Canon warns, smartphones might halve digital camera market in two years

Smartphone makers in recent times have been concentrating in installing the best possible cameras in their smartphones so the users get the best possible pictures. On the other hand it has been predicted that the digital camera market will continue to face a downfall for the next two years before it reaches the bottom.

Fujio Mitarai, the CEO of Canon said that in two years time the digital camera market would have shrunk by almost half. Mitarai, in an interview with Canon with Nikkei amidst rumours of mirrorless and translated by Digital Camera Info stated that Canon intends to shift its business to corporate customers due to the current grim market trend. The Canon CEO added, “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. The mirrorless product is growing, but it is a replacement [for] single lens reflex, it is not adding to the market as a whole.”

Mitarai further explained that the smartphones are the primary reason that the market is facing such challenging conditions. The CEO also said that people usually shoot with smartphones but the professional and advanced amateurs use about 5 to 6 million units. The digital camera market has been facing a decline for quite some time but there were hopes that with the launch of the full-frame mirrorless cameras like the Canon EOS R and Nikon Z7, things could get better.

However, the CEO informed that the mirrorless cameras are just replacing the DSLRs and they are not resulting in new camera adopters. While Canon is looking forward to service corporate customers it seems like the Canon’s product line, especially the compact cameras and low end DSLRs might be in trouble. The rumours about professional versions of EOS R continues but it seems like Canon is focusing to put everything in to a single basket.

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