The BX engine was formally announced at the Seybold Desktop Publishing Exposition in September of 1992 by Canon U.S.A. Canon's announcement was somewhat late, as QMS had already introduced the BX-based 860 in July of 1992. Canon touted the true 600 dpi engine and ultra-fine toner, which produced excellent print quality.

To people familiar with the Canon family of engines, the BX seemed like a LX engine on steroids. The overall design and paper path are very similar, but every part of the BX engine is much bigger and faster than the LX. The LX was famous for being light and compact. By following the general design scheme of the LX engine, Canon was able to produce a B-size printer that is surprising lightweight and easy to carry by one person. Introduction at the Seybold show was very appropriate. Graphic artists had been asking for a low-cost, tabloid-sized printer with excellent print quality for years. Canon and the other laser printer engine creators had been reluctant to support their demands because they saw it as relatively small niche market.

Before the BX, most all of the B-size capable laser printers were large high-speed printers based on copier designs. These big machines were priced at about $10,000 or more, and they didn't have the fine print quality graphic artists needed for plain-paper typesetting. (Read more on BX history)