As third-quarter profit reports came out, it's now known Canon assessed a 16 percent loss in net income, largely attributed to smartphones and mirrorless cameras, unsurprisingly. Nonetheless, the popular manufacturer is optimistic for future growth.
It's no secret that smartphones have essentially rendered the compact camera a niche item, while mirrorless offerings have seriously undercut the DSLR market. Many have noted Canon's seeming lack of willingness to innovate at the pace or amount needed to keep current. In fact, I alluded to this very issue merely a month ago. Nonetheless, Canon did note a slow recovery in interchangeable-lens camera sales in Japan and Europe, though other regions showed less favorable results. Color printer sales were strong, though monochrome printer sales experienced a downturn.
The weaker yen will help to increase overall earnings due to Canon's large export business, but the counter-effect is an increase in import costs. The fourth quarter will also be a good indicator of Canon's standing and direction, as holiday sales tend to be a boon for camera manufacturers. On the same token, however, this does beg the question of Canon's long-term stance of slow evolution versus the rapid-fire innovation of competitors like Sony. For example, I found the recent introduction of the EOS M10 completely befuddling. The M10 is actually a step down from the M3, which is already far behind the mirrorless offerings of Sony and Fujifilm. The Canon mirrorless offerings seem to get almost no attention from the photography community, except when they are offered at a deep discount; thus, many of us have begun to wonder if and how Canon plans to innovate in the mirrorless market that is steadily eating away at DSLR sales.
What are your thoughts? Do you prefer Canon's evolutionary approach or would you prefer some more excitement? Let us know in the comments!
[via Canon]
CORRECTION NOTICE: This article was originally published based on a report of Canon's Q3 2014 earnings. I apologize for the error and have updated it to reflect the correct Q3 2015 report.
The second we can get a mirrorless camera that has an electronic shutter w/o the rolling shutter we have now (ie usable for sports), the world will flip upside-down. Looking forward to that day, as it's hard to beat a good EVF.
Unlike Nikon, Canon has a successful printer market, which probably makes more money than all their camera/lens sales combined. So they can roll with the punches better than Nikon. Both companies have been stupid so far with mirrorless, Nikon makes deliberate crippleware of it's Nikon 1 line, and it's rumored FF mirrorless is reported to not have an EVF! Canon's present APS-C mirrorless is also comical in it's own way, and there's little info at this time about it's forthcoming FF mirrorless.
We'll have to wait and see where this all winds up.
Perhaps, you could have read the Actual 3rd Quarter (2015) report from Canon Investor relations instead of the Report that everyone is posting about the "Reuters Story" which actual if you look at it is from OCT 27 2014 and is talking about the 3rd QTR 2014...NOT 2015. IF you read the current one you would see that actually "Operating Profits are UP 7.6% Sales are up 6.1% and Net income is down 7.1% due mostly to Yen valuations..instead of some concocted story about "Mirrorless". You would also have read that sales of "Mirror" cameras was up in Europe and Asian but down in the US Market. You would also have read about the strength in Laser Printers and weakness in Ink Jets. Ad you also would have learned how bad Photographers are about reading Quarterly statements and drawing from them conclusions about the "Mirrorless markets as it seems EVERY Photography Blog has done except for DP Review which actual read the 2015 Statement. And further research may have showed you that the 1.2 Billion Smartphones in 2014 has had a FAR greater effect on the decline for ALL DCS (all Brands) in the past Two years Mirrored or Not and especially In The Point and shoot market which is REALLY what has been decimated
I like my M2. Too often, I think gear gets compared to what's available from other brands, instead of just being judged on its own merits. For me, it's been a good little camera. My wife and daughter both have the original M, and while the focusing isn't fast, they get the job done too.