wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

Sony's discontinuance of the A6300 and A6500 may signal the starting point for APS-C taking over the top of the camera "food chain". It is suspected Sony's stopping of the A6300 and A6500 will be followed by an eventual release of very high end APS-Cs rivaling the high end full frames. I personally think Sony sees photographers as wanting smaller, lighter, and less costly which Sony does not believe they can fully achieve with full frame. The shape of photography in the future could become very interesting.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Full Frame is a bit of a mythological God sensor, however when one considers what the little orientals' brains within our cameras can do with small sensors, then yes the APS-Cs may be contenders of high quality. Consider the Canon SX-50 with the smallest sensor and the quality of the photos being far better than one would expect. When it came out, I contended that its photos rivaled many DSLR cameras, exaggeration, yes a bit, but not much.
https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-powershot-sx50

External from the camera we have Topaz AI plugins that do magical things to our photos... when AI is woven into the internal tapestry of the camera the photo that emerges has been automatically sprinkled with that modern AI magic. That AI internal programming magic may be Sony's up-the-sleeve ace.

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While that is speculative, it aligns with an intriguing fact on the ground: the highest performance cameras currently available are the top tier of m4/3, confirming that the smaller formats facilitate maximum design potential.

Acoarst Sony has allowed overlapping levels of a6XXX models to concurrently remain in the catalog, so a culling of the superseded models could be just normal business practice, foretelling nothing at all. Why should the a6300 and a6500 be offered right along side the similar but newer a6400 and a6600 ?

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

The camera you are referring to has been in the works for a while. It will be a mini a1. Has been talked about already a lot by Sony folks. Look for it within the year. Probably an a6700, also a a9III is also coming soon. The a9III will not have a mechanical shutter, will only have a electronic shutter and will have similar specs. as the a1.

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Here is my dream plan for Sony. Just as Nikon migrated their lens line to Ai well before announcing any Ai bodies, Sony could migrate their APSC lens line up to H-format coverage. Once the lenses are in place Sony can then announce their ultra performance H-format cameras ... plus acoarst an affordable basic model.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If they don't have low end cameras, they will lose a lot of sales, but the profit from expensive cameras might offset the loss. After all, profit is the only thing that matters.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

Certainly more is being done with small sensors than ever before - not sure an M4/3 image is better than a good cell phone image these days. Disappointment rears it's ugly head when one wants to make enlargements or take low-light images.. The magical software that improves the qualities of images produced by smaller sensors is also available for full-frame cameras. So - I am not buying the argument that small sensors are just as good as a full-frame sensor.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

HA HA HA HA

You might want to share your insights with Sony, who is determined to take over the Professional market with their Sony A1 - 30 FPS - 50 MP Full Frame camera.

Every sports photographer knows a home run is worth more than two doubles, and so is a full frame camera.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

I will agree that each sensor has its pros and cons. And full frames will still continue just like all the rest of the formats including medium format and view cameras. But the industry consultant indicated full frame would not be "king of the hill" anymore. With Panasonic and Olympus coming out with 30mp sensor cameras and possibly a 47mp sensor camera in the future, the main deciding factors will become size, weight, and cost with ISO and depth of field, depending on how the photographer usually shoots, being more minor factors in the decision. It could end up that Leica, Sigma, and Panasonic could take over the full frame market in the long term by their interchangeable between bodies and lenses while APS-C will offer the best of both full frame and 4/3rds in size, weight, cost, ISO, depth of field, and overall image quality. The future will be interesting as to how it will play out.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Sony is, and has always been, a consumer products company. They always have, and are likely to continue to, introduced and discontinued products based on what is good for them, not the rest of the world. I've been following them for almost 50 years, and they do not change.

If I were a professional photographer right now, I would be working very hard to rationalize my equipment cabinet if I were planning to continue for very long. No company can survive building to the professional market...it's simply too small. Enthusiasts drive the profit, and beginners drive the volume (to cover the overhead).

The beginner market is just about gone, and Nikon, for one, announced over a year ago that they were surrendering their part of it to others. We are getting older and leaving the market quite a bit faster than we are bringing new people in.

I don't yet have clarity into what the end game is going to be, but without a major shift, there is going to be one not too far down the road. So my suggestion is to quit reading so much, go find someone with a budding interest in photography, and use the time that you were spending reading worrisome articles developing a new photographer.

Otherwise, get ready to have a lot fewer and more expensive choices when it gets to be GAS time.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

I thought they were just eliminating all models with mirrors.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Sony builds mirrorless cameras for the masses and prices them of the benefit of mankind.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Other industry news sources think Nikon is sneaking away from the APS-C market. Sony didn't get to #2 worldwide by following the product moves of the likes of Nikon ...

https://fstoppers.com/gear/are-nikons-aps-c-cameras-starting-disappear-market-562246

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Argument ? What argument ? There’s just no argument at all. WYSIWYG. Very solid facts on the ground.

YMMV, and most especially so with your thumb on the scale.

w00dy4012 Loc: Thalia, East Virginia

Battle of the Fanboys.