Canon sold 66% more cameras than Sony last year (but its lead is slipping)

Canon is still the biggest player in digital cameras by some margin - but its lead is slowly eroding. Last year, Canon enjoyed 46.5% of global sales, compared to 27.9% for Sony. That's according to the annual Inspection World Share data report from Nikkei Shimbun, a Japanese daily business paper that publishes annual market shares for key products.

The latest figures show that Canon sells 66% more cameras than its closest rival, but Sony is creeping up. Canon's market share remains exactly the same as last year (46.5%), but Sony's has increased from 26.1% up its current 27.9% share (a 7% growth in sales).

Nikon meanwhile saw its share fall during the 12 months - down to 11.3%, compared to 11.7% last time around. 

Fujifilm increased its share slightly to 6%, and Panasonic stays in fifth spot with sales dropping to 3.6% from 4.2% the year before. Over 95% of the total cameras sold are made by these five Japanese companies.

According to DCLife, who saw more detailed data, OM Digital has a 2.5% share, with Ricoh/Pentax on 0.8%.

The overall market size, according to the report, remains flat year on year - with 7.18 million cameras being sold in 2023.

Other products of interest include that Hikvision are leaders in the surveillance camera market, enjoying 34.6% of global sales. And when it comes to inkjet printers Canon has to make do with third spot with just 26% of the market - behind HP (35.1%) and Epson (31.7%). 

One area where Sony continues to lead the way is with the sales of CMOS image sensors, where it enjoys a 47.9% market share, with its closest rival being Samsung, with 26.1%.

You might be interested in seeing how the best Canon cameras compare to the best Sony cameras – and how all the major manufacturers stack up in the best mirrorless cameras overall.