8.49 million digital cameras sold in 2021
The photo market has been chugging along for a few years now. After a very difficult year 2020 and sales down 40% (compared to 2019), in particular due to the health crisis, according to data gleaned by the Japanese daily Nikkei, the year 2021 would be almost a success with deliveries down by only 4.1%. 8.49 million digital cameras (all models and ranges combined) would have been delivered in 2021.
The Japanese gobble up 94.4% of the market
Japanese manufacturers dominate overwhelmingly, with 94.4% market share (PDM). Canon would remain – by far – the manufacturer that sells the most, with 45.8% of PDM. This figure, although in slight variation over the years, remains fairly stable overall, despite a drop in 2021. Behind, however, Sony continues to climb at a brisk pace. The electronics giant’s devices are picking up 27% of market share, up nearly 5%.
Canon still in front, Sony climbs, Nikon retreats
Far behind, with only 11.3% (-2.4%) of PDM, Nikon would remain confined to the third step of the podium. It has now been three years since Nikon gave up its second place to Sony. The chocolate medal would go to Fujifilm, with around 6% of market share, a very slight increase in share. Panasonic closes the top 5 with 4.4% market share. So that’s 91.4% in total. So 3% remain at the level of the Japanese manufacturers: crumbs shared by Sigma, OM System/Olympus and Pentax/Ricoh, meager feast.
2022, annus horribilis Where mirabilis ?
There would therefore remain 5.6% to be divided between Leica, Hasselblad or even Phase One and other more marginal photo manufacturers. The year 2022 was prosperous in the release of devices of all kinds, but these were often accompanied by a significant increase in prices. Whether this will negatively impact sales volume remains to be seen.