Hyundai Motor and Kia posted diverging 2023 sales results, with Kia achieving record growth on strong RV demand while Hyundai focused on profitability amid global market uncertainty.
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Lotte Energy Materials reports Q1 operating loss of 46 billion won due to US tariff impact and demand volatility, expects profitability turnaround in Q3 with increased sales and utilization
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OB Beer's Cass Fresh dominates Q1 home beer market with 48% share, leading sales volume amid continued growth trend from previous year
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Sony Suspends a7C and a6600, Permanently Ends a7 II and a6100

The chip shortage continues to hamper Sony's ability to produce cameras. Today, the company has announced that it is no longer accepting orders for the Alpha 7C and a6600 and has "completed production" on the Alpha 7 II and a6100.

Sony published an apology note on its Japanese website and has noted four cameras are either temporarily suspended or will no longer be produced to an already relatively long list of previously discontinued or suspended products.

"Currently, with regard to digital imaging products, parts procurement is delayed due to the effects of global semiconductor shortages," the company says. "Therefore, we will suspend the acceptance of orders from our distributors and customers at the Sony store as follows for specific models with tight supply."

In early November, Sony stopped accepting orders for the Alpha 7 II and the a6100, but today has announced that since there is "no prospect of future parts supply," it has decided to permanently end production of both cameras. It and the a6100 have been designated as "production completed." It is still possible to find these cameras for sale through dealers, but the remaining stock is all that will remain of these cameras.

The a6600 and the Alpha 7C have been moved to the "suspended" phase, and Sony is no longer accepting orders for either camera. The two join the ZVE-10 that was similarly designated on December 3.

The Alpha 7C isn't quite as recent of a release as the ZV-E10 was, but it is still relatively new. The camera was announced in September of 2020. The a6600 is about a year older and was announced in August of 2019.

Because Sony normally likes to continue manufacturing older series cameras for years after they have been "replaced" by newer models, the global chip and parts shortage appears to be hitting it harder than the likes of Canon or Nikon. While it's true that all three are struggling to make enough products to fill store shelves, Sony has been forced to discontinue production on even relatively new cameras in an effort to prioritize other products in its line.

In just the last two months, Sony has been forced to suspend orders or cease all production of eight total camera products, while the availability of many camera products it does continue to manufacture are becoming more difficult to find.

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Global Chip Shortage Appears to Be Hurting Sony Significantly

While the global chip and parts shortage has made the availability of new camera equipment scarce across the board and most manufacturers have had difficulty meeting demand, Sony may be the one feeling the biggest pinch.

According to a report from CNET Japan which was spotted by DigiCame-Info, Sony's market share in Japan took a massive hit in recent months as it has been unable to produce enough camera equipment to keep store shelves stocked.

Of note, the report claims Sony's ZV-E10 sold well due to its relatively low price, but the company was forced to suspend manufacturing of the new camera due to lack of parts availability. Prior to the halt, Sony temporarily had the top share of the market before taking a nosedive and ceding the top spot to Canon.

The graph on the left below is titled "Sales Volume Share" and the two lines in red and black denote Canon and Sony respectively. Sony was doing well through September before a massive falloff in October and November. Canon appears to be less affected and has seen its sales volume share grow in that same time period.

The graph on the right shows the average per-unit price of cameras ordered, and the black line with yellow triangles represents Nikon. Due to the Z9, the average price of cameras ordered from the company jumped significantly in November, which shows the popularity of the new flagship camera which has still not been released to the public. Looking at that same graph, Sony's average price has been increasing steadily at the same rate its sales volume share has collapsed, which seems to indicate the company is selling its more expensive cameras, just at a far lower volume than it was moving cameras like the ZV-E10. Somewhat of note is that Canon's unit price has hardly fluctuated even amidst the company's sales volume growth, which indicates the R3 hasn't had much of a sales impact in Japan.

Digicame-Info compared the top-selling cameras in BCN's rankings over the last few months and found that the Sony a6400 and the ZV-E10 both led the way for Sony before sales fell off a cliff in September, so it appears the impact of the supply shortage for its lower cost cameras was extremely significant.

What is not particularly clear is if this manufacturing choice is because there are very specific parts for the ZV-E10 that Sony could no longer procure or if it is because the company chose to focus on its higher-end cameras over it. From a pure sales volume perspective, it would have made more sense to continue to produce the ZV-E10 over cameras like the Alpha 1 or Alpha 7R IV since the company was clearly selling more of them, at least in Japan.

On that last note, these numbers only reflect sales in Japan, so the company's global sales and reach may or may not coincide with this data. Still, it's a strong indication that of all the camera companies, Sony has felt the pinch of the global parts shortage the most.

Image credits: Header photo via Sony.

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