HP CEO explains why the company is bricking third-party ink printers

Printer owners have several options when it comes to supplying their printers with ink. The two main choices are to buy first-party or third-party printer ink. The former is official, the latter less expensive. Both options work well, provided that manufacturers do not manipulate printers to block support for third-party ink cartridges.

Printer manufacturers like HP have a vested interest that customers purchase first-party printer ink or, even better, subscribe to printing plans. HP CEO Enrique Lores confirmed to CNBC Television that HP loses money with each printer sold and that the company makes money with printer ink sales and subscriptions.

HP blocked the use of third-party ink using firmware updates several times in the past. This happened in 2016 and 2017, and in recent years as well.

Firmware is an essential part of a printer. Like any software, it may have bugs or security issues. Updates may address these, but they may also add, change or remove functionality.

Lores explained in the interview that HP was using printer firmware updates for security. Malicious actors could create viruses, put them on cartridges to use the printer as the springboard for attacks on the computer network and connected devices.

HP's own cartridges are certified, which makes them securer than third-party ink cartridges, according to HP.

Security researchers managed to use a printer cartridge in 2022 to abuse a buffer overflow issue in a HP printer, but this happened under lab-conditions. There has been no recorded attack in the wild that used printer cartridges as the attack entry point.

Still, HP uses the argument to block third-party printer ink cartridges in company printers. Customers who buy third-party ink or do not print much are a "bad investment" according to HP's CEO in the same interview.

HP has been taken to court several times over its printer bricking updates, most recently in January 2024.

Subscriptions are the future

First-party printer ink is a lucrative market, but it is not what HP has set its sight on. Subscriptions are even more lucrative. HP CFO Marie Myers revealed in December 2023 that HP was getting 20 percent more out of customers who subscribed to one of the company's ink subscription services.

Services like HP Instant Ink work with page quotas. Subscribers pay a monthly fee to print a certain number of pages in that month. Unused pages are carried over to a certain degree and ink cartridges are delivered before there is a chance that the printer runs out of ink. Additional pages may be purchased at any time.

HP has started to introduce add-on services to its subscription offering. Subscribers may now add paper to their plans to never run out of paper either.

Closing Words

Some printer users have started to block firmware updates to avoid printer bricking updates. HP advises customers not to do that as firmware updates may include security updates, which attackers may exploit.

There have been attacks on printers in the past. Most work against printers connected to networks.