2017 Industry Figures Show Years Long Camera Sales Slump May be Ending

After years of declining sales figures and the requisite reporting on the industry’s “imminent” collapse, it seems the camera market has finally plateaued. The latest CIPA numbers show modest growth in some areas and neutral numbers elsewhere, hinting that a long sales slump might finally be over.

Every quarter, the trade body CIPA (Camera & Imaging Products Association) releases fresh shipment figures for digital stills cameras. And every quarter for several years, that report has shown declining numbers—the CIPA reports have become something of a harbinger of doom.

Well, no more.

The latest numbers released today show that Q1 shipments of fixed-lens cameras remained flat while shipments of Interchangeable lens cameras were up… no declines anywhere. In fact, ILC shipments in February matched numbers from 2015, far outstripping 2016 for Valentines month and contributing to the overall increase in shipments over Q1 2016.

Of course, none of this means that digital cameras, and in particular fixed lens cameras, are suddenly popular again. As DPReview points out, if you compare these numbers to 5 years ago we’re still seeing a 34% decline in ILC sales and a whopping 84% decline in fixed-lens sales.

Still, we’ll take our good news where we can get it and hope this is a sign of more growth in the coming months. To dive deeper into the figures yourself, click here and here.

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