Inkjet cartridges are at the heart of an inkjet printer but have you ever wondered why they are so expensive
? Original printer ink cartridges from the printer manufacturers can cost almost as much as the printer (in fact sometimes, they cost more!) and even compatible ink cartridges are not exactly cheap.
There is actually more to the humble ink cartridge than may meet the eye. Firstly the quality of the inks is paramount. When your photograph has a particular shade of red, blue or gold; you want that exact same colour to be printed onto the paper. There is no point in it just being slightly close and any even slight variations will be magnified enormously when the colours are mixed to get sub tones. The colours used in inkjet cartridges have to be spot on 100% accurate and what's more, they have to be consistent in every cartridge for every printer so that things printed on one look the same as things printed on another.
Some cartridges also have the actual print heads built into the cartridge and this adds an extra expense since this is a major functional part of the printer. Good compatible ink cartridges have to replicate these electronic print heads to the exact same specifications as the original manufacturer and replicate any additional electronics such as counting chips they put in as well.
Sometimes, the better question may not be "printer ink cartridges so expensive?" it could just as well be "how on earth are printer ink cartridges so cheap?"