Sony's A7 III has, quite deservedly, proved to be a big smash for the company, but a recent report by Japanese website BCNRetail indicates that the year-old model may be starting to lose its luster.
The website, which publishes monthly reports into mirrorless sales figures in Japan, notes that the A7 III maintained its lead in terms of full-frame mirrorless market share in April, although a slight dip in sales in the last week of the month coincided with an increase in sales of Nikon's Z6 full-frame mirrorless camera.
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Even so, there still appears to be plenty of appetite for Sony's models, in addition to Canon's two offerings. The report states that the top three models throughout April were the Sony A7 III (38.9%), followed by the Canon EOS RP (16.5%), with the current Canon EOS R flagship model (12.3%) in third place.
Nikon's Z6 and Z7 are in fourth and seventh places respectively, with all remaining positions in the top 10 occupied by Sony's models. That shouldn't come as too great a surprise, given that no other manufacturer currently has enough full-frame mirrorless cameras to occupy as many slots.
BCN's March report painted a very different picture, with Canon's EOS RP appearing to be struggling, seeing a decline in sales towards the end of the month as Sony's A7 III enjoyed around 42% of the market share. That report also showed that Sony's previous A7 II model is still popular, something that's also reflected in this most recent report.
Canon's EOS RP was launched with the most affordable price tag for a full-frame mirrorless camera to date, although Sony has maintained its older A7-series offerings, which has helped it to retain prominence in the more affordable end of the full-frame mirrorless market.
BCNRetail states that its data is aggregated from point-of-sale data at home electronics retailers and online stores, but it's not clear exactly how representative this report is with regards to total camera sales across all online and offline retailers in the country.
