According to Japan’s CIPA , shipments of interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras are breaking records and their sales are skyrocketing, and this growth is directly related to the growth of world tourism.
Quantity of total shipment of interchangeable LENS DCS (worldwide)
And Nikkei Asia also confirms that mirrorless camera shipments in the first half of 2023 show sales growth of $17 billion, up 20% year-over-year. Record high for the last three years. This is fantastic news for an industry that has experienced one of the worst sales periods the camera industry has ever experienced since 2020.
The main driver of this increase appears to be China, where sales increased by 44%. Japan also showed a 30 percent jump. In Europe, sales increased by 9%. The US and Canada were not mentioned. China continues to be a huge market for camera manufacturers that cannot be ignored.
Nikkei Asia attributes the increase to a report from the UN World Tourism Organization, which notes that the number of travelers in the first quarter of 2023 more than doubled from the previous year.
It seems that when these tourists decide to leave their home countries, they do so with a new mirrorless camera. And apparently, the average consumer is not too happy with the cameras of their smartphones right now – smartphone sales are falling, by 11% in the first half of the year, and this decline is the second year in a row.
The Japanese edition refers to a significant improvement in the functionality of the cameras, which is not yet on the smartphone market. Samsung’s 2023 releases included two new foldable smartphones, but neither received groundbreaking camera improvements. Consumers are probably noticing this and are returning to standalone cameras that are easier to manage and the difference in footage quality becomes noticeable to consumers.
However, the market has yet to fully recover from the pandemic. Historical shipping data shows that in the spring of 2019, manufacturers shipped almost a quarter of a million more units worldwide per month. However, the year-on-year recovery trend is an important indicator for camera manufacturers.
Interchangeable lens cameras continue to dominate the market, with sales continuing to rise, while compact camera shipments have fallen for the third year in a row.
