Canon, Sony, and Panasonic aren’t immune to the supply-chain issues impacting electronics makers worldwide.
But no one quite expected the number of product delays to be this extensive – or this long.
Coming as a surprise to no one but those who haven’t been paying attention lately, the three companies outlined what products would be delayed as well as, optimistically speaking, when we might see them on store shelves.
And, as anyone who understands the iterative nature of these products, any kind of delay in actually getting units into consumers’ hands just means that cutting-edge tech ages that much faster.
Pop Photo reports that Panasonic is delaying its Lumix GH6 until next year while Sony has stopped taking orders entirely for their A7 IV. Meanwhile, issues continue to plague Canon’s EOS R5 and EOS R6.
Two other issues that complicate matters are shipping delays and general global inflation; as the costs of components parts rise due to both demand and scarcity, prices on available products concurrently increase making production even more difficult and capital intensive while also placing renewed pressure on demand forecasting. In other words, everything costs more and market gambles become less and less attractive as a result.
Perhaps that is why we’ve seen so many products get outright canceled due to the rising cost of bringing them to market and the value proposition this represents for both sides of the spectrum (consumer and producer). There’s also the general decline in consumer camera sales to factor into all of this – a phenomenon well underway prior to COVID-19.
As for when we might see some things start to return to normal, optimistic analysts predict early 2022.
Of course, if you’ve had any experiences with delays in getting new cameras or gear, we’d love to hear your story in the comments below.
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