Canon Dominates the Camera Market in New Nikkei Magazine Statistics

We recently reported on the decline in camera sales worldwide with the advent of the smartphone camera, based on data that made the camera industry appear on the brink of collapse. This is still a market measured in the millions, however, as a recent report by Nikkei Magazine highlights. Using data provided by CIPA - the alliance of camera manufacturers that includes major brands such as Canon, Nikon and Sony - the magazine has highlighted the approximate market share of the largest camera brands, in proportion to the millions of units sold in 2023.

With 3.34 million units sold in the year, Canon is the majority market shareholder, responsible for 46.5% of all sales. Taking the silver medal, unsurprisingly, is Sony: with a 27.9% share thanks to its 2 million units’ worth of sales. In a distant third place, is Nikon: boasting 810,000 units (11.3% of the market).

Despite the success of the Fujifilm X100VI, which launched in February 2023, the manufacturer is in fourth place with a 6% market share. The outlier market shareholders are some interesting names: Panasonic has a 3.6% share, OM-Systems (formerly Olympus) has a 2.5% share and Ricoh has a 0.8% share; with the remaining camera brands being marginal percentages. Though these statistics aren’t gospel truth, they are roughly reflective of the camera manufacturers’ consumer popularity.

On a certain level, none of this data is surprising. A brand such as Leica for instance, which manufactures niche premium-end cameras, was never expected to have major market domination - especially compared to their consumer-grade counterparts. Though the conversation around cameras was between Canon and Nikon for decades, Sony’s exceptional range of mirrorless cameras has led to them easily overtaking the latter. But despite the Sony system having a wider lens selection and a more diverse range of mirrorless bodies, Canon has a significant lead over them.

The primary reason behind this is likely that Canon has an even greater diversity of products: not just mirrorless systems. With DSLRs, cinema cameras and mirrorless systems all on their production pipeline throughout 2023, Canon was a part of every camera conversation.

Whilst this data doesn’t have any material effect on the camera market, it is an interesting insight into the trends of the industry. Given that many photographers stick with their first choice of camera brand for life, we’re curious to see how this could potentially change in the coming years. Could Fuji’s lightning-in-a-bottle lead to them gaining greater control of the market, or will another outlier brand see similar success and displace the others? Only time will tell…