In a make-or-break year for the camera market, manufacturers will have to throw out the playbook

Sunset over lake show with Lumix S9 camera.

The camera market is due another shake-up and 2025 could be the year that makes or breaks it. So what factors could make this a pivotal year for the industry?

We’ve seen a resurgence in demand for new compact-style cameras, with Fujifilm’s X100VI and X-M5 , Sony’s ZV E10-II and the Panasonic Lumix S9 capturing the attention of the camera-buying masses. We also saw some incredible mobile devices with superb imaging functionality, such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Oppo Find X8 Pro, OnePlus 13 and the Vivo X200 Pro. The most interesting thing about three out of four of those phones is they were all marketed with legacy camera brand names as an integral component of the devices.