If you’re in the business of technology it pays to not only move with the times but, if you can, get ahead of them.
At the end of the 1990s, when digital cameras started to become both affordable and ‘good enough’ to be a mass market proposition, Fujifilm chose to bring out its first Instax instant camera (alongside initial attempts at digicams): the credit card-sized print-outputting Instax Mini 10.
It was a point in time that coincided with Fujifilm and Kodak becoming concerned that digital photography would kill off their traditional film businesses.
As it has turned out, though, Instax is precisely what Fujifilm now largely owes its continued existence to – and what helped it through that dark period, when consumers abandoned the digital point-and-shoots that the company piled high and sold at volume through the 2000s.
Yes, its mirrorless cameras have been critical successes. But even considering recent viral hits like the Fujifilm X100VI, sales of Instax still massively outstrip mirrorless. Indeed, Instax alone is said to contribute up to two-thirds of the company’s annual income.
Famously, Fujifilm could only launch its Instax range when Polaroid’s instant print photography patents expired in the late 1990s (though there are differences in the chemical formulae involved).
But it has provided a steady stream of sales alongside the APS-C mirrorless and X100 compact cameras we all tend to focus on. It's become an absolute goldmine for the brand, with little innovation required, bar a few tweaks to filters and formats here and there – including eventually making the obvious introduction of an instant film / digital camera hybrid with the SQ10.
Instax is one of those famous cases of a company not necessarily initiating or inventing an original concept, but nevertheless being the one to most dramatically benefit from it. See also Kodak’s early doors development (and just as rapid shelving) of a digital camera prototype way back in the mid-1970s.
While Kodak kicked itself as it faced bankruptcy at the height of digital’s popularity, decades later, Fujifilm has reached a cumulative milestone of 100 million Instax units sold.
By contrast, the original Polaroid company also went bankrupt in 2001 – though the brand has been revived by a group of investors headed up by the Polish Smolokowski family since 2017. Despite the nostalgia factor being in its favor, the modern ‘Polaroid’ has some distance to go to hit the heights of success and sales enjoyed by Instax.
And though the principles and chemistry remain the same, Fujifilm’s offerings have become incrementally broad, now encompassing Instax Mini, Square and Wide camera and printer combos – plus standalone Instax Link portable printers enabling smartphone users to output an Instax print, even if they don’t own an Instax camera.
Add Instax photo booths not just camera in stores but high street retailers, and it seems that world domination is now complete. Surely, I believe, personalized Instax cameras for Gen Z users, not just prints, are the next step in Instax’s ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ formula.
Check out our full guide to the best instant cameras
