Only Canon, Nikon, and Sony can fend off smartphone camera takeover, says report

 

 

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Only Canon, Nikon, and Sony can fend off smartphone camera takeover, says report
12/30/2013 9:59:00 PM

The smartphone takeover is so crippling for camera manufacturers that only Nikon, Canon, and Sony will survive its wrath, or at least that's what the latest report from Reuters seems to preach.

Much like the smartphone industry, which iOS and Android dominate, the camera industry is turning into a duopoly or two-tier market. It seems Canon, Nikon, and Sony offer high-end camera options, while smartphones offer all the low-end options. The mid-range options have failed to pique consumers interests, causing manufacturers to embrace mirrorless cameras in order to find traction in the mid-range segment.

Industry researcher IDC speculated that compact camera sales would plummet this year more than 40 per cent to fewer than 59 million, according to Reuters, which further reported that sales of mirrorless cameras look promising because of price range. Consumers also seem to prefer connectivity over picture quality.

Beyond high-end camera lineups, Canon, Nikon, and Sony will apparently fend off the smartphone camera takeover purely because of their reputation:  "Only those who have a strong brand and are competitive on price will last — and only Canon, Nikon and Sony fulfill that criteria," said Yu Yoshida, a Credit Suisse imaging analyst, to Reuters.

READ: Panasonic Lumix FZ72 Review

While these type of future-guessing reports from Reuters are preemptive, the research statistics are factual and interesting. For instance: the mirrorless format hasn't performed well in the US or Europe as of late, but it made up 36 percent of Japan's interchangeable lens camera shipments in January-October, according to researcher CIPA.

In addition, companies like Panasonic, Fujifulm, and Olympus are struggling to find ground. Panasonic saw a 40 per cent drop in overall camera sales in April-September, meaning the division could end up on the cutting table by March 2016 if it doesn't turn prospects around. Curiously, there was no mention of Samsung in Reuters' camera report.

 

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