Is the compact camera dead?

[dreed]

From the sonyalpharumors web site some brief bits talk about the compact digital camera market:

The imaging division that includes Digital Imaging Products and Professional Solutions categories. had a slightly revenue drop from ¥219.1 (Q1) to ¥182.6 (Q2) but there is still an operating income plus of ¥2.6 (numbers in millions). Sony writes that “This decrease was primarily due to a significant decrease in unit sales of compact digital cameras reflecting a contraction of the low-end of the market resulting from popularization of smartphones as well as a slowing economy.“. But the forecats prediction says that “Sales are expected to increase and operating income is expected to increase significantly year-on-year.”

What is Sony’s goal for the imaging business? Here it is:
“Although the market for compact digital cameras continues to contract, Sony is working to restore profitability through reinforcement of its high value added products such as those that are differentiated through the use of highly competitive image sensors developed by Sony.”

This more than likely refers to the RX1 ...

I wonder for how much longer we will continue to see compact cameras from the likes of Casio? Surely the writing must be well and truely on the wall for them...

[Robert Roaldi]

I still have a use for a shirt-pocket (maybe big pocket) zoom digicam (I don't own a cell or smart phone), but I don't see a need for 12 versions of them in a model line-up. In my case, the second-hand market of already existing digicams may be all I'll ever need or want.

[RFPhotography]

This isn't new information.  I posted a discussion about this quite a while back.  Compact camera sales are down significantly.  The reason is that smartphone cameras have become so good that many people are content to carry a single device rather than two. 

From January 2012

From June 2012


It's why Nikon announced an Android powered camera