In Japan, the EOS M50 is outselling competing devices at a furious pace.
The Canon EOS M series of cameras have been around for a while, and while they aren’t class-leading devices, and despite the fact that they use a lens mount with few lens options, they seem to be selling rather well in some countries. A recent report shows just how well; the numbers are mind-boggling, but also show why Canon’s financials aren’t exactly making their bank managers happy. Join us after the break to take a look at the numbers, and to see why perhaps the M50 is selling better than anyone anticipated.
A recent report over at Mirrorless Rumors shows sales data from the Japanese camera market for the month of May. We saw sales figures earlier this month that showed Canon with the largest market share in terms of units sold, but Sony as the king of cash when it came to revenue. Now, this new data shows why Canon can sell so many units and can still be hurting financially. The Canon EOS M50 (known as the EOS Kiss M in Japan) is Canon’s top selling camera. An entry-level Mirrorless camera that is half the price of its closest Japanese market rival, the Sony a6400.
As you can see from the chart above, the EOS M50 (aka the EOS Kiss M) is outselling the much more powerful Sony a6400 by 9.5%. The third best selling camera in the Japanese camera market is another cheap Canon M series camera, the M100. The list shows that small, affordable cameras are king in the Japanese market for sure, with them dominating the list until you get down to the Sony A7 III, which sits in 7th place. This data shows that Canon needs to sell double the units Sony moves in order to keep up in terms of revenue. Why is the Canon EOS M50 so popular in the Japanese market?
The Canon EOS M50 is a fine entry-level Mirrorless camera, and it has a pretty attractive price point too. For just $599 you’re getting a Mirrorless camera with a 24.1 Megapixel APS-C sensor, it has 143 AF points, dual-pixel autofocus, eye focusing capabilities, a burst rate of 7.4 frames per second, a touchscreen Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC connectivity, and it can even shoot 4K video. It’s also small, lightweight, and not going to break the bank, so it’s not hard to see why the EOS M50 is so popular in Japan. We really enjoyed using the EOS M50 when we reviewed it. It feels great in the hand, and it produces nice images with beautiful Canon colors. Sure, it has its limitations as one would expect with an entry-level camera, but it has just about everything the average person who’s stepping up from a smartphone camera could need.
The EOS M50 was seemingly designed with the Japanese market in mind, and Canon obviously nailed it. It checks all of the boxes when it comes to things the Japanese demographic seems to look for in cameras. But seeing as it’s so featured packed, it’s also easy to see why consumers would choose not to spend more money on more premium Canon cameras, and that’s why Canon has fallen behind Sony when it comes to revenue. Canon needs to sell exponentially more cameras to generate the same type of income Sony can generate by selling fewer, premium cameras like the A7 III, which is just about three times more expensive than the EOS M50.
So what does this mean for the future of the camera landscape? It’s hard to say really, but Canon has already stated they are going to stop focusing so much on cheaper, consumer-oriented cameras going forward. They know they can ill afford to have such a large market share, but have diminishing returns when it comes to revenue. While the EOS M50 is obviously the king of the Mirrorless camera market in Japan when it comes to the number of units shifted, Canon’s bottom line is not being helped by it at all.
With Sony’s and Fujifilm’s more entry-level cameras like the a6400 and the X-T30 now starting at closer to $900, and with the entry level Full Frame Canon EOS RP hitting stores with a price of just $1,299, you have to wonder if the days of ultra-affordable APS-C cameras will eventually disappear. Are the days of capable, entry-level cameras that sell for $400 almost resigned to the history books? Is the consumer level camera market going to eventually die due to smartphone cameras? Something will have to give eventually. Let us know what you think in the comment section below.