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PRINTING United Expo opened its doors this year on October 22 in Orlando, Florida. While the organizers claimed this year’s show exceeded traffic and exhibitor numbers compared to last year, it seems that the bright lights of Vegas remain the crowd favorite as the next two PRINTING United events will be hosted there. Vendors appeared pleased with the show’s strong attendance and expressed optimism that this would turn their investments into sales. On the commercial print side, most exhibitors focused on showcasing existing products rather than unveiling new ones.
Among the vendors, Xerox stood out with the most news. Following the recent announcement of its new IJP900 inkjet press cut-sheet device (that the company source from Kyocera with raster image processor differentiators), Xerox also introduced replacements for its Versant line under the new names of Proficio PX300 and PX500—both featuring CMYK+ capabilities. Xerox sourced the two printers from Fujifilm, while adding its own software differentiation. While they could not bring F1’s Fernando Alonso to their stand, Xerox did welcome another Spaniard (Keypoint’s very own German Sacristan), who wished that he could take Alonso’s car for a spin.
| Keypoint Intelligence’s German Sacristan at the Xerox stand. |
Konica Minolta announced its new B2 inkjet press, the AccurioJet 30000, earlier this year and confirmed at the show that its first sale went to Flower City Group in Rochester.
| Flower City Group Rochester. |
Although the 30000 was not physically present, Konica Minolta also discussed its faster B2 press—the AccurioJet 60000—which was debuted at drupa last year.
Meanwhile, Fujifilm showcased its new EC2100 and SC285 printers, both of which were previewed at drupa last year. The booth had a clear pink theme, highlighting the extended color gamut capable of delivering high printing quality beyond CMYK.
| Fujifilm’s booth. |
Canon continued to showcase its iX1700, a model it has featured at tradeshow after tradeshow in recent years, even though Canon has started some initial installs a broader commercial sales release is expected for Q2 2026. This printer fills a gap between toner and inkjet segments and is expected to do well. Canon was also pushing offline embellishments through a partnership with Skandacor. Although Canon did not have the iX3200 on the floor, Heidelberg did feature the press under its commercial name: the JetFire 50.
Ricoh did not bring anything new on the hardware side, but focused instead on software solutions designed to help print service providers (PSPs) to be more efficient and profitable. A highlight was its BatchBuilder workflow software, which automates the process of grouping/ganging and scheduling short-run digital print jobs, as well as Ricoh Predictive Insight, which provides ink cost estimations for PSPs.
Kyocera gave the spotlight to its TASKalfa 15000C rather than the TASKalfa Pro 55000C, which is its latest announcement to the Graphic Arts segment. The 55000C’s absence from the show is due to improvements to the drying system. The 15000C was displayed with various inline finishing configurations aimed at enhancing productivity and reducing the costs of interested PSPs. One 15000C demonstrated inline booklet-making via a Plockmatic booklet maker system with a top feeder, enabling inline covers to be added to the finished booklets. Another 15000C was fed by an inline roll-fed paper from Tecnau, which cut sheets before they entered the printing module, enabling high productivity and lowering the cost of paper. Additionally, Kyocera announced the 15000C tandem system with doubles speed and productivity (292ppm).
Sharp’s large stand presented multiple products, particularly the new BP-1200S CMYK+ device drew attention. The press comes in a six-color version that supports metallics, bright pink, textures, and clear toners. And while HP had presence at the show, its primary focus remained on wide format solutions. A smaller section of its booth was dedicated to industrial printing applications.
As it has been in previous tradeshows, PRINTING United also had some Chinese vendor participation . Atexco showcased the black and white inkjet roll-fed press as well as promoted the Vegapress 440/660/880 HD color by showing samples.
Keypoint Intelligence Opinion
While PRINTING United did feature some new announcements, most vendors seemed intent on reinforcing existing technologies and previous product launches to drive sales. Tradeshows like this are meant to highlight innovation that helps PSPs enhance quality, improve productivity, and reduce costs. However, the printing industry could benefit from a more unified effort to better communicate the value of print and its place in today’s multi-channel communication landscape. Print is becoming even more of a luxury channel as costs are rising, and it is imperative for the industry to keep promoting outside the box and to the core print buyer base.
Stay tuned for our full review of the innovations unveiled at PRINTING United 2025.
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