They consume too much electricity and material. That’s why Epson no longer wants to sell laser printers in the future. The Japanese company is now focusing on more sustainable inkjet printers.
The Japanese printer company Epson will no longer produce or sell laser printers from 2026. This was announced by the company, which is one of the largest manufacturers of printers, scanners and other image processing technologies a blog post known.
“As a company, we are fully committed to sustainable innovation and action,” said Koichi Kubota, Epson’s head of sales and marketing. From now on, Epson’s printing business will focus on inkjet technology. This is because inkjet printers use less energy and require fewer replacement parts, according to Kubota.
Laser printers heat toner so it can be fused to a sheet of paper. Epson’s heat-free inkjet technology, on the other hand, uses less power because the ink is shot onto the page using mechanical energy, Kubota said.
Phasing out of laser printing became apparent
Epson already offers laser printers only in certain Asian and European markets, including Switzerland. In addition, the Japanese company has already published 2019 internal study resultswhich show that inkjet printers use significantly less electricity and carbon dioxide than laser printers.
In the current announcement, Epson promises that affected customers will continue to be supported with the necessary material and spare parts after sales end in 2026. Epson has not stated whether these will continue to be available in regular stores.
The company uses the opportunity to advertise new devices. With fast print speeds of 40 to 60 pages per minute, the new WorkForce Enterprise AM series is intended to appeal to customers for medium print speeds.
Not always sustainable
Printer companies are repeatedly criticized for accusations of “planned obsolescence”. In this practice, manufacturers intentionally design their products to be ephemeral. In July, the magazine reported «Fight to Repair» about less sustainable characteristics of certain Epson devices. The Japanese company is said to have artificially limited the lifespan of the L130, L220, L310 and L365 models through software.
Cover image: Shutterstock, Eugenio Marongiu