In a question and answer document attached to its second quarter 2022 financial results, Canon responds to an inquiry about the future of the camera market by saying it believes it “has largely bottomed out at its current size.”
Canon has responded rather openly to a set of questions linked to the financial stability of its many sectors, but its answer to inquiries about the state of the camera industry is particularly frank.
The company was asked what its outlook for the camera market is going forward, and if it would continue to offer both mirrorless and DSLR cameras. To that, the company responded:
“The camera market has largely bottomed out at its current size. Going forward, we expect the professional and advanced amateur segment to expand further and that products will become more highly developed. Accordingly, we expect the overall market to grow from now on. As for DSLR cameras, we will continue to supply products as long as there is demand.”
Canon seems to be arguing here that the industry’s steady decline, including its own losses, has finally reached the bottom and that it can’t get any worse for camera manufacturers than it already is. The company has also recognized that the beginner and amateur-level photographer isn’t looking to companies like it or its competitors to provide solutions to digital imaging, likely ceding that to smartphones. So while shipments are at an all-time low, sales numbers can still rise.
Related, but found in a separate document, Canon addresses a question of its imaging division’s profit decline that came as the result of the closing of a factory and was asked to explain that closure and its financial impact.
“We decided to close a production site in China, which mainly produced compact cameras, as it became increasingly more difficult to continue operations in light of market contraction,” Canon says. “We are not disclosing the exact amount of financial impact, but excluding special factors, we believe profit increased.”
This statement links to the previous in that it shows Canon has basically come to terms with losing the low-end of the market. But because the company is focusing its efforts on the higher-end and removing the costs associated with producing lower-end cameras that the market wasn’t buying, it was able to return to a profit.
The camera industry has been slogging through several rough years as the result of a contracting sales market as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. But based on Canon’s statements, the company seems to believe the worst is now behind it and that it is now set up to financially perform positively going forward.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
Author: Jaron Schneider
Source: Petapixel
