According to the Japan Economic News, Nikon announced that it will withdraw from SLR cameras, and the 60-year era of SLR cameras is over.However, Nikon will continue to manufacture and sell existing SLR camera models, and Nikon will focus on the development of mirrorless cameras, introducing the latest technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) technology or image processing technology.
As for why it will withdraw from the SLR industry, the report mentioned that the camera industry has been affected by the progress of smartphone photography.
As soon as the news came out, netizens were in an uproar, and many people said, "The tears of the times have once again witnessed history."
However, Nikon Japan responded on its official website on July 12 that there are media reports that we have withdrawn from the development of SLR cameras, but this is speculation and we have not announced.We continue to manufacture, sell and support DSLR cameras, and we hope our customers will continue to use them with peace of mind.
Nikon is one of the three major camera manufacturers in the world. It has been manufacturing cameras since 1959 and has a history of more than 60 years.Nikon cameras are the favorite cameras of professionals and have always been well received by the market.
However, due to the popularity of smart phones, high-definition mobile phones have become people's main shooting tools, and SLR cameras have gradually lost the market.According to the Japan Camera Association, the current market sales of SLR cameras in Japan have fallen to 20% of what they were five years ago.
Nikon has been producing digital cameras since the 1990s, and the latest is the "D6" which went on sale in June 2020.
Due to the reduced demand for cameras, Sino-Singapore Jingwei reported in November 2020 that Nikon announced that it would lay off more than 2,000 employees outside Japan by March 2022, accounting for about two of its total overseas employees.
According to public information, on November 4, 2021, Nikon released its semi-annual report from April 1 to September 30, 2021. In half a year, its sales revenue reached about 273 billion yen, a substantial increase of about 974% compared with the same period last year. The operating profit reached about 32.1 billion yen, of which the revenue of the imaging division in the first half of the fiscal year was about 89.2 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of about 39%.
It is worth noting that recently, the Japan Camera and Imaging Products Association CIPA announced the global digital camera shipment data in May 2022, showing that digital camera sales were only 637,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 10%, and the decline for 10 consecutive months.Shipments of digital SLR cameras fell off a cliff in May.
Daily Economic News comprehensive Nikon Japan website, China Fund News, public information
