Camera & Imaging Products Association
MA Shibaura Building 3F, 3-8-10. shibaura,Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-0023 Japan
Phone +81-3-5442-4800

PRESS RELEASEFebruary 1, 2016
Camera & Imaging Products Association

2016 Outlook on the Shipment Forecast by Product-Type
Concerning Cameras and Related Goods
The Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA, President: Hiroyuki Sasa) has
announced the outlook on the shipment forecast by product-type concerning cameras
and related goods for the 2016 term.
1.

Track record of shipments 2015

Total shipments decline 18.5% year on year; interchangeable lens camerashipments as percent of total shipments grow to 37%
Total shipments of digital cameras in 2015 (the cumulative total of shipments fromJanuary to December) fell 18.5% year on year to 35.40 million units.
Since CIPA began compiling records in 1999, digital camera shipments recorded steady
growth surpassing 100 million units for the first time in 2007. Shipments, however, fell
for the first time in 2009 due to the global recession, and fell again in 2011 because of
the serious impact that the Great East Japan Earthquake and flooding in Thailand had on
production. Although shipments were expected to recover in 2012, they shrank againthat year, and since then shipments have continued to decline through 2015.
However, considering that shipments contracted 30.9% in 2014, the size of the decline
in 2015 was substantially less. Although shipments of digital cameras with a built-inlens (so-called compact digital cameras) continued to decline dramatically, shipments ofdigital cameras with an interchangeable lens were about the same as last year. Digital
cameras with an interchangeable lens are rapidly accounting for a greater and greater
share of total shipments—27% in 2013, 32% in 2014, and 37% in 2015—and acted as abreak on the decline in total shipments.
Shipments of interchangeable lens cameras contract 5.7% year on year
Shipments of digital cameras with a built-in lens declined 24.5% year on year to 22.30
million units.
Although shipments are still weak, less than 80% of what they were in 2014, the pace ofdecline has markedly slowed.
Shipments of digital cameras with an interchangeable lens fell 5.7% year on year to1

13.10 million units.
This is a clear improvement compared to 2014, when shipments declined 19.2%, butthere were expectations that the year-on-year declines since 2013 would come to an end
because shipments in some months of 2015 rose dramatically and exceeded those in
2014. On an annual basis, however, shipments failed to match those of 2014.
Broken down by regions, shipments of digital cameras with a built-in lens to Japan
contracted 17.8% year on year while shipments to regions outside of Japan fell 25.6%.
As for shipments of digital cameras with an interchangeable lens, those to Japan shrank
9.9% year on year while those to regions outside of Japan declined 5.0%. Shipments ofdigital cameras with an interchangeable lens to regions outside of Japan are driving therecovery.
Digital cameras with a built-in lens have faced fierce competition with the advent of thesmartphone. Digital cameras with an interchangeable lens, however, provide picture
quality that is completely different from that of smartphones and demonstrate anunrestricted expressiveness when combined with highly individualistic exchangeable
lenses, which continue to excite camera fans, and demand for these cameras remains
firm.
However, even for digital cameras with a built-in lens, companies has launched efforts
to appeal to consumers using diverse approaches unique to each company, such as highdefinition devices with massive sensors and action camera products, whose use is
rapidly expanding to new fields, and shipments are expected to increase in the future.
Shipments of interchangeable lenses shrink 5.5%
Digital cameras with an interchangeable lens are not only high-added-value products
but also system products that demonstrate their full capabilities when used with various
compatible products, such as lenses.
Shipments of the core lenses for these cameras totaled 21.70 million units, ayear-on-year decrease of 5.5%. This is about 1.6-1.7 times the shipment of digital
cameras with an interchangeable lens, the body for those lenses.
This is because the range of users is expanding due to a wider lineup of both single lensreflex and non-reflex cameras, the two broad categories of digital cameras withinterchangeable lenses, and a growing number of users are awakening to the pleasure ofpossessing numerous lenses and using each one for a particular purpose because theyare interchangeable.

2.

Outlook on shipments in 2016

Total shipments (the cumulative total of shipments from January to December) of digital
cameras in 2016 are projected to be 31.00 million units, a year-on-year decline of2

12.4%.
Broken down by product type, shipments of cameras with a built-in lens are projected tobe 18.60 million units (a year-on-year fall of 16.6%). Of those, shipments to Japan andthose to regions outside of Japan are projected to be 2.90 million units (a year-on-year
decrease of 12.1%) and 15.70 million units (a year-on-year decline of 17.8%),
respectively. Shipments of cameras with an interchangeable lens are projected to be
12.40 million units (a year-on-year fall of 5.3%). Of those, shipments to Japan and those
to regions outside of Japan are projected to be 1.6 million units (the same as 2015) and10.80 million units (a year-on-year decrease of 5.3%), respectively.
Shipments of lenses for cameras with an interchangeable lens are projected to fall 7.8%
year on year to 20.00 million units. Of those, shipments to Japan and those to regions
outside of Japan are projected to decline 6.2% year on year to 3.00 million units and8.1% year on year to 17.00 million units, respectively.
It is expected that not only will there be strong demand from users who have come toenjoy taking photos because of low-end digital cameras and smartphones and want
better digital cameras—so-called step-up demand—but also that demand for digital
cameras with an exchangeable lens will remain firm compared to that for digital
cameras with a built-in lens.
* “Non-reflex digital cameras” refer to mirrorless digital cameras and compact system cameras(interchangeable lens cameras with range finder and interchangeable camera units, etc.)

3

PRESS RELEASE

February 1, 20162016 Outlook on the Shipment Forecast by Product Type
Concerning Cameras and Related Goods
Camera & Imaging Produces Association

Millions of units
Total Shipments

Shipments to Japan

Shipments to countries other than Japan

Actualresults for2015Year-onyearchangeForecast for2016

Year-onyearchangeActualresults for2015Year-onyearchangeForecast for2016

Year-onyearchangeActualresults for2015Year-onyearchangeForecast for2016

Year-onyearchange

35.4

81.5%

31.0

87.6%

4.9

84.7%4.5

91.8%

30.5

81.0%

26.5

86.9%

Built-in lenscameras

22.3

75.5%

18.6

83.4%

3.3

82.2%

2.9

87.9%

19.1

74.4%

15.7

82.2%

Interchangeable lenscameras

13.1

94.3%

12.4

94.7%

1.6

90.1%

1.6

100.0%

11.4

95.0%

10.8

94.7%

21.7

94.5%

20.0

92.2%

3.2

96.9%

3.0

93.8%

18.5

94.1%

17.0

91.9%

Item

Digital cameras (total)

Lenses forinterchangeable lenscamerasNotes: Figures may not add up due to rounding.

Inquires concerning this press release:
Camera & Imaging Products Association
URL : http://www.cipa.jp/
E-mail : infostat@cipa.jp