The camera sales numbers for 2025 are in – and the latest numbers from the Japanese Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA) hint at what’s trendy and what’s not. Sales data suggest that mirrorless has continued to grow as DSLRs shrink, but bodies with smaller sensors are outselling full-frame.
According to CIPA data for 2025, out of more than 9.4 million cameras shipped worldwide, around 6.3 million of those were mirrorless cameras, while DSLR shipments fell to just over 690,900. That’s a 112.5 percent change for mirrorless, while DSLR shipments were just 69.3 percent of 2024 numbers.
But, CIPA also started tracking a new statistic for 2025: Sales for full frame compares to smaller sensors on interchangeable lens cameras. In 2025, brands shipped more bodies with APS-C and Micro Four Thirds sensors, with more than 4.45 million. Bodies with full-frame or larger sensors (such as medium format) shipped around 2.54 million.
While many photographers praise the advantages of larger sensors, mirrorless bodies with smaller sensors tend to sit at a more entry-level price point, so it’s the format that tends to fit in more budgets. Cameras with smaller sensors also tend to be smaller and the crop factor gives telephoto lenses more reach ( and conversely, wide-angle lenses less width).
Breaking down the CIPA numbers by region also highlights a few other interesting numbers. While DSLRs have dropped significantly in the past several years as mirrorless has grown, DSLRs are far more prevalent in the Americas and Europe than in Japan and China. In the Americas, DSLR numbers shifted by 86.9 percent of the previous year, and in Europe, by 61.7 percent.
Less than 14,500 DSLRs were sent to Japan, around 47.3 percent of last year's numbers, and just over 28,250 in China, which is 33.1 percent of last year’s numbers.
For lenses, CIPA members shipped more than 10.6 million optics worldwide, a 102.8 percent change from 2024. As with the sensor data, lenses made for smaller sensors sold more than full-frame, though the gap between the two is narrower than with camera bodies.
For sensors smaller than full frame, around 5.82 million lenses were shipped worldwide. For full-frame and larger optics, those numbers were more than 4.77 million. That hints that more crop sensor photographers are likely to stick with their kit lens compared to full frame, which jives with the more advanced users larger sensor cameras are targeted towards.
The 2025 CIPA numbers also showed growth in compact cameras, but the category remains a fraction of the point-and-shoot’s peak in 2010.
CIPA data tends to highlight key trends in the photography industry. CIPA numbers are only for the organization’s member companies in Japan, a list that includes Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, OM System, and Panasonic. That doesn’t include major camera companies based outside of Japan, such as Leica, nor does it track third-party lenses made in China or South Korea.
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