Report: Sales of desktop 3D printers up 69.7% in last year, 3D printing industry grew 25.9% to $5.1B in sales
Sales of desktop 3D printers explode, growing nearly 70% — Sales of desktop 3D printers, the majority of which are still purchased by companies and schools, skyrocketed last year to the tune of a 69.7% increase.
Context & Ripple Effects
This report lands weeks after Formlabs launched the $3,499 Form 2 with better resolution and smarter print handling — a signal that premium desktop machines were chasing exactly the buyer mix (companies and schools) driving this 69.7% surge. The education angle is consistent with broader classroom device spending, where US education sales across computers grew 33% YoY per IDC's 2014 tally.
First-order effects
- Vendors in the desktop tier, Formlabs chief among them, gain a market growing nearly 70% a year in which businesses and schools — not hobbyists — account for the majority of purchases.
- With the overall industry up 25.9% to $5.1B in sales, desktop is growing far faster than the rest of 3D printing, shifting revenue weight toward low-cost machines.
Second-order effects
- Industrial 3D printing players face a fast-growing desktop segment eroding the entry-level market, pushing incumbents toward consolidation — a path that ends years later with Stratasys agreeing to an all-stock combination with Desktop Metal valued around $1.8B (the merger) targeting $1.1B in 2025 revenue.
- Premium desktop makers can hold price points near $3,500 because institutional buyers prioritize resolution and reliability over cost, keeping margins intact even as unit volumes climb.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, 3D printing restructures from a hardware-growth story into a consolidated platform business: the same momentum behind desktop adoption ultimately produced the Stratasys-Desktop Metal combination, suggesting scale becomes the currency once the early growth curve flattens.
The trend: Desktop 3D printing is outgrowing its parent industry fast enough to pull the sector from niche hardware sales toward institutional adoption and, eventually, consolidation among vendors.