New report shows digital camera market declined 20% last year

[midian182]

Recap: The proliferation of smartphones has seen several industries start to decline. Everything from calculators to MP3 players through to in-car satellite navigation systems and voice recorders have all suffered because of handsets, and one gadget that’s being hit particularly hard is digital cameras aimed at consumers.

A new report from Japanese publication Nikkei reveals just how much digital camera sales are suffering as smartphone cameras become ever more advanced. Digicame Info has highlighted the main points, the most significant being that the digital camera market fell 22 percent in 2018 compared to the previous year, with 20.29 million Digital Stills Camera (DSC) units shipped.

When it comes to the top digital camera companies, Canon leads the pack with a 40.5 percent market share, up 3.9 percent from a year earlier. It’s followed by Nikon (19.1 percent), Sony (17.7 percent), Fujifilm Holdings (5.1 percent) and Olympus (2.8 percent). These five firms represent a total market share of 85.2 percent.

While we have seen plenty of new mirrorless cameras appear recently, including products from Canon, Hasselblad, and Nikon, shipments of DSC units have been lower for every month in 2019 compared to the previous two years.

Back in January, the chairman and CEO of Canon, Fujio Mitarai, warned that the digital camera industry would continue to decline, and that he expects it to have shrunk almost 50 percent by around 2021. Mitarai added that full-frame mirrorless products were simply replacing DSLRs, rather than expanding the industry and attracting new camera sales. But despite the worrying news, there will likely always be a need for digital cameras among professionals and enthusiasts. We're also seeing new functions that may appeal to a wider audience, such as the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III's ability to livestream directly to YouTube.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/80878-new-report-shows-digital-camera-market-declined-20.html

 

[Uncle Al]

No doubt a lot of people are happy with the quality of image a smart phone can render but the range of variations won't be coming along quite as fast. Finding a smart phone with a 300-600 zoom lens that is stable is going to take some doing and will be quite a few $$. I'm not talking about those cheap add on zoom lenses either.
One failure of the smart phone is a simple "universal" attachment device that all these supplemental lenses, filters, etc. could use. One you had such a thing, designers could accommodate a wider variety of phone cameras and could insure quality of image was much higher.
The DSLR isn't going to disappear soon, but camera makers aren't helping themselves either. With so many varieties of similar camera's (Canon is the king of this mistake), potential camera buyers are easily confused and just as easily discouraged. The camera makers really need to get themselves together on this one.
Lastly PRICE. You can get a first rate camera phone for $2,000 with a great built in camera but even still, that's a high price tag, especially when you can get a beginner digital camera with a high quality lens for less than half that price.
Certainly, time will tell if there will be a "winner" or we will continue with an appreciation of the advantages of "separate but equal" when it comes to these devices.

 

[R00sT3R]

Despite rave reviews about the latest & greatest phone cameras, I've found them to be universally awful.

I guess when people don't know any better, they're easily impressed.

 

[p51d007]

Sorry, not to me. I'll stick with my d-SLR and 4 lenses and accessories. Only thing I use my
phone for is work related photos of equipment I work on. For everything else, I'll stick with my
big gun. Like another person said. Try getting a 100-400 lens to work on a phone, and have
a SHARP image and good REAL bokeh, not that made up crap.

 

[Lew Zealand]

And price is really what has me concerned. I have 3 lenses which I love and hopefully will last the distance, but I've already had to replace my DSLR for a bloody common failure mode. Out of warranty of course. I don't want to have to pay more for only slightly improved tech purely due to a loss of economies of scale and lower R&D investment for lower-end cameras.

I need everyone to buy stuff to keep stuff cheap for when I need to buy!