World wide camera sales less than 10% from 2010: I just read an article from Petapixel that says Canon is getting ready for a world where world wide camera sales will be less than 10...

gouldopfl

I just read an article from Petapixel that says Canon is getting ready for a world where world wide camera sales will be less than 10 million units compared to 121 million units 10 years ago. I would assume that much of this is due to smartphone sales.

It makes me wonder how much of this is loss is from sales of lower end cameras rather than the mainstream cameras used by hobbyist and professionals. Has the market significantly contracted at those levels?

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

I think most smartphone pics are an enhancement to communication, which has changed since social media became a way of life for so many.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Some of that can be attributed to market saturation. The majority of those purchasing cameras don't purchase them on a regular basis. They purchase one and use it til it quits.
--Bob

gouldopfl wrote:

I just read an article from Petapixel that says Canon is getting ready for a world where world wide camera sales will be less than 10 million units compared to 121 million units 10 years ago. I would assume that much of this is due to smartphone sales.

It makes me wonder how much of this is loss is from sales of lower end cameras rather than the mainstream cameras used by hobbyist and professionals. Has the market significantly contracted at those levels?

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

Delderby wrote:

I think most smartphone pics are an enhancement to communication, which has changed since social media became a way of life for so many.

I think social media became a way of life because of the smart phone.

Jim70 Loc: Delaware

My "new" camera is about 20 ye.ars old - others range to nearly 50 years old. All work fine and I see no reason to update/replace them. I use my smartphone camera like a "point and shoot" of 40 years ago. Demand has fallen off considerably, I think

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

gouldopfl wrote:

I just read an article from Petapixel that says Canon is getting ready for a world where world wide camera sales will be less than 10 million units compared to 121 million units 10 years ago. I would assume that much of this is due to smartphone sales.

It makes me wonder how much of this is loss is from sales of lower end cameras rather than the mainstream cameras used by hobbyist and professionals. Has the market significantly contracted at those levels?

I have done my part, last year I bought a Sony a7r4 and a Sony 600mm f4. Look up the prices on these two and you will see I tried my best to push that 10% up to 10.0000000004%.

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

joer wrote:

I think social media became a way of life because of the smart phone.

Which came first - smartphones or facebook?

traderjohn Loc: New York City

gouldopfl wrote:

I just read an article from Petapixel that says Canon is getting ready for a world where world wide camera sales will be less than 10 million units compared to 121 million units 10 years ago. I would assume that much of this is due to smartphone sales.

It makes me wonder how much of this is loss is from sales of lower end cameras rather than the mainstream cameras used by hobbyist and professionals. Has the market significantly contracted at those levels?

A changing generational consumer. They are not tied down to a need for multi-cameras with multiple lenses. The cell phone fits their bill. Take a picture share it and move on. They are not spending endless time critiquing a picture.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

rmalarz wrote:

Some of that can be attributed to market saturation. The majority of those purchasing cameras don't purchase them on a regular basis. They purchase one and use it til it quits.
--Bob

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Jim70 wrote:

My "new" camera is about 20 ye.ars old - others range to nearly 50 years old. All work fine and I see no reason to update/replace them. I use my smartphone camera like a "point and shoot" of 40 years ago. Demand has fallen off considerably, I think

My oldest is only ten.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Interchangeable lens cameras are now the definition of a luxury item. I think a smart phone is a luxury item, where now most of the population that can afford a phone see a smartphone with a 12MP camera as a 'necessity'. There still will be the valleys and isolated populations, cut off from progress, where interchangeable lens cameras will still be purchased and used. But, in the wider world, cameras have changed into phones, never to change back.

In the future, anthropologist will find and study DSLR users like they occasionally find lost tribes in the forests of the Amazon or isolated villages in the Alps. The text-based message board ecstatic of UHH is in keeping with this hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Delderby wrote:

Which came first - smartphones or facebook?

Facebook started in 2004.
Pick the release date for your smart phone type.
(The Blackberry was 1999.)

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

traderjohn wrote:

A changing generational consumer. They are tied down to a need for multi-cameras with multiple lenses. The cell phone fits their bill. Take a picture share it and move on. They are not spending endless time critiquing a picture.

So "they" are not photographers (or artists). "They" are full of idle chat - for now, not tomorrow. Their pics are just part of that idle chat.

agillot

cameras are like upper bicycles , there are a vast amount of them of high quality with near zero market value , why buy a costly new one when get something similar for next to nothing .