Digital Camera Shipments Increased Last Year for the First Time Since 2017

CIPA published its annual data for digital camera and interchangeable lens shipments this month, and for the first time since 2017, digital camera shipments increased annually year-over-year.

As reported by Lensvid, the data offers cause for optimism, as total digital camera shipments had previously decreased every year since 2017. Even that year was just an outlier, as total camera shipments had decreased every other year since 2010. Whether 2024 will be a 2017-like blip on the radar or the start of a general upward swing remains to be seen.

However, before diving into the latest data, two important caveats are worth noting. The CIPA (Camera and Image Products Association) data only includes data from Japanese manufacturers. While that covers all the mainstream brands, like Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, OM System, Panasonic, Sigma, and Sony, it excludes camera companies like Hasselblad and Leica. While neither are moving huge numbers of cameras — that is not their business strategy — both are successful. Leica, for example, recorded its highest revenue ever in 2024.

The other consideration is that CIPA measures production, conveyed in terms of shipments from manufacturers into the retail chain. While this is undoubtedly close to actual sales numbers, it is not the same.

As the chart above shows, digital camera shipments from Japanese manufacturers precipitously fell after 2010. While 121.5 million to 115 million may not sound like a huge drop, that decrease is barely less than the total annual digital camera shipments from 2020 through 2024.

Camera shipments fell even more from 2011 to 2012, then by over 35 million units from 2012 to 2013. That was the single largest year-to-year drop on record, and it’s no coincidence that it occurred when smartphone image quality reached acceptable levels for typical consumers.

PetaPixel also created a chart for the last 10 years of digital camera shipments, ranging from the high watermark of 43.43 million units in 2014 through 2024. This helps show how things have evolved during the DSLR to mirrorless transition. While the digital camera industry has not recovered to its pre-COVID levels, the increase from 2023 to 2024 is a welcome change.

Whether 2023 was the digital camera industry’s rock bottom or if increasing geopolitical and economic uncertainties in 2025 will send new damaging shockwaves through the industry remains to be seen. Still, for now, the digital camera industry has some good news — which has been rare for a while.

CIPA also breaks down its digital camera shipment data by camera type. From 2007 through 2011, data was separated into cameras with built-in lenses versus cameras with interchangeable lenses. From 2012 onward, the data further split digital ILCs into SLR-type and mirrorless-type.

Some clear patterns and data points emerge by breaking down the data this way. Notably, DSLR sales peaked in 2012 and have steadily decreased yearly. While some of that early dip was primarily due to reduced demand for digital cameras overall, some of the DSLR decrease was due to increasing interest in non-DSLR interchangeable lens cameras.

It’s also evident that a big chunk of those huge decreases in digital camera shipments from 2011 onward was due to decreased demand for cameras with built-in lenses. While compact cameras had something of a revival last year, that’s still a drop in the bucket. Cameras with built-in lenses were the digital camera most people bought for a long time, and that is no longer the case.

Looking at just the past 10 years, the picture becomes even clearer. DSLR camera shipments have decreased yearly since 2014, while compact camera sales have generally followed in lockstep, with two slight upticks in 2017 and 2024.

It’s unsurprising to see DSLR camera shipments continually drop, reaching a new all-time record-low 2024 of under a million units. The only company still involved with DSLR cameras in any substantial way is Ricoh Pentax, and even its involvement is relatively minor. 2025 will likely be an even worse year for DSLR cameras unless something dramatic happens.

Mirrorless camera shipments stayed generally steady throughout much of these 10 years. However, there was a big drop from 2019 to 2020, mainly due to COVID. Digital mirrorless camera shipments have increased annually since, reaching a new record high in 2024.

CIPA also publishes data on lens shipments, breaking things down into lenses for full-frame (and larger) models and cameras with smaller sensors, like APS-C and Micro Four Thirds. PetaPixel will look at this data in a later follow-up.

Image credits: Header photo created using an asset licensed via Depositphotos.