Camera brands killed off the compact camera too soon, but is it too late for a revival?

Fujifilm X100VI camera next to a Fujifilm X100V camera on a slatted wooden bench.

The point-and-shoot camera has been the subject of more death predictions than a Shakespearean soothsayer. Keyboard warriors felt certain that the capabilities of the smartphone camera spelled out a certain death threat for point-and-shoot cameras. Yet, it’s nearly 2025 and the cameras that everyone wants but no one can find in stock have one thing in common: they are all compact cameras.

Thanks to viral TikTok status, the Fujifilm X100VI is selling for more used than the list price of the brand new compact. Similarly, Leica’s newest compact camera, the Leica D-Lux 8 is hard to find. But if the limited availability of a 2024 launch is unsurprising, what about the limited stock of the 2019 Ricoh GR III, the sudden demand for the now five-year-old Canon G7 X III, or the sudden increase in cost on 20-year-old compacts on eBay?