It's called the photo printer because of it's new 6-color cartridge system. Having said that, it's still debatable whether the 6-color system is any better than the 4-color system (epson 880). The Epson 880 can produce some stunning prints, even though it's not called a photo printer. However, I find the new line of Epson printers to be of poorer quality, slower, noisier, and uglier. I had both the 780 (6-color photo) and the 880 (4-color), and I sold the 780 and bought another 880.