Camera Sales in 2020 Have Plummeted As Much As 54%

The Camera and Imaging Products Association in Japan, otherwise known as CIPA, has published global camera and lens production data through September of this year, and the results show that the industry clearly has taken a hit from the global coronavirus pandemic.

CIPA publishes both the volume of units sold as well as the shipped value of those units for a number of categories, all of which saw a dramatic decrease over the same period in 2019.

Camera manufacturers sold 1.562 million DSLR units through September of 2020, which is down 54%. The value of those cameras was 64.6 billion yen (~$625,667,150), which is a 51% decrease year over year.

Though faring better, mirrorless cameras also suffered a large drop, with 1.807 million units shipped so far, which is down 34%. The value of those units was 145.82 billion yen (~$1,412,303,155), a 26% sales decrease.

Compact camera bodies sold in greater volume than DSLRs, but suffered nearly as badly with a 51% drop in units sold to 2.498 million. The value of those sales was 53.578 billion yen (~$518,916,324), down 26%.

Lenses also saw an across the board decrease in units sold and overall value. For lenses wider than 35mm, sales fell 45%. For lenses at or longer than 35mm, sales dropped 34%.

Below you can see the chart of all worldwide shipments of digital interchangeable-lens cameras this year compared to the previous two years:

And this last chart illustrates the fixed-lens market sales shipments compared to the last two years:

If there is a bit of an upside to this information, it’s that sales were much stronger in September than they were in August, and the data shows that overall sales and sales value is trending upwards. DSLR unit sales grew by almost 68,000 units in September compared to August, and mirrorless units grew by almost 140,000 over the same period.

It will likely take some time for camera and lens manufacturers to recoup the losses experience during the first two-thirds of 2020, but with sales trending up they are probably feeling optimistic. If you’re interested in more granular information from CIPA, you can download all the organization’s data for this year here.

(via Photo Rumors)