February 2019 CIPA Numbers Show Continued Decline for Digital Cameras

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The news is never good for digital camera sales (unless you’re a smartphone manufacturer).

And CIPA’s latest numbers just confirms this.

black canon dslr camera
Image via Tim Savage from Pexels.com.

The decline of digital cameras is getting even steeper by the month as the 2019 February numbers show that 935,148 were shipped this year as opposed to 1,340,995 in February 2018, a 30% decrease according to DPReview.

Interchangeable lens cameras also experienced a decline in shipment numbers, moving from 798,014 in February 2018 to 521,217 this year. Both of these years represent a marked decline from 2017’s numbers which were 843,217.

In addition, built-in lens digital camera shipments also declined though not nearly as much as digital cameras or interchangeable lens cameras.

Those numbers are 413,931 units for 2019 as compared to 2018’s 542,981.

Drawing conclusions from this probably beyond this author’s pay grade, but most people on the Internet don’t seem to think these are positive signs from the marketplace.

Interestingly, though shipments of digital cameras are declining, the number of digital photographs taken every single day continues to grow by exponential numbers.

While most analysts think there will always be a market for high-end cameras of any kind, smartphone cameras are really eating up the market for the low-end fare.

That’s a trend that isn't expected to reverse and, really, there aren’t any compelling strategies out there to convince consumers to own a digital camera in addition to a high-end smartphone.

Beyond digital cameras and smartphones, the numbers for instant cameras are actually really good and that's kind of surprising given the general trends in the market. Though it could be part of the retro nostalgia that helped birth projects like the Yashica digiFilm camera, it also might be because people still value tangible objects in an increasingly digital world.

Of course, we’re always interested in your insights. Please be sure to comment below.

About Author

Kehl is our staff photography news writer since 2017 and has over a decade of experience in online media and publishing and you can get to know him better here and follow him on Insta.

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