Compact camera sales plummet 11% in one year

[Mr Olympia]

UK consumers bought around 11% fewer compact cameras than they did just a year ago, as the impact of smartphones on point-and-shoot models takes hold.



Compact cameras with less powerful zooms have taken the biggest hit. Units sales of fixed-lens digital compacts, with a zoom of less than 10x, fell 21% for the year to May 2012, according to figures released by GfK Retail and Technology UK. Total fixed-lens camera sales, including bridge models, dropped to 4.6 million from June 2011-May 2012 – down from 5.2m the previous year.Compact cameras featuring a zoom of under 10x account for nearly three-quarters of the entire fixed-lens market in the UK, in terms of sales volume.

As reported last week, consumers snapped up 50% more cameras with a zoom of 10x or higher (excluding bridge models). More than 800,000 cameras in this category were sold over the 12 months. Nearly 400,000 bridge cameras were sold in the year to May 2012.


Source

[blaggard]

Superzoom and bridge is the way to go if not DSLR or as a backup, camera phones take care of the rest.

[{{909}}]

A lot of people are predicting the end of the compact camera due to phones getting better but I am yet to see a camera phone that can take half decent shots with flash.

I think the slow is sales has something to do with the technology advancement in compacts is slowing now, its virtually impossible to buy a bad camera these days and there's much less need to upgrade your camera compared to a few years ago. Almost everyone I know owns a compact camera that they have had for a few years, I remember being cutting edge with my first 1.2mpix fuji about 10 years ago.