- Canon set to increase camera prices in US from latter half of 2025
- Tariff impact localized to US, but could in turn have global effect
- DJI has already increased price of the Osmo Pocket 3
It was clear what was on everyone’s mind during Canon’s first quarterly earnings call for 2025, with the investors’ Q&A session dominated by US tariffs.
In the process, Canon became the first major camera brand to publicly discuss the impact of US tariffs, saying, “We have notified major dealers that we will raise prices and are in the process of estimating the timing and amount of the increase.”
Additional tariffs do not affect the prices for goods already imported and Canon projects its US sales subsidiary has “about one or two months’ worth of inventory”.
Canon camera prices should, therefore, stay the same for the first half of 2025. However, we can expect a bump in prices come the second half of the year, based on Canon’s sales projections.
Canon went on to say, “Since tariffs are borne against the cost of goods, the higher the cost ratio is, the higher the price rate increases.”
We don’t yet know how severe increases could be, but Canon is actually in a better position than most other camera manufacturers to limit price increases passed on to customers, because most of the cameras it sells in the US are produced in Japan, not China.
Japan’s additional tariffs of 24% are currently reduced to 10% for a 90-day period, although Canon said in the Q&A that it has no immediate plans to export camera goods ahead of schedule during this time.
Either way, those tariffs are much lower than they are in China, which at the time of writing is hit with an additional 145% tariff, severely impacting camera manufacturers such as DJI, and their customers.
And so it begins
We’ve already seen what are presumably US tariff-related price increases from other brands, including DJI, whose popular Osmo Pocket 3 just saw a price hike. Our top rated vlogging camera launched in 2023 around the $500 mark, but now it costs $800. Ouch.
Leica’s D-Lux line of compact cameras are made in China and are already affected too – the price of the D-Lux 8 has almost doubled, meaning it’s not quite the low-cost Leica it was.
Clearly brands aren’t the ones absorbing higher cost ratios brought about by US tariffs – the lion’s share falls on US customers, who will have to fork out more cash for a new camera once current inventories are used up.
Canon sees the impact as localized to US customers, but acknowledged that should US tariffs trigger a global recession, then camera prices could change across the world.
There might also be severe delays on new products made in China coming to market. There have been numerous leaks that DJI’s rumored Osmo 360 – a GoPro and Insta360-rivaling 360-degree camera – is ready for launch, but also that DJI is considering pulling the plug on it given those increased costs.
In light of price hikes, we could see demand shift from new gear to used, and that in turn could spell an increase in the price of second-hand equipment.
The severity of price increases for new gear, plus the timeline, will no doubt become clear over the coming months, but if you’re in the US and looking for a new camera, it could pay to act fast.
Click on the Q&A Session Summary link at Canon’s global site for the complete session.
Leave a comment