07/26/2024
This is not "news" by any means. For most people their current cell phone takes better photos than the consumer digital photos of just a fews years ago ... and cost more. If someone is taking photos for social media and/or 4x6" prints, in most cases for the consumer the phones do a great job HOWEVER, they are digital cameras, just now Swiss army knives instead of single use items. For the professional market, this will probably have minimal impact. If AP has sent you out to capture cyclists at the coming Summer Olympics, a phone camera will be close to useless. You'll still want a pro-level digital camera where you can control shutter speed, aperture, and ISO along with great autofocus and subject tracking plus have little to no noise. And do this with a 10x to 20x magnification. So, no, no "death knell for digital camera sales," just an elimination of the low end cameras for those taking fun photos. (My 2-cents for today)
As digital camera ownership in Japan drops below 50 per cent, we could see big manufacturers start to enter a doom spiral.