Despite production issues, Sony assures people that they are the number one mirrorless camera brand in the world

Recently, we reported that the myriad delays to both Canon and Sony releases have been caused by a mysterious backlog in productions for the camera market, akin to the microprocessor shortage experienced post-pandemic. In spite of this, or perhaps in defiance of it, Sony published reports today that highlight themselves as the number one mirrorless camera company in the world.

The announcement comes from the Sony Group 2024 Corporate Report, which obviously lends some bias to the proclamation - like how every pizza restaurant in New York has “New York’s Best Pizza”. As reported earlier in the month, it is actually Canon who own the largest market share in camera manufacturing on the whole, with 46.5% of all camera sales being their’s. Sony’s statement may not be entirely untrue, however: as it focuses specifically on mirrorless camera systems. It was the original Sony a7 that first popularized the mirrorless camera format, and they do remain the household name for many.

Let’s take a closer look at the data Sony uses to back up their claim:

Source: Sony

 Here we can see Sony’s first major statistic: a 4% growth in the sensor market share. This is across all image sensors, including smartphone cameras. The report highlights some noteworthy concerns of the industry, including the increase in smartphone usage over cameras and the greater geopolitical context. Sony has plans to combat the issues, however, with a notable commitment to moving into the smartphone sensor market. Sony aims to increase their market share by another 7% by 2025, to have a majority 60% stake in the sensor market.

Sony’s smartphone market share, however, may make this commitment hard to justify. Their smartphone division is one of the fields marked for “Structural Reform/Transformation” by the report, meaning we can expect some reshuffling internally from Sony Smartphones in the near future.

Source: Sony

The company is also planning to make “strategic investments” into other parallel industries, such as image sensors for cars and other vehicles and OLED displays. Though we’re hardly heading up Sony’s financial division, both of these seem sensible investments: Sony debuted an LED virtual production wall at IBC 2024, and the company has some of the most intelligent imaging sensors on the market - so diversifying into these markets is a sensible solution.

We’re also big fans of the Sony imaging team’s mantra, as set out by the company’s Officer in charge of Imaging & Sensing Solutions Business, Terushi Shimizu:

Under our corporate slogan, “Sense the Wonder,” we aim to work with various stakeholders to co-create new value and achieve growth with the aim of sparking people’s imaginations and enriching society.
Source: Sony

It’s obviously been through a bit of LinkedIn-speak, but setting out to actively add value as well as putting creators first is a respectable policy.

But returning to the matter at hand, how valid is Sony’s claim that they are the market leader in mirrorless cameras? The data we have here paints an incomplete picture, though a 53% share of image sensors would make that true by virtue of sheer percentages. The business insights proposed in the report highlight the company’s commitment to cameras, however, and we think we could see impressive things from Sony Imaging in the near future.

Sony continues to be one of the best, if not necessarily the biggest, names in cameras - so even if they aren’t currently the industry leaders, there’s every chance they will be soon…