Canon Sells 10 Million Lenses in 2 years; Exceeds 150 Million

Only two years ago, Canon sent out a release crowing about having shipped its 140 millionth lens, and now we have this: A release bragging about the 150 millionth lens shipped.

CIPA reports that in 2020, about 9 million interchangeable lenses were shipped in 2020 and about 14 million the year before. This implies that – with 10 million lenses coming from Canon in that period of time – that the camera giant produced about 57 percent of all the lenses in the world over the past two years.

Over this time, across the world, about 60 percent of those lenses were for crop sensors, but those lenses accounted for only about a quarter of the revenue taken in. With Canon and Sony in particular pushing full frame products now, their respective revenue shares should be increasing at an even higher clip than lens shipments suggest.

As the BCN Ranking chart for shipments to the Japanese domestic market shows below, Canon full frame Cameras, along with Nikons, have been trending downward in share, giving ground to Sony. It is widely expected that new releases for Sony and Canon will keep their respective shares in the high thirties or more. Nikon’s share of the full frame market is likely to decrease in the absence of a new Z series release that exceeds the capabilities of the Sony A1 and the rumored Canon R1. Nikon’s Z 7 II – targeted to the brunt of the full frame market of advanced users – has been reviewed as a bit too little and a bit too late relative to competitive offerings.