The system camera and compact camera market is shrinking. That we know already. But the following numbers of Futuresource are giving is some insights in new photographic trends:
- The worldwide population of photographers has grown by a factor of 8 over the last 10 years, to more than 4 billion
- Number of photos captured annually has increased 6-fold to 1.2 trillion over the last 10 years
That increase is driven by the exponential increase of smartphones. Few more details:
- 79% of smartphone users regularly take photos with their smartphone
- 88% of 18-24 year olds regularly take photos with their smartphone
So what happens to the “classic” system camera world? Futuresource writes:
While smartphones represent the primary camera device for a growing share of consumers, the opportunity for users to ‘step up’ to digital cameras grows with every new photographer.
“It is clear that digital cameras maintain key technical advantages over multifunctional camera-devices, in terms of bigger and superior sensors and optics, and manual control, commented Arun Gill, Market Analyst at Futuresource Consulting. However, smartphones are setting the bar in terms of smart UI’s, connectivity and mobile apps, which represents a growing usability delta between smartphones and digital cameras.”
In short: If you offer premium system (or compact) cameras you will have more chance to sell your cameras!
found via Photoscala.
5 Responses
After an exhaustive study, Futuresource also determined that water is wet and puppies are cute.
Gotta love consulting firms.
And the quality of pictures went down by a factor of 9, in the same period.
At first glance I thought “photographers” meant people who make a living using photography. If anything, I suspect their numbers are slowly declining.
Since anyone holding a camera (properly or otherwise) seems to be a photographer now, it shouldn’t be a surprise.
There was a TV advert that mentioned that “professional cameras” were available on their auction site while they showed a Canon Rebel T3i. It’s just a good thing that the low-end has an Auto mode, so people don’t have to think.
It has tantalizing little suggestions about what this very obvious revelation means to the future. But you have to buy that full report containing forecasts with real money.
We need an inducement to make that purchase. We need to understand what credibility they offer.
If they share the predictions they made 10 years ago about the future of photography, we’ll have a real opportunity to assess their track record of accuracy.