Not only does the data include DSLRs, it also includes point and shoot cameras. When you look at just mirrorless cameras Sony holds the most market share.
No. Well, maybe in your personal reality, but not out here in the real world. In 2022, Sony sold 1.25 million MILCs and Canon sold 1.54 million MILCs, 20% more than Sony. If you're going to make an argument, it is usually a poor idea to start off with misinformation.
Its pretty obvious that the built in lens camera market has dropped almost 90% from its peak. So the question is once that market is gone completely how will Canon stack up then.
In 2011 Canon had zero MILC market share. A few years ago, Canon was behind Sony in MILC market share. Last year, Canon led the global MILC market just as they have led the DSLR market and the overall ILC market for the past two decades and currently dominate the camera market.
When Sony failed to compete with Canon and Nikon in the DSLR market, they abandoned it and focused on mirrorless. When Canon launched the EOS M line, Sony moved into and prioritized full frame MILCs. Canon is now in that market segment as well, and they now lead mirrorless as they've done for DSLRs and the ILC market as a whole for the past two decades.
So the answer is that Canon is already stacking up just fine. The question is whether Sony will continue putting resources into cameras if they keep losing market share to Canon. They have quite a history of abandoning/divesting product lines. I really liked my little Vaio PC, too. Sony's sensor division could profitably continue supplying other camera makers even if Sony stops making cameras.
Canon's model seems to be to sell cheaper mirrorless cameras and make money of lenses while Sony's strategy to be sell more expensive mirrorless cameras by having an open platform with more lenses.
That's a good point, and while Canon leads in units sold, Sony leads in the value of those units. That's quite logical, since FF cameras are more expensive than APS-C cameras, and Sony has prioritized the former.
I believe a reasonable assumption for the useful life of a camera is 5 years, give or take. Canon is 5 years into FF MILCs. That means that there are many 5- and 6- series DSLR users out there who are only now beginning to switch to mirrorless. Based on market share over the last decade, something like 70-80% of all ILC users have a Canon camera. Only a minority are FF, but as those users start to move from Canon DSLRs to Canon MILCs, the unit value of Canon's market-leading MILC volume will also increase (as was the case for Sony starting 5-6 years ago).