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    Canon sold almost half of all the cameras made in 2023

    By Updated:99 Comments Canon Business General 3 Mins Read

    We reported earlier this month that the data from Techno Systems Research was released, and now all the market data is published for all to see.

    DCW reports that according to Techno Systems Research, Canon has a commanding 46.5% lead but Sony is “catching up” slowly. This data is pubished by Nikkei into nice graphs for all of us to review.

    Screenshot

    Canon maintained the same market share percentage as the year prior, and Sony gained 1.7% but at the expense of Nikon, Panasonic and some unnamed others.

    Now in a way, this makes a lot of sense and isn't nearly as bad as the alarmists will be suggesting. Canon is still slowly migrating users off of DSLRs and they have managed to maintain their dominance over the market while doing this pivot. At the same time, they have caught up to areas of technology once thought of as being insurmountable by some (dynamic range, mirrorless autofocus, etc).

    Also, this report includes compact cameras, a market that for the most part, Canon has decided it doesn't want to play in.

    Personally what I don't like in that report is how the companies under Sony and Canon are doing. According to digi-came, Nikon has decided to go full-on boutique and not chase market share. This sounds a bit strange considering they also make a Z50 and a very decent Z30 camera and follow that up with a “pretty” Z fc camera. I think the market as a whole would be worse off if Nikon decided that its APS-C should languish.

    Nikon has some capable APS-C cameras, they just need the lenses – a similar problem that Canon has. But Nikon seems to have spent some time thinking out what APS-C cameras they should make and some attention to ergonomics – versus Canon's more drunken toss spaghetti a the wall approach.

    See Canon? It's possible!

    I'm going to wait with popcorn and watch several sites today because I'm sure Sony's 1.7% increase is going to sound like 17% in certain circles. But let's talk about this. Sony had a significant mirrorless lead. They have an “open-ishy” mount that allows for far more third-party vendors to participate in the FE-mount. They carried their momentum and mirrorless technological lead through the time Canon and Nikon were switching lens mounts and thus their entire ecosystems. With all of those advantages, they barely have a market share greater than 25%.

    Circling back to Canon, there is really not much more to say – with fewer DSLRs sold every year, Canon is maintaining its market share over its competitors. That is impressive. To fully execute the transition from DSLRs and also from the completely orphaned EOS-M and not even skip a beat really does show that Canon is the juggernaut. But they can't rest on their laurels and coast because being that dominant market player has responsibility (imagine a Spiderman quote here).

    Canon has the responsibility to grow the camera market because they are the dominant market leader. They need to lead the industry in finding ways to get people into the larger cameras that we all carry around, and not be a follower. So while it does appear as if the market is stable, it's not an overall growth market.

    So as much as we like to beat up on Sony and feel a little pity for Nikon, the industry as a whole still has to figure out how to sell more cameras in 2025 and beyond.

    Source: Nikkei via Digi-Came

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    Go to discussion...

    99 comments

    2. Poor Nikon, no wonder they are realeasing so many 600mm wild life lenses....in the hope to catch the market and sell a few more camera bodies as a consequence.
      I think a similar statement on mirrorless lens sales would be informative too. Canon makes way more profit on lens sales than camera bodies.
      So I wonder who sells the most lenses? I know that Canon's EF lensese are still selling very well for Canon.
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    4. The only caveat I would bring to this is that we are talking of shipments, not sell out, similar to what CIPA reports monthly. I wonder what happens from the retailer to the end user? Lots of back ordered products but also some heavy discounts across the board from all manufacturers, so I don\'t know if the dynamics are the same between Sell-in and sell-out.
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    5. Quote frome the article: "But let's talk about this. Sony had a commanding 5-year mirrorless lead."

      Sony release their first mirrorless camera (Nex Series) in 2010, Canon followed with the EOS M in 2012, so it is only a two year lead. Since these numbers look at the camera market overall IMO it makes sense to take APS-C cameras into consideration.

      If you want to compare the time between the first a7 with the EOS R, then only FF MILC market share should be taken into consideration, where Sony claims first place (1). Since this claim is apparently based on Sony`s internal numbers it should be taken with a grain of salt. But I think it is safe to say that the race is way closer in that segment compared to the overall camera market.

      I must have misunderstood the text quoted above. Damn language barrier!
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    7. The difference is even more impressive when you see the absolute numbers from 2023. Source: DCLife article posted by @Navism.

      Mirrorless camera shipments 2023
      1. Canon: 1.96 million units ↑
      2. Sony: 1.53 million units ↑
      3. Nikon: 630,000 units ↑
      4. Fujifilm: 380,000 units ↑
      5. Panasonic … 140,000 units →
      6. OM Digital … 120,000 units ↓
      Digital SLR shipments 2023
      1. Canon … 920,000 units ↓
      2. Nikon … 130,000 units ↓
      3. Ricoh Imaging … 10,000 units →
      Compact digital camera shipments 2023
      1. Sony: 470,000 units ↓
      2. Canon … 460,000 units ↓
      3. Panasonic … 120,000 units ↓
      4. OM Digital … 60,000 units ↓
      5. Nikon … 50,000 units ↓
      6. Fujifilm … 50,000 units
      7. Ricoh Imaging … 50,000 units →
      All manufacturers below Nikon have tough times ahead. I can image Nikon seeking a profitable niche: Canon shipped more DSLR’s than Nikon’s mirrorless, DSLR and compact shipments combined.

      Google translated link to DCLife
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    8. We reported earlier this month that the data from Techno Systems Research was released, and now all the market data is published for all to see.


      www.canonrumors.com

      Canon sold almost half all cameras made in 2023

      We reported earlier this month that the data from Techno Systems Research was released, and now all the market data is published for all to see. DCW reports that according to Techno Systems Research…
      www.canonrumors.com
      Trying to read this site and forum, navigating video ads by pressing the tiniest of "x" just to try and get rid of them up and down my phone screen is getting to the point where I won't bother with this site anymore. This is getting rediculous
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    9. Yo me hago una pregunta, ami que más me da esos números y esas cifras, lo que realmente me puede interesar es algún producto de alguna marca.
      Que sentido tiene que en estos foros nos pongamos a tertulias económicas de unas u otras Marcas?.
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    10. Another interesting data point is that the average unit price of DSLRs shipped in 2023 was $336, while the average unit price of MILCs shipped in 2023 was $831. That suggests that unit sales are still being driven largely by APS-C cameras (no surprise about that) though ratio of FF to APS-C has been trending upward for the past few years.
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    11. Another interesting data point is that the average unit price of DSLRs shipped in 2023 was $336, while the average unit price of MILCs shipped in 2023 was $831. That suggests that unit sales are still being driven largely by APS-C cameras (no surprise about that) though ratio of FF to APS-C has been trending upward for the past few years.
      With the quality and price point of the R8 and RF non-L primes, I wonder if Canon will lean towards that direction or improve the APS-C bodies. You’d think that having a usable electronic shutter would be a big selling point for crop bodies, but only the most expensive and hi-res body has one, and that is borderline unusable!
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    12. "the industry as a whole still has to figure out how to sell more cameras in 2025 and beyond."

      I think the industry has pretty much given up on that. They just want unit sales to stabilize at the current level, rather than going down more.
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    13. "Nikon has decided to go full-on boutique and not chase market share."

      (NR) But one camera store in one country is selling a lot of Nikon cameras, so they must be dominating the worldwide market. :)
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    14. Trying to read this site and forum, navigating video ads by pressing the tiniest of "x" just to try and get rid of them up and down my phone screen is getting to the point where I won't bother with this site anymore. This is getting rediculous

      we have to pay the bills somehow my friend.
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    15. "the industry as a whole still has to figure out how to sell more cameras in 2025 and beyond."

      I think the industry has pretty much given up on that. They just want unit sales to stabilize at the current level, rather than going down more.

      that literally won't happen though people stop upgrading after a while.
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    16. Quote frome the article: "But let's talk about this. Sony had a commanding 5-year mirrorless lead."

      Sony release their first mirrorless camera (Nex Series) in 2010, Canon followed with the EOS M in 2012, so it is only a two year lead. Since these numbers look at the camera market overall IMO it makes sense to take APS-C cameras into consideration.

      If you want to compare the time between the first a7 with the EOS R, then only FF MILC market share should be taken into consideration, where Sony claims first place (1). Since this claim is apparently based on Sony`s internal numbers it should be taken with a grain of salt. But I think it is safe to say that the race is way closer in that segment compared to the overall camera market.

      (1) https://petapixel.com/2024/09/18/so...t-in-the-full-frame-mirrorless-camera-market/

      Sony is famous for hedging their numbers not to mention your data point "Sony says it achieved the number one market share based on internal data from the 2023 fiscal year."

      snorts.

      The point still stands really - Sony had an overwhelming lead - what the market considered an unbeatable amount of momentum when Canon and Nikon pivoted. and all they got from it was 26% - a net change of 6% - mostly at the expense of Panasonic and olympus.
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    17. The point still stands really - Sony had an overwhelming lead - what the market considered an unbeatable amount of momentum when Canon and Nikon pivoted. and all they got from it was 26% - a net change of 6% - mostly at the expense of Panasonic and olympus.
      Dog people marry dog people, cat people marry cat people, and Canon owners buy Canon cameras. It still makes me laugh when people chuff on about everyone switching to Sony for more MP or to Nikon for 'mid-range' ($3-4K) PF telephoto lenses.
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    18. The only caveat I would bring to this is that we are talking of shipments, not sell out, similar to what CIPA reports monthly. I wonder what happens from the retailer to the end user? Lots of back ordered products but also some heavy discounts across the board from all manufacturers, so I don\'t know if the dynamics are the same between Sell-in and sell-out.
      But why would they ship cameras if they were not selling? I always find it silly when people post these arguments.
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    19. Sony is famous for hedging their numbers not to mention your data point "Sony says it achieved the number one market share based on internal data from the 2023 fiscal year."

      snorts.

      The point still stands really - Sony had an overwhelming lead - what the market considered an unbeatable amount of momentum when Canon and Nikon pivoted. and all they got from it was 26% - a net change of 6% - mostly at the expense of Panasonic and olympus.
      Yes, thats what I said, that Sony numbers need a grain of salt. And your point may or may not still stand.

      But the claim of 5 years ahead in mirrorless is simply untrue, that´s all.

      Edit: No longer relevant
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