Tamron says it plans to double its mirrorless lens lineup by 2023, show a ‘swift response to new formats’

Update (Monday February 14, 2022 at 12pm EST): The original version of this article incorrectly referred to as Tokina in a few areas. The article text and headline have been updated accordingly.

Tamron has published its full 2021 fiscal year financial results and inside are a number of hints at what we can expect from the optics manufacturer throughout its 2022 fiscal year.

One of the most notable details in its presentation materials is a summary in the ‘Business Environment’ section of the presentation that notes ‘despite the COVID-19 pandemic,’ the company say the markets ‘for interchangeable lens cameras and interchangeable lenses’ grew year-over-year. Tamron says its data shows unit sales increase by 1%, year-over-year, while the value of those sales increased 21%. More specifically, mirrorless cameras saw unit sales increase 6% while the value of those sales increased 31%, and DSLR sales were down 6% in both units sold and value of those units, year-over-year.

As for the interchangeable lens market, Tamron says unit sales were up 6% while the value of those units increased 35%, year-over-year. Tamron says it saw its net sales for interchangeable lenses increase by 20% in 2021 (compared to 2020), which saw the company release its first lenses for APS-C mirrorless cameras.

Tamron’s vision for the next two years, broken down by its photo products (blue), surveillance products (yellow) and mobility & healthcare products (green).

In a section dedicated to laying out the future business plans, Tamron says it plans to ‘[double the] size of [its lens] lineup by 2023 by focusing on products for mirrorless cameras. As it stands, Tamron currently has nine lenses for various mirrorless camera mounts, so we could see its lineup increase to nearly twenty lens models within the next two years. While releasing 4-6 lenses each year might seem like a significant task, Tamron seems ready and willing to take on the challenge, saying it intends to show a ‘swift response to new formats.’ Whether this means we can expect Micro Four Thirds lenses, or even GFX mount lenses, from Tamron remains to be seen, but the company also says it wants to increase the ‘in-store share with OEM products.’

A graphic showing all the lenses Tamron has released throughout 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Tamron says it expects the markets for interchangeable lens cameras and interchangeable lenses to remain flat in volume terms, but should increase in monetary terms. In other words, as the mirrorless market matures, it expects camera and lens manufacturers will continue to focus efforts on higher-end models that will inevitably result in higher revenues.

One challenge Tamron — and the rest of the world that relies on semiconductors — will have to deal with throughout 2022 and 2023 is the ongoing chip shortage. Tamron says ‘a gradual recovery is expected,’ but notes ‘effects from the semiconductor shortage will continue.’