Sony, Canon, Nikon All Delay New Launches

There are delays, and then there are delays. While it isn’t uncommon for a rumored camera or lens to come out quite a bit later than initially expected, there has been a rash of product announcements that communications for major camera manufacturers have had to push back after having warmed up the press.

The expected (by some) Canon R3 launch evaporated. Sony’s ZV-E10 – already touted by a YouTuber – is going back into its womb. Nikon’s Z30 launch turned out to, instead, be a rebadged APS-C camera made into a retro style with multiple color options.

In the case of Canon, hints were dropped when a Canon executive indicated that their focus will be high availability of R3 units at the Olympics. The between-the-lines meaning: we’re not sending these out to dentists with pre-orders.

Sony just out and sent a release that their launch will be delayed.

[Update… It appears that Sony opted to delay the launch because of complaints that it coincided with a politically sensitive anniversary of the day Japan invaded China (again) back in 1937. It issued an apology for this (the camera manufacturer, not the government of Japan). But that begs the question how many additional dates might be scrubbed from future PR calendars, as such wannabe Japanese colonial ambitions once stretched across most of the continent. Perhaps it is a problem more limited to China, where the state will sometimes gin up populist anger to suit its geopolitical ends, such as forcing international corporations to de-recognize Taiwan and refer to the certain parts of Oceania as the South China Sea.]

The rash of delays could well be a product of general supply chain dyspepsia seen across many industries at the time, including semiconductor shortages, camera parts shortages and even simple logistical delays, such as shipping delay backlogs seen for transport ships, cargo jets, ports, customs clearance facilities and related choke points.