson service center or dispose of the old printer by purchasing a new one. Windows users could use a special utility that allowed the printer to work longer.
The company cited a desire to maintain print quality and machine performance to avoid ink spills and damage to owners’ property and even potential short circuits. The users themselves complain that in modern conditions the printer is not actually bought, but taken for use, where the real owner can refuse for the sake of profit.
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