Compact cameras have surged in popularity, but the latest sales numbers from the Japanese Camera and Imaging Products Association suggest a different trend: mirrorless cameras. In the first five months of 2025, compact camera shipments worldwide were 116.9 percent of the same time frame last year, while mirrorless camera numbers changed 122.3 percent over the same time period.
The increase in mirrorless camera shipments hints that mirrorless is seeing a growth in camera sales. Mirrorless cameras’ interchangeable lenses and large sensors prevented the category from the extreme fallout that compact cameras experienced as smartphone cameras advanced. While compact camera sales dropped then resurged in recent years, mirrorless has slowly climbed over DSLRs and then stayed there, shipping 619,682 cameras worldwide in May compared to 221,265 compact cameras and 71,049 DSLRs.
