Smartphones crushed digital cameras, but Fujifilm is making a comeback

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The smartphone crushed the digital camera, according to an article at Sherwood.news but Fujifilm is bucking the trend. At the height of the digital camera boom, more than 120 million digital cameras were shipped worldwide in 2010, but by 2023, shipments dropped almost 94% to less than 8 million.

But among those declining numbers is a bright spot: Fujifilm Holdings Corp. Spurred on by the success of the Fujifilm X100 series of digital compacts – juiced by TikTok-fueled online hype – the company’s imaging division accounted for 37% of the profit it posted in 2023. And the company’s new hard-to-get Fujifilm X100VI – which Wired called the “most anticipated new camera… ever” – is typical of customer enthusiasm. Add to that the continued popularity of the Instax instant film product line, Fujifilm’s imaging segment brought in ¥102 billion operating income (~$629 million), making it the company’s most profitable division last year.

The demand for the Fujifilm X100VI is so strong, despite Fujifilm reportedly doubling the launch volume in March, Yujiro Igarashi, manager of the group’s professional imaging group, told Reuters in June, “I was surprised that although we doubled our preparations, it still came up short.”