50 million digital cameras sold in 2003

PMA Data Watch has today released a report showing projected sales figures of digital cameras for 2003. The volume of cameras sold was projected to increase by 64 percent to 50 million units. Europe has led this growth, roughly doubling its sales volume each year. In fact, Europe overtook the Americas during 2003 as the world's largest market for digital cameras, accounting for 36 percent of units sold. Growth in the Americas has been strong nonetheless, rising by 48 percent in 2003, while digital camera sales increased by 34 percent in Japan.

Worldwide digital camera sales hit 50 million units in 2003

The growth of digital-still camera sales worldwide remained strong in 2002 and 2003. According to GfK Marketing Services, which provides PMA Marketing Research with camera sales data, the volume of cameras sold was projected to increase by 64 percent in 2003 to 50 million units. For the past several years, Europe has led this growth, roughly doubling its sales volume each year. In fact, Europe overtook the Americas during 2003 as the world's largest market for digital cameras, accounting for 36 percent of units sold. Growth in the Americas has been strong nonetheless, rising by 48 percent in 2003, while digital camera sales increased by 34 percent in Japan.

Digital-still camera sales continue to shift towards higher resolution models. Four-megapixel, and even 5-megapixel models, account for a growing share of digital camera sales in all regions of the world. This is particularly evident in the United States, where 28 percent of cameras sold during the first nine months of 2003 featured 4 megapixels or more, and in Southeast Asia, where 27 percent of cameras sold offered this level of resolution.

For the third straight year, worldwide sales of analogue-still cameras declined during 2003, falling by a projected 10 percent to 57 million units, according to GfK Marketing Services. The Americas and Europe continue to be large markets for analogue cameras, together accounting for 58 percent of sales volume. Developing nations are becoming more important to this product category, however, as the Rest of the World segment yielded a slight increase in sales volume during 2003 and growth in sales share from 34 percent of the market in 2002 to a projected 39 percent in 2003. For the purposes of this report, the Rest of the World segment measures sales in countries outside of Europe, North and South America, and Japan.

Worldwide Still Camera Sales

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