New Report Shows Struggling Industrial 3D Printer Sales With Hope for Better 2025

2024 was not the best year for the 3D printing industry. When we looked back at the trends that had marked it, turbulence was dominant throughout, with failed mergers, layoffs, leadership changes and more. This struggle has been further shown in a recent report from CONTEXT, which highlights the difficulties of the entire market, especially industrial 3D printers. Even if there seems to be some hope for improved growth in 2025.

Already last year, industrial 3D printer shipments showed signs of slowing, although desktop 3D printers were on the rise. What does that mean? The London-based market intelligence and analytics company CONTEXT defines these categories by price: personal (or desktop) <$2,500; professional $2,500–$20,000; midrange $20,000–$100,000; industrial $100,000+. It is therefore the most expensive 3D printers have are seeing a major decrease in shipments, while the cheapest seem to be increasing in year-on-year growth.

Global 3D printer shipments by price, showing the decrease for all but entry-level solutions (photo credits: CONTEXT)

As can be seen in the graph above, among the different price categories, both polymer and metal industrial 3D printer shipments decreased from the beginning of Q1 2024. Although there was some recovery in Q2, this trend continued in Q3, with an overall decrease of 25% compared to Q3 2023 for polymers and 24% for metals. This was compounded by what CONTEXT notes as a turbulent and chaotic end to the year, with major industrial 3D printer companies among those impacted. Although this was not the main driver of this decrease.