The latest "Global Quarterly Handheld Smart Camera Market Tracking Report, Q4 2025" released by International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that the global handheld smart camera market will ship 16.65 million units in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 83%. The sales revenue exceeded 46.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 86%. IDC predicts that by 2030, the global handheld smart camera market is expected to exceed 40 million units, with a five-year compound growth rate of nearly 20%.
From a macro perspective, although there are differences in the development of economies around the world, global per capita GDP and disposable income of residents continue to rise in the long run. The terminals of smart device users have rapidly extended from traditional tools such as PCs, mobile phones, and tablets to diverse AIoT devices, and new scenarios and ecosystems continue to emerge and iterate, reshaping the industry landscape.
In recent years, both in China and globally, short video, Vlogs, and social media traffic have shown a clear explosive trend. With the creation, storage, and sharing of a massive amount of exponentially rich and diverse content, the demand for intelligent devices for terminal shooting among active users worldwide has entered a new niche and redefined. Traditional digital, DSLR, and mirrorless cameras are already in a downward trend, with a more mature user base that leans towards photography enthusiasts. More demands are focused on high image quality, optical lens combinations, professional photography, native image quality, and relatively complex and extensive post-processing. They are non portable and have a relatively high average price.
IDC's definition of handheld smart cameras refers to consumer grade portable imaging devices that have computing processing capabilities, are equipped with electronic or optical image stabilization capabilities, have a resolution of 2K or higher, and can be handheld, including motion cameras, panoramic cameras, and pan tilt cameras. Among them, motion cameras are further divided into detachable motion cameras (commonly referred to as "thumb cameras" in the market) and non detachable motion cameras.
From the perspective of major competitors in the global handheld smart camera market in 2025, DJI ranks first with a 62% market share in shipments. In the fields of panoramic cameras and "thumb cameras" (defined by IDC as detachable motion cameras), DJI has continuously released competitive new products and achieved rapid growth, accelerating global expansion and becoming the main driving force for DJI's significant leadership in the global market. Yingshi maintains a leading position in the global panoramic camera and "thumb camera" (defined by IDC as a detachable sports camera) market, with the release of the Go Ultra new detachable sports camera and the Ace series innovative gameplay kit achieving crowd segmentation. Under the pressure of DJI and Yingshi, GoPro has been significantly impacted in both panoramic and motion camera fields, with a noticeable contraction in shipments.
Sports camera market: By 2025, the global shipment of sports cameras will exceed 8 million units, a year-on-year increase of 61%. DJI and Yingshi have both achieved good performance with their popular flagship products, and their market share in terms of shipment volume has significantly increased. The veteran manufacturer GoPro is facing strong competitive pressure. Among them, the detachable motion camera, also known as the "thumb camera," will have a shipment volume of over 1.3 million units in 2025, with a significant growth rate. Yingshi has a first mover advantage and leading position among them; In the second half of the year, DJI's new product 0smo nano made a strong entry into the market with its performance advantage and achieved impressive performance.
The market for pan tilt zoom cameras: In 2025, the global shipment volume of pan tilt zoom cameras increased by over 100% year-on-year, and DJI has a significant leading advantage in this market. The handheld gimbal camera accurately locates short video Vlog shooting scenes and has been widely praised and sought after by a group of users. Pocket has become synonymous with this market and has also attracted attention from manufacturers in different circles. In 2026, this market may usher in a new round of players and competition.
Panoramic camera market: By 2025, the global shipment volume will exceed 2.5 million units, with a year-on-year growth of over 50%. Yingshi has been developing and maintaining a leading position in the field of panoramic cameras for many years. DJI launches Osmo 360 new product in the second half of the year, entering the panoramic market with a significant increase in market share throughout the year.
Looking back at the global handheld smart camera market in 2025 and anticipating future market development, the following characteristics are expected: 1. The market size and penetration rate still have ample room for growth. Compared with the huge market sales of mature intelligent terminal devices, the handheld smart camera market still has great development space regardless of market size and user penetration rate. With the continuous improvement of product user experience and the gradual decrease of unit price, IDC predicts that by 2030, the global market size of handheld smart cameras is expected to exceed 40 million units, with a five-year compound growth rate of nearly 20%.
2. The supply chain is facing challenges and short-term pressure on performance growth. The price of memory has skyrocketed and there is no hope of recovery in the short term. The average price of handheld smart cameras is less than 2800 RMB, and compared to other smart devices, the higher proportion of memory costs may have a greater impact. The core manufacturers have already stocked up in large quantities, and the larger the volume, the stronger the upstream bargaining power and the more resilient the supply chain. They can partially absorb the cost pressure, but at the same time, they face fierce market competition, and their profit margins are squeezed, resulting in pressure on their performance in 2026.
3. Camera manufacturers' image quality output software algorithms are gradually emerging, and intelligent editing is becoming increasingly important for consumers. Camera stabilization, depth of field blurring HDR、 Night scenes, noise reduction, and other image quality performance, as well as post production video editing, all rely on body algorithms, manufacturer apps, or third-party software to achieve. Although traditional cameras and mobile phones already have mature algorithms and massive data, due to differences in shooting scenes, motion cameras and panoramic cameras still need to accumulate a large amount of user data to promote deep adaptation of algorithms and hardware, and optimize imaging effects. With the rapid expansion of the handheld smart camera market and the surge in user base, the algorithmic advantages of top manufacturers continue to amplify and have become core competitiveness.