Collapse of digital camera sales continued in 2015

[Skiff]

The officail CIPA data about digital camera sales for 2015 is published:
http://www.cipa.jp/stats/dc_e.html

Another horror year for digital camera manufacturers. About 7.5 million less cameras sold in 2015 compared to 2014.
In 2015 only 35.2 million units were sold.
That is even 7 million units less (!!) than in 2003, before digital camera sales took off!
And it is about 8 million units less compared to film camera sales at the end of the 90ies.

So, the digital camera manufacturers are now in a situation which is much worse compared to the film times.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see further manufacturers following Samsung and leaving the market.

 

[Timmyjoe]

I'm not saying that more manufacturers aren't going to leave the market, but I don't find the sales data surprising. My son just got an iPhone 6S which he has with him 24/7, mainly so he can be in constant text contact with all his school friends, and it takes equally good pictures as the Nikon P&S I bought him a couple years ago. So why have both. The iPhone can take great pictures, but the Nikon P&S can't make phone calls and text. For him, and I think many others, there's no need to have a separate digital camera.

Also keep in mind, in 2003, and back in the film camera era, there were no cell phones that could take such high quality images.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I guess where are more and more people like me. Since 2008 I see no reason in overpaying for new camera.

 

[Lauffray]

Growth can't be endlessly sustained, they're going to have to adapt or die. Even pros don't need to buy new gear this often

 

[Skiff]

The reasons for the collapse have been discussed here again and again in the past. No need to do it again.
Of course smartphones play a significant role. But not only compact cameras are in significant decline, but also interchangeable lens cameras like DSLRs.
More and more DSLR shooters realize how expensive it is joining the upgrading rat race by buying an extremely expensive ILC camera in a 3-4 year cyclus.
They've stopped that, because most of them simply cannot afford that, so they are using their expensive cam for increasingly longer periods.

 

[jarski]

As with previous sky is falling thread, no doubt smartphones are causing a dent on camera sales. First on entry-level pocket cameras, but perhaps also some higher categories as well. I dont believe any major makers will leave the market. Sony and others all reported consistently ok results through the year.

 

[Skiff]

To be more precise:
I don't expect further manufacturers to quit the market this year. But the decline will continue, the trend is going strong.
In two years the market will be dropped under the 30 million level, the margins are under extreme pressure.
And then it will be very hard for the smaller players in the market to stay profitable.

 

[sojournerphoto]

Photography continues to evolve. Those of us who use any form of dedicated camera, even more so if with the desire to make prints, are the old guard and will be replaced in the new online world by young and adaptable people with their MFDs wired directly to their cerebral cortexes.

Mike

 

[edge100]

I just bought an X100T yesterday. I'm sure that'll beef up the 2016 numbers.

 

[robert blu]

there are enthusiasts who like to have an up to date camera, with all the latest innovations and are ready to pay for this

But IMO many people need simply to take reasonable good quality pictures and do not need the latest technology.

My wife's D5100 is more or less four/five years old and even if meantime Nikon put on the market 5200-5300-5400-5500 takes the same good pictures. No need to spend money to upgrade, better to spend on traveling or something else.

robert

 

[bobkonos]

Good news to these ears.

 

[mani]

Really young kids are just absolutely not interested in DSLRs anymore.

I mentored a course at one of the creative institutions here in Stockholm last year - of 50 kids around 18-25 years old, 2 were using film cameras, and absolutely all the others used their phones to take pictures.

I got the impression it would be considered uncool to walk around with a big DSLR.

 

[xayraa33]

Really young kids are just absolutely not interested in DSLRs anymore.

I mentored a course at one of the creative institutions here in Stockholm last year - of 50 kids around 18-25 years old, 2 were using film cameras, and absolutely all the others used their phones to take pictures.

I got the impression it would be considered uncool to walk around with a big DSLR.

most DSLRs are ridiculously big for what they do.

 

[Out to Lunch]

Collapse of digital camera sales continued in 2015

and the continents are drifting apart, also. These doom and gloom statements based on global sales figures don't tell the story.

 

[mani]

and the continents are drifting apart, also. These doom and gloom statements based on global sales figures don't tell the story.

Which story?? All of these corporations depend on healthy global sales if they're going to survive. Local variations aren't significant unless they're of massive scale (China, for instance).

Maybe we can now see why Leica is entering the smartphone market...

 

[Benjamin Marks]

In a way, the camera manufacturers are reaping what they sowed. Used to be, you'd buy your FM2 or your M6 or your F4 and you'd be set for 15 years or until the thing gave up and died. Then came digital and cameras became more like fashion: "oooh, the next season's offering is here." Along the way, about five years ago, all cameras became "good enough" with a performance roughly 5x of the best film 35mm cameras from the last century in terms of speed/IQ. Who is ready to give up between two weeks' and one month's pay a year to keep upgrading, particularly when a significant upgrade also eventually means you have to get a new computer with more memory, a faster processor, more storage and an updated image processing program? Can't keep suckling at that consumer upgrade teat forever. Even I, a certified camera nut, haven't bought a new camera in five years. My D3 and M9 are clicking away just fine and when I bought my Olympus EM-5 (or whatever it is called), I bought used, finally taking advantage of the down-side of the price/upgrade curve.

My new rule: no camera that will require a computer upgrade until one breaks from overuse. Still waiting. . .

 

[Ronald M]

I'm not saying that more manufacturers aren't going to leave the market, but I don't find the sales data surprising. My son just got an iPhone 6S which he has with him 24/7, mainly so he can be in constant text contact with all his school friends, and it takes equally good pictures as the Nikon P&S I bought him a couple years ago. So why have both. The iPhone can take great pictures, but the Nikon P&S can't make phone calls and text. For him, and I think many others, there's no need to have a separate digital camera.

Also keep in mind, in 2003, and back in the film camera era, there were no cell phones that could take such high quality images.

Nikon needs to put phones in the cameras. There all fixed

 

[Ronald M]

Here is the situation. Economy is garbage. Most save what they can.

Product improvement is coming in smaller steps so no need to buy the latest and greatest. It is not that much better than three years back.

Fewer prints being made.

Even P&S images look decent on a 27" diagonal tv screen.

There needs to be a new jump like digital was and mirrorless is not it.

 

[sevo]

There needs to be a new jump like digital was and mirrorless is not it.

The jump is already there. Smartphones...

 

[Mablo]

I think Ronald has a clue. If you look at the numbers people today produce an astronomical and ever increasing amount of images (and an increasing amount of videos) every day - but very, very few of those images will ever be printed.

At the same time camera sales are plummeting year after another and there's no end in sight for that sad story. At the same time smartphone sales are skyrocketing.

if you think about it a moment. We might not be just eyewitnessing the death of digital cameras but what we are really seeing is the extinction of a printed image as an art form for the masses.