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The shipments from Japan this year have been somewhat puzzling, driven by the narrative and uncertainty surrounding the tariffs imposed by the United States across multiple industries. I long thought that the Japanese companies were working overtime and moving cameras everywhere, being completely unsure about what would happen this year.
Sales Dip
The first month of this potentially damaging disruption was August, and we are seeing the effect on CIPA's shipments, as year-over-year shipments of interchangeable lens cameras are down to 84% of those from 2024 and are even lower than those from 2023.
Okay, but it's not all bad. Year on year, the shipments of cameras remain higher than in 2024, but we are starting to see a downward trend, and it's unclear where it will stop. I had long thought that this year's CIPA data would be difficult to predict, and we may not even know the final results until January 2026.
The Data Breakdown
Now onto the data, because it's, well, strange. You'd think from the above and also knowing a bit about what is happening in the world that the biggest hit on shipments would have been to the USA; however, shipments of built-in lens cameras are up 26% and interchangeable lens cameras are about the same as last year at 99.7% of August 2024.
Overall, in the Americas, year-over-year, built-in lens cameras are up 14%, and interchangeable cameras are up 14%.
China, which has shown significant gains in camera shipments over the last year or so, fell flat in August, with shipments only reaching 75% of those in August 2024. Still, China is up 15% year-over-year and remains the region with the most interchangeable lens cameras shipped to, leading slightly ahead of the Americas. There was one interesting change in August 2025 for China, specifically the built-in lens cameras, which increased by 56% compared to August 2024.
The newer built-in lens camera models may be contributing to this increase in sales, especially compared to last year. Still, the number of built-in cameras shipped to China is small, at only 30,267, compared to Japan, which shipped 41,631.
Even more surprising than China's dip in shipments is the fact that interchangeable lens camera shipments to Europe were 57% of those in August 2024, and even built-in lens cameras remained essentially flat at 97.4% of August 2024 levels.
I suspect cameras like the Canon Powershot V1, shown above, have contributed to the increased shipments of built-in lens cameras globally. The Canon Elph 360a, not so much.
In short, shipments to the Americas remained relatively constant while shipments to China and Europe dropped significantly. Why is this? I have no idea.
Conclusion
Overall, no one can complain yet. The camera market is experiencing an 8% growth in shipments for interchangeable lens cameras and nearly 14% for built-in lens cameras. If this continues, and the consignment settles down for the remainder of the year, the camera companies could have a good year.
But if the trend line over the last few months continues, it could be rough sailing ahead.
Seems, that built-in lens cameras are gaining ground, because people recognize, that cell phone cameras cannot handle everything.
But ILC are still too big for those people, Vloggers, etc.
1. R7 II (I have an R7)
2. RE-1 retro look camera (AE-1 was my dream camera as a kid)
3. G3x update (I’m still using my 2015 G3x)
But many more people have jobs that do not involve travelling.
And many more people travel to countries where they feel safe and (think they) don't need "second burner cell phones".
It auto dim the bright background also brighthen up the face..
How can I defeat this?!
Sorry for the lack of better terms.
But when light gets dim, action takes place, tele is needed and/or bigger prints/screens come into play, they get weaker in their results.
So I fully agree with @snapshot, too.
Getting back to the start:
I didn't want to start a discussion about Phones vs. P&S vs. ILC. Everybody please select the tool that works best for you.
I was just thinking about potential reasons, why P&S or built-in lens camera sales go up again...
This is why I think the R6III needs 32MP, or more - it's different/more and will encourage more buyers than another 24MP camera that I could probably take with an R8 or R8II which is much cheaper.
Typically only if they're traveling to the USA.
I wonder this to i already thought they would already bring out a powershot for photographers, but we will wait and wait and wait
To me it was (sadly, in first) clear, that DSLRs would die.
First iterations of the EVF (Oly OM5, RP, R, ...) were simply to slow for me and my action photography (dragonflies).
But having the R6m2 now, I wouldn't want to step back.
Give new P&S the AF of an R50 and the latest 1" sensor generation and they'd be really great.
It's also very expensive and a huge hurdle that many will decide is not worth the cost because there just aren't enough benefits.