CIPA projects camera decline in 2024 but the year is looking good so far

The Japanese Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA) announced its outlook forecast on the ‘shipment by product-type concerning cameras and related goods for 2024’ and expects a decrease compared to 2023. Readers should note, however, CIPA data covers products made by member companies including OM Digital Solutions Corp.,  Carl Zeiss Co. Ltd. Canon Inc., SIGMA Corp., Kenko Tokina Co. Ltd., Sony Corporation, COSINA Co., Ltd., Nikon Corp, Panasonic Entertainment & Communication Co. Ltd., FUJIFILM Corp., Tamron Co., Ltd., andRICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. The data does not include action-camera brands like GoPro, Insta360, or DJI, drones, and cinema cameras like Blackmagic Design.

The CIPA report provides insights into the digital camera market, looking at market trends among mirrorless and DSLR cameras. The 2023 annual report released in February showed the market declined in Europe and the United States but continued to increase in Asia, especially in China. The growth in Asia is not expected to offset the overall global decline in digital camera and lens shipments.

“Total digital camera shipments in 2024 (from January to December cumulative) are expected to be 7.41 million units, which is 96.0% of the previous year, including 860,000 units or 94.5% to Japan, and 6.55 million units or 96.2% to countries other than Japan,” said CIPA in a statement. Shipments of interchangeable-lens digital cameras are expected to be down less than 2% of the previous year and fixed-lens unit sales are expected to be down 13%.  CIPA’s predicts lenses for interchangeable-lens shipments will remain in 2024.

So far in 2024, CIPA data shows digital camera shipments are above those from comparable shipments for the same period in 2023 (shown in the chart below).