According to Canon, the camera market has reached saturation point

Canon has recently updated its business forecast for the rest of 2021. Despite a 34% increase in camera sales year-over-year, the company still thinks the camera market has touched to the saturation point in its report.

As part of its Q1 2021 financial report, Canon has updated its full-year 2021 sales forecast slightly as revenue for the quarter was significantly higher than last year and is still holding steady. determined.

According to data from CIPA (Japan Camera and Photographic Products Association), it appears that this growth is largely due to the higher average selling prices of camera models. It can be seen that the number of camera units sold compared to 2020, an increase of only 5%. This is believed to be a consequence of the shift to standard-format mirrorless systems, rather than mainstream DSLR models.

Canon also said that both camera and lens sales exceeded their expectations in the plan. Profitability also improved markedly compared to last year thanks to a higher average selling price as well as an increase in sales performance to the extent that despite travel restrictions due to the pandemic, demand for cameras remained strong stand firm.

What is impressive is that these financial results come to Canon after the company restructured its business, as the ink-jet printer division spun off the imaging division to form a new division. Demand and sales of ink-jet printers have also grown well since the separation, according to Canon, they even have to work hard to produce enough to serve the demand for home models during the pandemic. Translate. As more people stay at home, opportunities and real demand open up for models of home printers with high speed, low running costs and low electricity consumption.

Contrary to such positive results, Canon is still quite conservative with expectations. According to a note from Inside Imaging, the company assumes that everyone who wants a good quality camera already has one. Plus, the market is bound to shrink as the number of people interested in buying a new camera continues to drop.

Canon believes that manufacturers like them should cultivate closer relationships with existing camera-owning customers, and focus on selling upgraded cameras, lenses and accessories to continue to grow. profitable continued.

Canon’s openness about the future of the camera market is welcome, especially as the company doesn’t appear to be using smartphones as the reason for the camera market’s decline. Instead, they appear to be focusing on creating more product segments.

Canon has announced the development of three new RF mount lenses and EOS R3 cameras. These moves suggest that increased investment in the R series could further increase the share of the full-frame camera market. Canon also experimented with new innovations such as the PowerShot Zoom and Pick models to create new markets and expand beyond the traditional imaging business.