The sales drop, and the prediction for another big drop is scary. This looks to be the future. At what point will it no longer be profitable to design and sell camera equipment? That day could arrive. Canon, and others are dropping cheaper cameras for the more profitable expensive models. I know canon just came out with a cheaper R body, but it’s still a lot more expensive than their cheapest DSLR.
Nikon has already put the new D780 on an effective sale by giving an additional $300 off until the end of March When you bring in any working body, from any manufacturer. It could be 40 years old. That’s additional to other sales pricing.
this industry is far from healthy.
The sky isn't falling. Instead, the the market is returning to historical levels. The major difference is that instead of Instamatics, people are using their cell phones. Camera sales are down from the past decade when the rapid adoption of digital sent the market through the roof, but I strongly suspect Canon and Nikon with about a century of experience in the market fully understood that the boom was temporary.
Like bank robbers, they are now going where the money is, which is upper income, generally older, users. They are also aiming at new markets in Asia with rising disposable income. It's true they haven't unlocked the secret to younger consumers and that will become a problem over time as people like me are only one or two camera generations away from exiting the market.
Canon's emphasis on video may be one path to younger buyers. While iPhones can substitute for point and shoot cameras, they really don't do video as well as Apple would like you to believe. For folks like me, who aren't big users of the video features, these new R models may not be as appealing as they are to others, but the video-centric features are apparently essential to expanding the market.
So, I wouldn't say it's all doom and gloom. Things are changing and Canon and Nikon are working to adapt to those changes.