LittleRed

Interesting article (especially for us Canoneers) taken from an interview in a Japanese magazine with Fujio Mitarai (Canon CEO) recently. Not a total surprise to me but still a bit of a eye opener.

LittleRed (Ron)

Smartphones could halve camera market in two years, Canon warns
By James Artaius (Digital Camera World, digital magazine)

Smartphones eating into market, mirrorless cameras not growing it, says Canon CEO

The digital camera market will continue to fall for the next two years before it hits rock bottom, at which time it could have shrunk by almost half. That's the bleak forecast from Canon CEO, Fujio Mitarai.
In an interview with the Nikkei (spotted by Mirrorless Rumors and translated by Digital Camera Info), Mitarai stated Canon's intention to shift its business to corporate customers in response to the grim market trend. 
"In our company cameras have declined at around 10% a year in the past few years. The world market for interchangeable lens cameras is around 10 million," he said. "The mirrorless product is growing, but it is a replacement [for] single lens reflex, it is not adding to the market as a whole."
According to Mitarai, smartphones are the primary reason that the market is facing such challenging conditions.
"People usually shoot with smartphones.The digital camera market will keep falling for about two years, but professional and [advanced] amateurs use about 5 to 6 million units. Finally [the market] will hit the bottom."

The digital camera market has been in decline for some time, but it was hoped that the release of full-frame mirrorless cameras like the Canon EOS R and Nikon Z7 would reinvigorate things. Unfortunately, as Mitarai notes, mirrorless cameras are simply replacing DSLRs – they aren't resulting in new camera adopters. 
With a move to service corporate customers, it seems likely that Canon's product line – particularly its compact cameras and lower end DSLRs – might be in jeopardy. With rumours continuing to swirl about professional versions of the EOS R, it looks like Canon is starting to put its eggs into one basket. 

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

No doubt about it. The phone has become the standard camera for many people. We had workmen here a few weeks ago working on our well, and they used their phones to take pictures, for reference and to show the boss. I get a kick out of police on TV using phone cameras. I wonder how much use they actually get in police work. I use mine so seldom that I have to become reacquainted with it every time I use it.

trainspotter Loc: Oregon

This seems to be because the younger generation's are not interested...Harley-Davidson is also feeling this problem. Young people want instant everything. My daughter and granddaughters are proof to me. The boys would rather ride crotch-rockets for motorcycles, my daughter swears by her smart-phone...her quote: "don't need no damn camera.....got this phone" I guess the best thing for me to do is sit on the porch, sip my whiskey, and take photos with my DSLR Canon. God Bless America!

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

Many if us won't be around in 30 years when my grandchildren will be in their fifties. The product market for that group is changing rapidly, affecting everyone from Sears to antique stores, to weddings to cameras. I predict many more products will be on the wane as that demographic become the monied consumers.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I wonder how many of the SLR/DSLR users have switched to smart phones? Very few if any I'll bet.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Attrition.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

A DSLR / MILC camera body is already an upscale luxury item. Look at the Super Bowl commercials this weekend and watch the cell phones shoot at wider angels, capture seamless panoramas and blur the background of portraits with just a finger click. Who needs a single lens camera for just posting images online when you have that power, including flash, in your phone? High quality professional still and video work will still require expensive bodies and lenses. But, these specialized tools are no longer irrelevant to the masses who capture and share their world in a strictly digital format, typically in images sized 1048-pixels or less.

What the phone makers don't accomplish, attrition within the historical customer base will handle the rest ...

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

This article was originally posted in the Links section.
This is a copy of my post there.


I can see that happening. The cell phone image quality has really reached a point where I am constantly amazed by what they can do. The camera market for decades counted on customers like say, new parents buying a 110 camera to take pictures of their pride and joy. In no time at all they wanted something better and then the journey began. With the images they can get now with a cell phone that journey starts and stops right there. In the past retailers grew their customers by always having something demonstrably better to offer. While there is definitely something better than a cell phone, the difference in the eyes of the average consumer just isn't enough to justify buying another expensive toy to take on vacation with them, metaphorically speaking. As the transformation continues our cameras will become more and more more valuable to us as replacements for them will be harder and harder to find. We will see manufacturers drooping out and those that are left will ask premium prices.

LittleRed

My apologies Rich, didn't see your post. Would not have double posted if I had. Will be a mite more observant next time.

My apologies Rich for double posting the article you had already put on this site. Did not notice it before, must be a tad more observant in the future. I concur totally with all your points you have made on your post. Looks like the ability for one to purchase a Canon Rebel class camera such as I use will be a no-no in the future. At my age taint no problem, should be gone ☠️ By then.

LittleRed (Ron)

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Little Red my apologies to you!
The post in links wasn't by me but, I wanted to add my comment over there to your post. However as sure as I'm sitting here someone would say that comment was already posted. I wanted to head that off.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

For most people, the capabilities of the smartphone is plenty sufficient for their photographic needs, and they don't see how owning a dedicated camera will bring benefit. The camera that is most impacted by phone cameras is the point & shoot pocket camera, not so much the interchangeable lens camera.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

That's very true and unfortunately that is going to impact the bottom line fo companies like Canon and Nikon. Those are relatively high profit margin cameras.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Has been doing so for quite some time. Nothing really new.
The decline in market for the interchangeable lens cameras has very little to do with smartphones. I think it is because the lack of innovation. Photographers are less willing to dump the DSLR camera they bought three years ago for a new one, as the latest model is only a marginal improvement over the last one. It was a different story a decade ago.

BebuLamar

For work I always use the phone to take pictures. I only use my cameras to take pictures for fun.