"According to Nikkei Asia, the Sony Group has taken unusual measures, that is, not accepting orders for some digital cameras. This reflects the impact of semiconductor shortages on the entire industry.

Before the key year-end shopping festival comes, digital camera shipments usually climb in October and November. The lack of stock during peak seasons may further hit the digital camera market, which is already struggling in the era of smartphones.

In mid-October, flagship cameras from Sony, Nikon and Canon were out of stock.

A staff member of an electronics store said: ""The delivery date of some products is expected to be next year. When customers complain, all we can do is tell them to place an order and wait.""

According to reports, Sony’s unusual decision was due to insufficient inventory of some product parts.

For mirrorless cameras such as Alpha 7 II and Alpha 6400, the company has stopped accepting orders from bulk retailers, and consumers cannot pre-order them at Sony stores.

A Sony spokesperson said, ""The impact is much more serious than expected.""

Other manufacturers have also fallen into a similar predicament. For example, after a full delay of one and a half months, Nikon finally released a new interchangeable lens camera.

For the reasons, ""In addition to the shortage of semiconductors, the new coronavirus infection in Southeast Asia is also an important factor."" A Nikon spokesperson said.

In addition, in Canon's digital store, a large number of products are out of stock, many of which are marked to take one month for delivery.

Under the influence of the new crown virus pandemic, the demand for digital consumer products continues to grow. This leads to a shortage of parts and components.

""It's not just semiconductors, but there are signs of shortages in power ICs, audio codecs, and various other components,"" said an analyst at a Japanese brokerage company.

An executive of a large manufacturer said, ""We have been constantly dealing with factory shutdowns caused by the epidemic and continuing supply chain problems."" The shrinking digital camera market has made the industry unable to increase production immediately.

The market is currently in the process of recovering from the impact of the epidemic. Since the beginning of this spring, the rebound in demand in Western countries has been particularly pronounced.

With the recovery of the camera business, Canon, Nikon and Sony raised their full-year profit forecasts in July and August.

But just as market demand rebounded, the risks in the supply chain continued to expand. In August of this year, global digital camera shipments fell below the same period last year for the first time in six months, and then plummeted by about 30% to 700,000 units in September.

Sony cannot predict when these problems will be resolved.

""We will minimize the impact by redesigning and sharing parts, as well as increasing inventory,"" a Sony representative said."