Sony Market Share By Percentage 1H 2018
| Brand | U.S. Dollar Share |
| Sony | 40% |
| Canon | 33% |
| Nikon | 26% |
Source: The NPD Group, Inc., U.S. Retail Tracking Service, Detachable Lens Camera, Sensor Size: Full Frame, Based on Dollars Share, Jan.- Jun. 2018.
SonyMirrorlessPro received a more detailed report of about where Sony stands compared to Canon and Nikon and full frame cameras it’s not looking good for the legacy brands. How much market share Sony currently holds is largely debated by Canon/Nikon fanboys and with both companies going mirrorless soon no one should be surprised about how over the top the rhetoric is becoming.
Further complicating the launch of Canon/Nikon mirrorless cameras I have heard whispers that these cameras won’t be D850/D5 killers like the Sony a7RIII and Sony a9. If that’s the case Canon/Nikon will have a hard time pulling photographers away from Sony. Nikon/Canon can’t stick to their traditional release schedule if they want to take on Sony.
SonyMirrorlessPro makes some very good points in their article about Nikon’s upcoming camera and while I love Nikon like I love Leica they are going to have a very hard time overcoming their deficit.
“It’s also important because—well look at that market share position over Nikon. That’s 14% more dollar share than Nikon in a year when Nikon has delivered their highest-demand product in years, the Nikon D850.
This helps put the new Nikon mirrorless camera into context as well. Nikon owns 26% of the market share, so to move up to the number two spot they’d need to capture eight percent more of the share going forwards from the other two companies who are both competing against Nikon….
Because this is full first quarter data, it includes actual sales of Sony’s a7 III line and actual sales of the Nikon D850. Some will argue that Nikon’s percentage sales are lower because they haven’t been able to keep up with demand on the D850, but that’s precisely one of the company’s problems, something that will only grow when they’re offering a whole new system….”
SonyMirroressPro also gets into how Nikon can’t keep up with demand and how it will only get worse if their new mirrorless camera system is a success. I tend to agree with the analysis and I believe Nikon or Canon could pull off big wins against Sony if they are going to take mirrorless seriously this time around, but I am pretty sure we are 2-3 generations away from Nikon/Canon catching up with Sony technologically. Sony’s lead is just too much and they don’t worry about cannibalizing their own sales by releasing the next best thing.
