The digital camera gross sales numbers for 2025 are in – and the most recent numbers from the Japanese Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA) trace at what’s stylish and what’s not. Sales information recommend that mirrorless has continued to develop as DSLRs shrink, however our bodies with smaller sensors are outselling full-frame.
According to CIPA data for 2025, out of greater than 9.4 million cameras shipped worldwide, round 6.3 million of these have been mirrorless cameras, whereas DSLR shipments fell to only over 690,900. That’s a 112.5 p.c change for mirrorless, whereas DSLR shipments have been simply 69.3 p.c of 2024 numbers.
But, CIPA additionally began monitoring a brand new statistic for 2025: Sales for full frame compares to smaller sensors on interchangeable lens cameras. In 2025, brands shipped more bodies with APS-C and Micro Four Thirds sensors, with more than 4.45 million. Bodies with full-frame or larger sensors (such as medium format) shipped around 2.54 million.
While many photographers praise the advantages of larger sensors, mirrorless bodies with smaller sensors tend to sit at a more entry-level price point, so it’s the format that tends to fit in more budgets. Cameras with smaller sensors also tend to be smaller and the crop factor gives telephoto lenses more reach ( and conversely, wide-angle lenses less width).
Breaking down the CIPA numbers by region also highlights a few other interesting numbers. While DSLRs have dropped significantly in the past several years as mirrorless has grown, DSLRs are far more prevalent in the Americas and Europe than in Japan and China. In the Americas, DSLR numbers shifted by 86.9 percent of the previous year, and in Europe, by 61.7 percent.
Less than 14,500 DSLRs were sent to Japan, around 47.3 percent of last year’s numbers, and just over 28,250 in China, which is 33.1 percent of last year’s numbers.
For lenses, CIPA members shipped greater than 10.6 million optics worldwide, a 102.8 p.c change from 2024. As with the sensor information, lenses made for smaller sensors offered greater than full-frame, although the hole between the 2 is narrower than with digital camera our bodies.
For sensors smaller than full body, round 5.82 million lenses have been shipped worldwide. For full-frame and bigger optics, these numbers have been greater than 4.77 million. That hints that extra crop sensor photographers are prone to keep on with their equipment lens in comparison with full body, which jives with the extra superior customers bigger sensor cameras are focused in direction of.
The 2025 CIPA numbers additionally confirmed progress in compact cameras, however the class stays a fraction of the point-and-shoot’s peak in 2010.
CIPA information tends to spotlight key developments within the pictures business. CIPA numbers are just for the group’s member firms in Japan, an inventory that features Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, OM System, and Panasonic. That doesn’t embody main digital camera firms based mostly outdoors of Japan, comparable to Leica, nor does it monitor third-party lenses made in China or South Korea.
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