We talked about camera industry forecasts and statistics previously.
We also spent some time digging into Canon’s figures and internal forecasts that could spell a brighter future for the industry as a whole.
Now let’s take a peek at what Sony has in store for its imaging and sensing solutions segment.
Just a disclaimer. Sony is one of the biggest mega corporations out there.
As such, figures strictly related to Sony’s imaging department can be harder to pinpoint and may be muddled in with Sony’s other line of businesses, at least up until Sony releases the exact figures a little later this year.
With that out of the way, here are 28 interesting Sony facts and statistics for 2022.
- Sony leads in mirrorless camera sales in 2021 (NPD Group). Canon and Nikon are making some noise with their late entry, but Sony currently has the most lens options available.
- The A7IV is the best-selling mirrorless camera released in the last four years. (NPD Group)
- BCN Awards put Sony in the top spot for mirrorless sales in the Japanese market with a 32% market share. (BCN Awards)
- Sony holds the second biggest global market share in 2021 with 22.1% (Nikkei)
- Sony’s sales saw a 10% increase over the previous fiscal year or 922.9 billion yen, totaling 9 trillion 921.5 billion yen. This spike was a result of the significant increase in sales in the Pictures, Electronics Products & Solutions (EP&S) and Music segments. (Sony, Fiscal Year Report, 2021-2022)
- Sony spent a total of 728.8 billion yen of net cash on investing activities, a 164.9-billion-yen year-on-year increase over the previous fiscal year. (Sony, Fiscal Year Report, 2021-2022)
- For Imaging & Sensing Solutions, Sony reported 1,076.4 billion yen in sales, a 6% year-on-year increase. (Sony, Fiscal Year Report, 2021-2022)
- Sony’s vision is to “deliver Kando (the power of emotional connections) and Anshin (peace of mind, reassurance, reliability, and trust) to people and society across the world through the pursuit of technology and new challenges.” (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- This fiscal year, one of Sony’s key measures in the “Profit Axis Business” key measures is “enhancing product strength”, with a focus on Music segments, mobile photography, stills and video cameras and A.I. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- Sony’s Camera Software Development Kit (SDK) business enters Phase 2 this year, now expanding over to B2B applications covering e-commerce and equipment inspection. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- The SDK Business’ Phase 1 (Content Creation) was completed in the previous year which focused on strengthening the Alpha Business and Creators. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- On the Sustainability end, Sony is committed to expanding the use of recycled plastics, eliminating plastic in small product packaging, and expanding the ratio of renewable energy usage. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- Sony sets 2030 as the course for using 100% renewable energy. (Sony, Corporate Strategy Meeting, 2022)
- Decentralizing and customer base expansion for mobile image sensors was a focus in 2021. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- Sony expanded its sensing application models with SPAD ToF Depth Sensor, Event-based Vision Sensor (EVS), UV Image Sensor, Large-sized GS Image Sensors and more. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- Sony launched its Edge AI Sensing Platform Service AITRIOS™ last year to further its AI Camera-Driven Sensing Solutions. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- Sony made an equity investment in Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, a wafer fabricator. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- Sony says full-scale market expansion in the mobile sensing segment will have to wait for a few years due to a “lack of applications.” (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- Despite the trend in multi-camera smartphone designs, Sony says sensor sizes are growing and will continue to drive market growth. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- In the same vein, Sony sees a 200% increase in mobile camera sensor size by 2024. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- Sony forecasts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 10% in the fiscal years 2022-2030 in the high-end smartphone model segment. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- By 2024-2025, Sony expects smartphone still images to exceed interchangeable-lens camera systems’ image quality. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- By 2030, Sony forecasts huge leaps in mobile photography processing with “Super HDR” using multi-frame captures and A.I., as well as expanded zoom ranges capitalizing on folded optics and A.I. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- Sony sensor-equipped smartphones will have 8K recording by 2030. (Sony, 2022 Business Segment Briefings)
- Sony’s total “Still and Video Cameras” sales for the 2021 fiscal year is 414,898 million yen. (Sony, Consolidated Financial Reports 2022)
- Sony spent 141,783 million yen on R&D for their Entertainment, Technology & Services segment (ET&S) which includes still and video cameras. (Sony, Consolidated Financial Reports 2022)
- For Imaging and Sensing Technology (I&SS), Sony spent 197,974 million yen on R&D. (Sony, Consolidated Financial Reports 2022)
- Sony’s mobile segment continues to be an earnings driver. (Sony, Corporate Report 2021)