Canon SELPHY CP1500: Specs, Features, Pros & Cons
This review measures the Canon SELPHY CP1500 against the full 24-spec sheet we track for printers, comparing it like for like with the 50 other models in our database. It earns a VS Score of 19 out of 100 — the weighted result of every verified specification measured against the class average.
On the spec sheet it is strongest in connectivity and weakest in scanning & copying. Its clearest single advantage over the class average: a much lighter build — 0.86 kg vs 9.07 kg (avg). None of our retail partners currently lists the Canon SELPHY CP1500, so availability may be limited; a missing price never affects the VS Score.
Category strengths
Where the Canon SELPHY CP1500 beats the average
- A much lighter build ?0.86 kg vs 9.07 kg (avg)
- Has color printing ?
- Has Wi-Fi Direct ?
- Has Apple AirPrint ?
- Has Wi-Fi ?
Where the Canon SELPHY CP1500 trails the average
- A much lower print speed (black) ?1 ppm vs 17.21 ppm (avg)
- A much lower print speed (color) ?1 ppm vs 12.51 ppm (avg)
- A much lower input tray capacity ?18 sheets vs 182.02 sheets (avg)
- No all-in-one ?
- No automatic duplex printing ?
- No automatic document feeder ?
- A much lower print resolution ?300 dpi vs 4,041.94 dpi (avg)
- No ethernet ?
- A much lower output tray capacity ?18 sheets vs 68.95 sheets (avg)
- No touchscreen display ?
Editor’s note
The SELPHY CP1500 needs one thing understood before anything else: it is not a printer in the office sense. No documents, no plain paper, no scanning — it produces 4×6-inch photographs and nothing larger, using dye-sublimation ribbon cassettes that come bundled with their own paper. Judge it as a small photo lab and it makes a great deal of sense; judge it against inkjets and it makes none.
What dye-sub buys you is print quality of a different character: continuous tone rather than dots (its 300 dpi is not comparable to inkjet numbers), plus a laminated overcoat on every print that makes them waterproof, fingerprint-proof and — by Canon's claim — album-stable for a century. The economics are refreshingly fixed: an RP-108 kit works out to about 37 cents per print, every time, with nothing to dry out or clog between sessions. That's the killer feature for occasional photo printing.
It's genuinely portable too: 860 grams, an optional battery good for roughly 54 prints, and it accepts jobs from the app, AirPrint, SD cards, USB-C or a flash drive with no computer required. At a party or a family event it's a small photo booth.
The honest limits: each print takes about 41 seconds, so batch-printing an event queue tests patience; the paper cassette holds 18 sheets; the 3.5-inch screen is not touch; and Wi-Fi is 2.4 GHz only. Street price hovers near $179.
Buy it if you want physical photos to exist again — for albums, gifts, fridge doors — with zero maintenance anxiety. Skip it if you print documents at all (it cannot), or if you want big prints; for casual pocket-size fun, cheaper Instax and ZINK gadgets trade quality for novelty.
Specifications
Quality bars are generated automatically against 50 other printers.
Printing
Laser prints crisp text fast; inkjet handles photos and colour better.
Prints in colour, not just black and white.
Black-and-white pages per minute; higher is faster.
Colour pages per minute; higher is faster.
A higher dot density produces sharper prints.
Prints both sides of the page without manual flipping.
Refillable ink tanks cut the cost per page dramatically.
The maximum recommended pages per month.
Scanning & copying
Scans and copies as well as prints.
Feeds multi-page documents through the scanner unattended.
How many pages the document feeder holds at once.
Scans both sides of a page automatically.
Sends and receives faxes.
Paper handling
A larger tray needs refilling less often.
How many printed pages the output tray holds.
The largest paper format supported (e.g. Letter, Legal, A3).
Connectivity
Print wirelessly over the home network.
Connect devices directly without a router.
A wired network port for reliable office use.
A direct USB connection to a computer.
Print from iPhone, iPad and Mac without extra drivers.
Print and manage the printer from a phone app.
Design
An onboard touchscreen makes standalone tasks easier.
A lighter printer is easier to place and move.
How the VS Score works — and what it can’t tell you
Every measurable spec is scored against the average of all the printers we track: matching the class average scores 50, clearly beating it climbs towards 100, and each spec counts according to an editorial weight that reflects real-world impact — a battery-capacity gap moves the score far more than a colour-options list. The quality bars on the spec cards above show where this model sits inside the full range for its class, and the overall VS Score rolls every weighted result into one number.
Unknown values are never estimated. A spec this product doesn’t report simply drops out of its scoring — it isn’t penalised with a guess — but a thinner spec sheet does mean a score built on fewer data points, which is why completeness is disclosed under About this data.
Most importantly: a spec-sheet lead is not the same as a better product. Megapixels, gigahertz and benchmark points describe capacity, not experience — image processing, software optimisation, thermals, haptics and ergonomics decide how a device actually feels, and no table captures reliability or long-term support quality. Treat the VS Score as a structured summary of what can be measured, not a substitute for your own priorities.
About this data
- Specifications are compiled from each manufacturer’s official spec sheet, cross-checked against trusted specification databases, and normalised into one schema so identical things are compared identically.
- Specifications last verified August 21, 2026.
- Data completeness: 22 of the 24 specs in this category are verified (92%). Anything we could not verify is shown as Unknown — never estimated — and is excluded from the score.
- Prices and availability come from live retailer feeds via our shopping partners and refresh throughout the day; a missing price means no partner currently lists the product, not that it is discontinued.
- Want the full picture? Our editorial guidelines explain how we research products, weight the scores and stay independent.
- Spotted an error in a spec? Tell us and we will correct the sheet.
Printers with similar specs to the Canon SELPHY CP1500
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The bottom line
The Canon SELPHY CP1500 earns a VS Score of 19, trailing most of the 51 printers we compare here, at least on the spec sheet.
- Who it’s for
- People who want physical 4×6 photos to exist again — albums, gifts, parties — from a portable, zero-maintenance box with fixed ~37-cent-per-print economics and an optional battery.
- Who should look elsewhere
- Anyone who needs to print a document, ever (it physically cannot), wants prints larger than 4×6, or needs to batch-print fast — each photo takes about 41 seconds.
- The trade-off that matters
- Fixed quality and cost versus total inflexibility: dye-sub delivers laminated, decades-stable prints at a known price, in exchange for doing exactly one thing.
- The main alternative
- Kodak Dock Plus PD460 — the cheaper dye-sub rival; the SELPHY answers with better software, SD and USB flexibility and Canon's paper ecosystem.
The VS Score is generated automatically from the weighted specifications above, measured against all other printers in our database. Treat it as a shortlisting guide — not a substitute for your own priorities.
