Last week, Canon put out a statement boasting that they were the #1 mirrorless camera brand in the USA. They said that this was the third year in a row that Canon has led the mirrorless market in the USA.

Sony, however, disagrees. According to a report on PetaPixel, Sony has access to the exact same data that Canon does, and they’re disputing Canon’s claim. They say that Sony’s the top dog and not Canon.

Canon claims the #1 spot

While the spec wars might are close to done, it seems that the real war is between camera manufacturers Sony and Canon. Sony led the way in mirrorless, all the way up until 2020. It’s not surprising considering that they were the only company making full-frame mirrorless for most of the preceding years.

Canon first claimed the top spot in 2021, with Sony also reporting that they also leading the board. Both companies had access to the same data, as they do today. So, it’s perhaps not much of a surprise that history seems to be repeating.

Sony says that they hadn’t actually planned to publish anything this year and only provided statistics to PetaPixel when asked about Canon’s claims. They say they’re too focused on innovating to worry about petty things like market share.

But so does Sony

According to the report, Sony claims two wins are that they were the #1 full-frame mirrorless camera brand in 2023 (both dollars and units). They also say that the Sony A7 IV (buy here) was the #1 full-frame camera in 2023 (both dollars and units).

It’s entirely possible that both companies are correct for different reasons. We don’t know which of the companies are including lenses. Which companies are only considering full-frame mirrorless cameras – Canon doesn’t specify full-frame, but Sony does.

It’s possible that Canon is basing its sales information on more than just one single type of camera. It’s difficult to say, as neither company has published any actual numbers. And the data from which they’re pulling information isn’t publicly available.

So who’s really Number 1?

I expect that this is a case of what’s happening here. After all, Sony makes a lot of bold claims – with handfuls of caveats in order to be able to make them. I’m not saying that Sony isn’t telling the truth, just that both companies are likely making the claims based on different metrics.

As we can’t see that data for ourselves, though, it’s impossible for us to really know how they’ve both come to those conclusions. But I expect that they’ve both come to those conclusions based on different sets of evidence within the data.

What is clear, however, is that both companies are doing very well for themselves.

[via PetaPixel]