Digital SLRs Remain Focused On Growth

By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 5/19/2008

NEW YORK — Digital-SLR sales jumped 17 percent through the first quarter of 2008, according to The NPD Group retail tracking service.

Digital SLR sell-through reached 279,000 units, while dollars grew 21 percent vs. the year-ago quarter to $278.2 million.

Nearly 1.5 million digital SLRs were sold in 2007, up 36 percent from the previous year. Dollar volume for the full year grew 21 percent to $1.3 billion, according to NPD.

The market for digital SLRs will remain strong through 2012, according to research firm IDC.

In the United States, vendors are expected to ship 2.7 million units this year, up from 2.2 million last year. Unit shipment growth will remain in the double digits until 2010, IDC predicted, when it will slip to 9.8 percent.

By 2012, the research firm expects d-SLR shipments to reach 4 million units, a compound annual growth of 10 percent.

Average selling prices will decline over the same period, dropping from $775 today to $525 in 2012.

D-SLR Shelf Share
Q1 2008