Nikon suggests smartphones are helping boost camera market

Camera giant Nikon has suggested that smartphones are helping to enhance the dedicated camera market, not hindering it as previously thought.

Despite many consumers now relying on their camera equipped handsets as their primary imaging device, Nikon has claimed that, although having an adverse effect on entry-level compacts, smartphones are actually helping boosted the wider camera market.

“The leap in consumers’ camera upgrades has become much bigger,” Zurab Kiknadaze, Nikon’s European Product Manager said discussing the impact of smartphones on the camera scene.

He added: “While in the past we were seeing people make more gradual upgrades, now people make bigger leaps. It’s now not surprising for smartphone users to go from their smartphone cameras to more premium ones.”

Although looking at the lighter effects smartphones are having on the camera market, Kiknadaze has also addressed the negative side of things.

“We are not going to lie and say smartphones are not affecting us, it does,” he said speaking with TrustedReviews. “However, from a top line when people say smartphones are killing cameras, it’s not true. It’s only affecting certain cameras.

“Even with compact cameras, smartphones are still only affecting a group of these, and that’s the really cheap, most affordable compacts. If you look at the total picture, there is growth in more advanced cameras.

We haven’t seen any effect yet on DSLRs and I think it will be a long time and some miracles for smartphones to start troubling DSLRs.”

He added: “Smartphones are also subsequently raising the average sale price of cameras, which for manufacturers is typically good news. This tells us that we need to shift focus slightly, or diversify just a little bit better.”

Kiknadaze’s comments were echoed by Greg Morrison, Nikon’s European Communications Manager.

He stated: “The attitude that Nikon has taken over the past two or three years, as we’ve seen smartphones increasing in usage and improving in picture quality, is that people taking pictures is a good think. We like people being passionate about photography.

“It means there is a whole new market for us that we can introduce to our bridge cameras and our Wi-Fi enabled cameras and to entry-level DSLRs.”