Smartphones these days pack some pretty impressive camera hardware, impressive to the point where it can easily replace your regular compact point and shoot cameras. In fact we’re sure most users would prefer using their phone since it means that there is one less device that they’d have to carry around.
Nikon themselves have expressed concern over the shrinking compact camera market and according to a report from Reuters, to help combat the decline in camera sales, Nikon has decided to invest $1.96 billion in other fields, such as medical equipment. “The camera and precision instrument maker also said it would assign 220 billion yen for research and development over three years including the current business year to March 2015. Of that, 50 billion yen will be directed to fields such as medical equipment.”
Is this that surprising? Well Nikon doesn’t only make cameras, so it’s not that hard to believe that they are expanding beyond photography. In fact back in 2013, Nikon had hinted that they would be working on new products that weren’t necessarily camera-related. Many had speculated and taken this to mean that they would be making their own smartphone, but perhaps they meant medical equipment?
For those wondering how bad the camera market is, the last report we heard back in 2013 suggested that compact camera shipments were down by as much as 42.7%. The report also claims that shipments for DSLRs and mirrorless camera systems are down as well, but not as much as compacts. Interestingly enough a recent slide from Sony seems to suggest that they believe their high-end compact camera sales will grow.
Filed in . Read more about Nikon.