Point and Shoot Cameras are Basically Dead

[dolina]

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https://petapixel.com/2022/08/08/poi...asically-dead/





Almost every major camera manufacturer has either openly discontinued its point-and-shoot line of cameras or has not produced a new one in many years, according to a new report. In short, smartphones have all but totally replaced compact cameras.


The compact camera market, colloquially known as point-and-shoot cameras, has been experiencing a massive collapse in worldwide shipments over the last decade and a half. Since 2008, when worldwide shipments reached 110.7 million cameras, the market has significantly shrunk and fallen to 3.01 million units as of 2021 — a 97% drop.


Nikkei reports that in response to the market’s contraction, Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Fujifilm, and Sony have all either dramatically scaled back productions or outright admitted that there will be no further compact cameras.

“Although we are shifting to higher-end models, we have strong support for lower-end models, and will continue to develop and produce them as long as there is demand,” Canon tells Nikkei.


Canon denies that it isn’t planning to make new compact cameras, but it hasn’t released a new one since 2019.

Sony’s response echoes Canon’s and the company says that it is not discontinuing new product development in the compact camera space, although Nikkei notes the company hasn’t made a new “Cyber-Shot” camera — its compact camera line — since 2019.


Nikkei reports that Nikon has stopped developing cameras that would fall under its “Coolpix” line, the company’s branding for compact point-and-shoot style cameras. Nikon tells Nikkei that it still sells two high-magnification models and that future production volume will be determined by the market, which as noted, isn’t growing.


Panasonic, which at one point owned the top share of Japan’s compact camera market, tells Nikkei that it has been reducing the volume of point-and-shoots that it has been producing over the last several years in response to the shrinking market. Additionally, while it plans to keep making current compact cameras for the time being, it will focus on developing high-end mirrorless cameras aimed at enthusiasts and professionals, including a camera that it plans to release next year that it is developing in conjunction with Leica.


Nikkei claims Fujifilm has ceased production on its compact camera line “FinePix” and is not actively developing new models for it, instead focusing its efforts on higher-end models like the X100V and above.


Ricoh, which owns the Pentax brand, and OM Digital aren’t mentioned in the story, but Ricoh seems unfazed by the market contraction and has notably released two point-and-shoot cameras in the last year: the WG-80 and the GR IIIx (and later along with its special edition). Ricoh seems immune to making decisions in line with market trends, as it has also stubbornly refused to make a mirrorless Pentax camera, going so far as to say that the brand “cannot go mirrorless.”


It has been a long, slow process, but the death of the point-and-shoot appears all but complete at the hands of the smartphone, whose imaging capabilities manufacturers continue to improve.

[dolina]

Click here for the point & shoot cameras released in the last 5 years.

Below are the number of models released per year

2022

- 0

2021

- 1

2020

- 6

2019

- 11

2018

- 18

2017

- 10

[P-Chan]

nag gamit pa ko ug point and shoot nga cam...hehehe

[dolina]

Last 6 years worldwide shipments of digital still cameras.

Year	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022 forecast
Total Cameras	24,978,486	19,423,371	15,216,957	8,886,292	8,361,521	7,850,000
Point & Shoot	13,302,797	8,663,574	6,755,467	3,578,643	3,013,250	2,560,000
Total SLR & Mirrorless	11,675,689	10,759,797	8,461,490	5,307,649	5,348,271	5,290,000
SLR	7,595,708	6,620,999	4,504,987	2,374,569	2,241,772	-
Mirrorless	4,079,981	4,138,798	3,956,503	2,933,080	3,106,499	-

Some interesting camera shipment stats

Smartphones vs film & digital still cameras



Digital camers: dSLR vs Mirrorless vs Point & Shoots (no smartphone)



Digital camers: dSLR vs Mirrorless (no smartphone or point & shoot)

[salbahis]

not really dead since there is still a niche who uses P&S cameras specially those with CCD sensors... or people who love hacked canon firmware...

don't look the number from sales... look on dpreview and ebay for increase in interest on P&S

[sevmik]

this was inevitable. P&S cameras have gone from being something that most families have to a niche-specific gadget. and the current niche is not even a particularly big one.

[dolina]

CIPA members as a whole had mirrorless doing better than point & shoots + SLR.

I think P&S + SLR will go below 0.5 million/year by 2026? Mirrorless will be 6-7 million annually?

Catering to working photogs and enthusiasts demanding the last 1% of performance.

Year	2019	2020	2021	2022
Total Cameras	15,216,957	8,886,292	8,361,521	8,011,598
Point & Shoot	6,755,467	3,578,643	3,013,250	2,084,865
Total SLR & Mirrorless	8,461,490	5,307,649	5,348,271	5,926,733
SLR	4,504,987	2,374,569	2,241,772	1,853,222
Mirrorless	3,956,503	2,933,080	3,106,499	4,073,511
% of Point & Shoots	44.39%	40.27%	36.04%	26.02%
% of SLR & Mirrorless	55.61%	59.73%	63.96%	73.98%
Worldwide population	7.673 billion	7.753 billion	7.9 billion	8 billion

16 years ago this slide was shown at the unveiling of the 2007 iPhone 2G.



Puts into perspective what annual worldwide shipments of nearly quarter billion iPhones and about 1 billion Android smartphones have done to game consoles, digital cameras, MP3 players and PCs.



Those waiting for the replacement of the 2020 Canon EOS R5 body will have to wait for as late as July 2024 for an announcement and November 2024 to be on the shelf.

So at most a 20 month wait.

[RalfKortig74]

Hello! Thanks for the informative article. The rise of smartphones with advanced camera capabilities has greatly impacted the market for point-and-shoot cameras. However, real cameras in the hands of professionals cause spell heart and admiration. These compact cameras, once popular for their convenience and ease of use, have seen a decline in demand. As a result, several major camera manufacturers have either discontinued their point-and-shoot line or have not released any new models for quite some time.