According to Latest figures (PDF) from Japan-based Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA), total shipments of interchangeable-lens digital cameras increased by nearly 11% by 2022. Approximately 5.93 million units of cameras with interchangeable lenses were shipped, equaling 110.8% year-on-year. This type of camera accounts for almost three-quarters (74%) of total shipments. Meanwhile, lens shipments in 2022 totaled 9.73 million units, a slight increase of 2% year over year and approximately 1.6 times the number of interchangeable lens camera bodies. are shipped.
Overall, however, total digital camera shipments fell 4.2 percent to 8.01 million units. The camera market first started to decline in 2009 due to the effects of the global recession. Despite starting to recover in 2017, CIPA data shows that the market has fallen below previous levels for five consecutive years since 2018. The main reason for the decline in total lots still the proliferation of smartphones, which has had a significant impact on sales of compact digital cameras. In 2022, digital camera shipments with built-in lenses were down 30% year over year, with just 2.08 million units shipped—just over 26% of the total.
In the same report, CIPA gives a rather bleak outlook for 2023, expecting to ship only 5.72 million units of interchangeable-lens cameras (down 3.5% compared to 2022), 9 .39 million units of lenses (down 3.5%) and only 1.68 million units of compacts (down 19%). The association cited “the worldwide shortage of semiconductors” and “the fact that the dark clouds of the coronavirus disaster have not yet been completely cleared” as reasons for pessimism.
