Canon U.S.A. used its thINK Ahead 2026 conference in Boca Raton to show the varioPRESS iV7 for the first time in North America. The B2+ sheetfed inkjet press was announced in 2024, demonstrated in Europe in June at the Power to Move event in Venlo, and is now set for U.S. availability in the first quarter of 2027.
The headline number is 8,700 sheets per hour on 19.7 x 27.5 inch B2 sheets, a speed class that puts it next to half-size offset. The larger 23 x 29 inch B2+ sheet matters for imposition: six letter-size pages fit on one side, and the company says that can lift productivity by up to 100% over a standard B2 sheet at the same speed. Sheet sizes run from 13 x 19 inches up to a custom 24.5 x 29.5 inch option.
Where the press fits
The iV7 targets commercial printers, photobook producers, direct mail houses and publishers. That list shows what B2+ inkjet is really competing for: work that used to need offset speed but is too variable or too short for offset economics. Versioning, seasonal catalogues and photobooks with individual covers all run comfortably in this segment.
What it means for book printing
The publishing angle is the clearest. Photobooks and short-run hardcovers need the sheet size and the speed together, plus the ability to change content between sheets. A press that holds B2+ format while running at offset-class speed removes the main objection to digital book production, which was always throughput on larger formats.
For buyers of book printing, the practical shift is simpler: as B2+ inkjet capacity lands, short-run quotes get closer to long-run pricing, and reprint lead times shrink. The offset-versus-digital decision now depends more on run length than on format size.
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