Sony is "the #1 Mirrorless Camera Maker For the Last 4 Years"

If there’s one thing that sucks about what I do here, it’s that too often, I’m reporting downright depressing news about Sony. When it’s not that, it tends to be editorials on how I believe Sony can do better. With that as the back drop, it’s always refreshing to report on what Sony is doing right and in the past year, there is glimmer that perhaps it’s beginning to be more and more. While in the end, PS3 etched out ahead of the Xbox 360, it’s been PS4 that has singlehandedly dominated Xbox One with most analysts believing Sony’s console is ahead 2 to 1.

Now you can add mirrorless cameras to that tally as well with Sony being the number one mirrorless camera maker for the past four years and that’s not even the most impressive part. Let’s talk after the jump.

It’s been known for some time that the traditional DSLR is a dying breed of cameras with mirrorless taking its place at an increasing pace. As we can see from the chart below which starts off from 2013, a miserable year for all manufactures, DSLR sales have all but tanked. Down nearly 20% in 2013 and 2014, sales have slightly improvement in 2015 though they’re still down 13% and could worsen depending on how the important holiday shopping season pans out.

We can see that during the past three years, once again excluding 2013 which was horrid for everyone involved, mirrorless sales have been able to buck the downward trend and grow by 12% each year. For Sony, that number is even rosier, growing 22% in 2014 (vs. 12% industry growth) and 42% in 2015 (vs. 12% industry growth).

Let that sink in for a minute. Cameras, the competitive landscape that’s entrenched with old time players like Canon and Nikon and camera loyalists with thousands of dollars invested in their gear is where Sony is destroying the competition with their mirrorless cameras. While a no brainer now, in 2010 when Sony introduced their first mirrorless camera, they were mocked by the competition for creating something that wasn’t what was then considered a ‘traditional’ camera. You know who else has been accused of such things and it’s paid off in strides for them every single time? Apple.

In fact according to NPD results, Sony has been the “number one mirrorless camera maker for the last four years running.” Compact cameras may be going the way of the dodo, thanks to the rise of powerful smartphone cameras, something which Sony even partakes in, but for photographers, there has never been a better time to pick up a new camera that’s capable of doing so much more.